Arctic Monkeys: Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not [DOMINO]

Why you'll love it

It was the fastest-selling debut album in British history, moving 360,000-odd copies in its first week, and it won the Mercury Prize. "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor," "When the Sun Goes Down" and "Mardy Bum" are all here.

This edition

• Domino pressing
• 13 tracks, including both U.K. No. 1 singles

About the album

After the turn of the millennium, industry consensus had it that file-sharing was a grave evil about to destroy the music business. Sheffield's Arctic Monkeys, however, were of a differing opinion. The band gained critical and popular notoriety and was already selling out gigs on both sides of the Atlantic well before its official debut album, Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not, arrived in 2006, largely by giving free CD-R demos away at gigs and encouraging fans to circulate them on the Web.

This did not damage the first album's commercial fortunes at all. It became the fastest-selling debut album in British history. Arctic Monkeys' high-energy pub rock and frontman Alex Turner's laddish lyrics about nights on the prowl in clubs were very English by nature, but Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not sold well around the world, too, and teed the band up as one of the 21st century's most successful rock acts.

Also at Kops: more Arctic Monkeys on vinyl · browse Alternative

Tracklist

Listen

On Domino, first out in 2006.