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

I’ll always remember sitting in my friend Jack’s bedroom the first time I heard 'The View From The Afternoon', the first track from Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not. The thrashing of Jamie Cook’s guitar and Matt Helders’ intense drumming starting the opening track captivated me straight away. It is the first album I truly loved.

It’s a very solid album that most established bands would kill to have as a debut. Much is made about Alex Turner’s lyrical wit and rightly so, as it captures a point in time - growing up, going out and trying to impress the opposite sex.

Arctic Monkeys came at such an important time in guitar music. Britpop was on its way out in the early noughties and there were questions about British guitar music going through a lull, until four lads from High Green announced themselves with an album which remains the fastest selling debut in British music history.

It’s an album that means so much to Sheffield that it’s hard to put into words. Ten years have passed since it was released, but when you consider how much people in Sheffield's music scene still talk about it, it could be last week.
It’s a social commentary, everything about it is iconic, including the album cover, and it deserves to be up there as one of the most important albums to come out of this city.

Brady Frost