Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not

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"Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not" (often abbreviated as WPSIATWIN, shorten to "Whatever") is the debut album by Arctic Monkeys, released on January 23, 2006. A quintuple platinum selling album, it rode the band's hype to become the fastest selling UK debut album of all time. It maintains that honour, though qualifying as the fastest selling album by a band.

This album features many of the demo songs from their unofficial demo album, "Beneath The Boardwalk", "Five Minutes With Arctic Monkeys" "Who the Fuck Are Arctic Monkeys" EP, I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor single, When The Sun Goes Down single, and other songs never released. It was awarded the 2006 Mercury Music Prize.

Origin and recording[edit | edit source]

After gaining hype through Internet circulated demos, Arctic Monkeys began recording in June 2005, going from 2 Fly Studios in their native Sheffield to Chapel Studios in Lincolnshire, before recording the final few songs at Munich's Telstar in December. Producers Alan Smyth and Jim Abbiss were fond of the band's intense live sound and attempted to recreate the ferocity in-studio. As a result, minimal overdubs were done. As an experiment, Abbiss rallied the band to list the songs as they were recorded – starting with The View From the Afternoon, to I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor, and so on. A Certain Romance, the record's final song, saw the band pledge to record it in a single take, with recording engineer, Ewan Davis, saying "...shall I keep rolling?" at the beginning of the track.[1]

Themes and composition[edit | edit source]

Nearly all tracks on the album revolve around nightlife in Sheffield, the band's hometown.

Album art[edit | edit source]

The artwork is a black and white photo of bandmate Chris McClure smoking.

Track listing[edit | edit source]

All lyrics written by Alex Turner, except where stated, all music composed by Arctic Monkeys.

No. Title Length
1. "The View from the Afternoon"   3:38
2. "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor"   2:53
3. "Fake Tales of San Francisco"   2:57
4. "Dancing Shoes"   2:21
5. "You Probably Couldn't See for the Lights But You Were Staring Straight At Me"   2:10
6. "Still Take You Home " (Turner, Jamie Cook) 2:53
7. "Riot Van"   2:14
8. "Red Light Indicates Doors Are Secured"   2:23
9. "Mardy Bum"   2:55
10. "Perhaps Vampires Is a Bit Strong But..."   4:28
11. "When the Sun Goes Down"   3:20
12. "From the Ritz to the Rubble"   3:13
13. "A Certain Romance"   5:31
Total length:
40:56

Personnel[edit | edit source]

Reception[edit | edit source]

Formats and release information[edit | edit source]

Charts and certification[edit | edit source]

References[edit | edit source]