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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.

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


7.0

based on 33 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 397 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album

Favourite Worst Nightmare

Official Artist Site

Not only the most-hyped band of early 2006, Sheffield, England's Arctic Monkeys (led by 19-year-old Alex Turner) managed to accomplish what the likes of Franz Ferdinand and The Libertines couldn't do before them: set the UK record for fastest-selling debut album of all time.

LABEL:	Domino
RELEASE DATE:	21 February 2006
DISCS:	1 disc
GENRE(S):	Indie, Rock

NOTES: Original UK release 23 Jan 2006.

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

New Musical Express

Even if you've been fortunate enough to live with these tracks over the last year or so, they still sound more vital, more likely to make you form your own band than anything else out there.

100

The Guardian

The spectre of Oasis lurks around Arctic Monkeys, proof that even the most promising beginnings can turn into a dreary, reactionary bore. For now, however, they look and sound unstoppable.

100

The New York Times

You probably won't hear a better CD all year long. [30 Jan 2006]

100

Uncut

The thrill it provides will send a shiver of recognition through anyone who grew up with The Specials, The Smiths or Parklife. [Album of the Month, March 2006, p.86]

100

Blender

What elevates the Monkeys into a class of their own is Turner. [Apr 2006, p.113]

Village Voice (Consumer Guide)

Many details are too U.K.-specific for Yank-yob gratification. But aesthetes will come to enjoy Taylor's nuanced adenoids and his bandmates' thought-through arrangements.

Entertainment Weekly

This club-crawler's-eye-view perspective sets Turner apart from his contemporaries, as does the music. [24 Feb 2006, p.60]

Billboard

A remarkable debut by a band full of raw energy. [25 Feb 2006]

BBC collective

It’s exciting stuff, simple yet deadly effective.

Dot Music

Such is the depth and quality of Turner's songwriting, it plays like a best of.

musicOMH.com

It's not a totally perfect record, for which we should be thankful - remember what happened to The Stone Roses after they'd released their flawless debut? - but it is an excellent first album, and gives notice that Alex Turner is already one of this country's best lyricists.

Mojo

This is thrilling, incontrovertible evidence of a major new talent in our midst. [Mar 2006, p.102]

Q Magazine

So no, it's not perfect. But Whatever People Say... has that edge, that thrill that comes only when a band have hit the zeitgeist hard and timed the punch to perfection. [Mar 2006, p.102]

Spin

Blunt and bratty, emotionally pubescent. [Mar 2006, p.93]

cokemachineglow

As fun and crafty a debut as you’re likely to hear this year.

PopMatters

Yes, theirs is a sound similar to a lot of the names jaded hipsters and criterati will spew on auto-fire disdain, but no-one else really sounds like them, and very few people indeed are writing taut rockin' pop songs under three minutes long that are simultaneously as smart and as unpretentious as those proffered here.

NOW Magazine

Their riff-heavy songs are brashly delivered – favouring attitude over technique – but it's Turner's keenly observed vignettes of bored text-messaging teens that really connect.

Rolling Stone

A start-to-finish rush of invigorating riffs and pointed narratives that heightens with repeated exposure.

Delusions of Adequacy

So yeah, this album is pretty freakin’ good... but it’s not going to change your perspective on music.

E! Online

There are some impossibly fun tunes in the mix.... But will this album really change your life? No.

Pitchfork

At times charming, oddly affecting, and certainly promising but understandably something less than life changing.

Neumu.net

Despite dozens of listens, much of Whatever People Say congeals together like so much spent gravy, with only the clever couplets sticking out.

All Music Guide

If his band had either a stronger musical viewpoint or more kinetic energy, or if their songs didn't play like a heap of riffs, such provincial shortcomings would be transcended by the sheer force of the music. But the music, while good, is not great.

Urb

The Arctic Monkeys are not a bad band; they're just a band with catchy lyrics, summer blues riffs and an arsenal of runaway hits. [Mar 2006, p.112]

Trouser Press

Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not manages to celebrate and mock its cultural milieu simultaneously with genuine affection and sarcasm balanced so well that the scale never tips too far either way.

ShakingThrough.net

A high-energy smash-and-grab debut.

The Onion (A.V. Club)

Song after song returns to the same nightclubs for the same set of cocky put-downs and faintly misogynist come-ons. Meanwhile, the band fumbles through a sound that seems to have been assembled from pieces of retro-minded rock acts like The Strokes and Franz Ferdinand, but without the sense of purpose or history.

Prefix Magazine

When the record's not playing, it's hard to miss it, and the tracks that aren't standouts are simply boring.

Stylus Magazine

Put it this way: do you think "Panic (Hang the DJ)" with its unique branch of bitterness, provincialism, and notions of white pride was the Smiths' best song? You'll be like a hog in shit here, then. If not... avoid. Like the plague.

Lost At Sea

The prevailing lack of substance declares itself by the time "Still Take You Home" kicks in, and it becomes evident that Alex Turner’s somewhat chirpy vocals are the album’s lone cohesive influence.

Tiny Mix Tapes

This is the new big British band? This is barely inspired enough to make it off campus.

No Ripcord

One good single does not a great album make, and unfortunately, the rest of the record becomes pretty tedious, pretty quickly.

Playlouder

The trouble is, the much-lauded braggadocio of 'Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not' is hollow.

The average user rating for this album is 7.0 (out of 10) based on 397 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Byron H. gave it a10:
This album is great by all standards. It takes the music of its forebears and polishes it to a shine (it has its misses, but there is no such thing as a ABSOLUTELY perfect album. Even OK Computer has its similarities in songs like No Suprises and Let Down, and that album is a definite ten.) To people with their heads up their asses about them being overhyped and saying that the band is sub-par based on that, screw yourselves. I found this band by accident before I even had an idea what NME was. This album is great and takes music in agood direction.

Jack D. gave it a10:
This album is amazing.

Alan B. gave it a10:
The best alternative rock album in ages....and the best debut since Oasis.

Tiago R. gave it a0:
Bad really bad.

Will gave it a10:
A genius debut album that takes all the best bits of British rock music. The guitar work and drumming it stunningly good, especially when you consider the young age of the group members. Alex Turner's poetic lyrics really make the songs though. This is one of the best indie/pop rock debuts since time began.

Kate B. gave it a9:
An extremely good album indeed. I can see how his voice makes all the songs similar, but I also love the infectious melodies and witty lyrics. I also think it could wear thin very quickly though through more albums, and already has.

Mike W. gave it a10:
I bet that string of zero scores all come from the same looser putting in different names. Anyway, if you are into rock music this album is essential. There isn't a bad track on it. Its a powerhouse of energetic beats and infectious lyrics. This will be remembered as one of the great albums of the decade. Don't listen to the haters, make your own mind up. Oh, and Favourite Worst Nightmare is even better!

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

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