The Daily Spin II

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

Welcome back to the Daily Spin. For the uninitiated, this is the series in which I review an album every day of 2025.

As was the case two years ago, my favorite song from each album can be found at the playlist linked here.

Album: Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not (2006)

Artist: Arctic Monkeys

Link:

It’s quite fun to come back to the genesis of a career at times. It’s a little bit like walking around your hometown after years away, being able to say “and this is where I used to go sledding” and “this is where I used to live” with the affection that comes with time and distance and memory alike.

This principle is what carries much of the Arctic Monkey’s debut, in all honesty. Though it’s rarely ever in poor form - I would argue the closest it gets is maybe some heavy-handed fumbling about in lyricism that comes with twenty years’ time and the perspective of adulthood - it’s an album forever stuck in a crystalline mindset. You’re in your late teens, unable to gain that traction, stuck at a dead-end job doing something you hate and you’re wondering why life is like this.

It works tremendously well in doses - even now. Alex Turner’s voice is tremendously special and adds a depth that otherwise would leave AM solid but unspectacular. The group is largely in line with many big-name British rockers, and though they were heralded on debut as The Next Big Thing In Music, I’m hesitant to say that they really did much of anything to revolutionize it the way the Beatles or the Strokes may have arguments, but it certainly doesn’t make this album any less impressive.

Rating: 7/10

Best Tracks: When The Sun Goes Down

Worst Tracks: Perhaps Vampires Is A Bit Strong But…