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
Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not cover
Studio album by Arctic Monkeys
Released United Kingdom 23 January 2006
United States of America 21 February 2006
Recorded 2005
Genre Indie rock
Length 41:03
Label Domino Records
Producer(s) Jim Abbiss
Professional reviews
Arctic Monkeys chronology
1st
Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
(2006)		 2nd
TBC
(2006)


Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not is the debut album by Sheffield band Arctic Monkeys, released on 23 January 2006. Recorded at Chapel Studios, Lincolnshire, before the band's first world tour, the album became the fastest selling debut album in the UK since records began, selling over 360,000 copies in its first week. It has since gone triple platinum in the UK [1], and won the 2006 Mercury Prize [2].

The album includes both tracks from the band's original EP, Five Minutes with Arctic Monkeys, as well as their first two singles and UK Number Ones, "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor" and "When the Sun Goes Down".

The original release date was scheduled as 30 January 2006, but was brought forward to 23 January 2006 due to "high demand". Although the same was done with Franz Ferdinand, there remains continued speculation that the move was an attempt to counter the effects of the album's leak onto online file-sharing sites.[3] Although many of the tracks featured on the album were freely available to download in early 2005 from uploaded demo CDs given out by the band, the re-recorded album versions had also been leaked onto the internet by December 2005.

On the first day of its release, the album became the fastest selling debut rock album in British history, selling just under 120,000 copies. This figure meant more copies were sold in 24 hours than the former record holder - Hear’Say, Popstars, sold in a week. By the end of the week, the album had sold 363,735 copies - more than the rest of the Top 20 combined. Its release in the United States on 21 February 2006 saw it become the second fastest selling debut indie album in history, turning over around 34,000 copies in its first week and achieving #24 in the album charts. The album also went to #1 in Australia and Ireland.

The track "Mardy Bum", while not released as a single, appeared on radio playlists throughout the UK in mid-2006 [citation needed].

Contents

[edit] Name

The week before its release, the source behind the album's name was revealed as a quote from northern actor Albert Finney and the 1960s film Saturday Night and Sunday Morning. [4] The band are reportedly fans of old British '60s movies, and lead singer Alex Turner revealed to UK-tabloid The Sun that the film is what the album is about. "Songs including "The View from the Afternoon", "Dancing Shoes", "Still Take You Home" and "From the Ritz to the Rubble" all cover that bit of the weekend and feature the same character." [5]

[edit] Cover sleeve

The image on the cover of the album is a photo of Chris McClure - a friend of the band - taken in the early hours of the morning after the band had given him, his cousin and his best mate, "seventy quid to spend on a night out".[6] The image caused some controversy when the head of Scotland's NHS criticised the cover for "reinforcing the idea that smoking is OK". [7] The band's product manager denied the accusation, and in fact suggested the opposite - "You can see from the image smoking is not doing him the world of good". In March 2006, McClure announced that he would be giving up smoking, due to lack of funds.[8] Billboard advertisements for the album used a similar image to the cover picture, but without the cigarette.

[edit] Track listing

  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" – 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

[edit] Statistics

[edit] Sales

  • UK - 1,115,000 - 3x Platinum
  • USA - 258,000 [9]
  • Japan - 100,000 - Gold
  • Australia - 70,000 - Platinum
  • France - 48,000
  • Denmark - 20,000 - Gold
  • New Zealand - 7,500 - Gold
  • Worldwide - 2,109,150 [1]

[edit] Highest chart positions

Highest chart positions
Country UK AUS IRE NZ CAN USA
-
 DAN FIN BEL NED SUI FRA SWE AUT CH
Position
#1
#1
#1
#5
#16
#24
#6
#8
#9
#13
#16
#17
#26
#23
#15

[edit] Chart trajectories

UK Albums Chart
Week 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
Position
1
1
1
1
2
3
5
9
21
13
15
12
13
17
17
21
22
28
35
39
59
64
65
60
61
59
out
out
51(re)
38
UK Albums Chart
Week 31 32 33 34 35
Position
38
26
25
Australian ARIA albums chart
Week 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
Position
1
5
9
13
18
16
23
21
21
25
38
46
43
36
41
35
37
41
43
(re)48
US Billboard 200
Week 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
Position 24 39 52 42 52 69 94 89 68 90 107 139 134 136 149 164 192 191 (re) 169
New Zealand RIANZ Charts
Week 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11
Position
5
5
7
10
13
14
20
23
20
25
39
Irish Top 75 Albums Chart
Week 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
Position
1
1
1
2
3
3
4
3
7
12
15
14
15
12
16
21
18
17
17
22
32
36
41
35
27
32
37
29
36
38
Irish Top 75 Albums Chart
Week 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40
Position
38
35
32
22
24
30
32
46
57
OUT

[edit] Sample

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Arctic Monkeys make chart history", BBC News, 2006-01-29.
  2. ^ "Arctic Monkeys win Mercury prize", BBC, 2006-09-05.
  3. ^ "Arctic Monkeys album rush released", NME, 2006-01-05.
  4. ^ "Saturday Night and Sunday Morning", IMDb. Retrieved on 2006-08-26.
  5. ^ "Monkeys explain album", Yahoo! News, 2006-01-09.
  6. ^ Wichelow, Sam. "Familiar face?", BBC News - South Yorkshire, 2006-02-09.
  7. ^ "Arctic Monkeys defend album cover", BBC News, 2006-02-03.
  8. ^ "Arctic Monkeys Cover Star Quits Smoking", Entertainmentwise, 2006-03-29.
  9. ^ "Arctic Monkeys Win UK's Mercury Prize", Billboard, 2006-09-05.
Arctic Monkeys
Alex Turner • Jamie Cook • Matthew Helders • Nick O'Malley
Andy Nicholson • Glyn Jones
Discography
Albums & EPs: Five Minutes with Arctic Monkeys • Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not • Who the Fuck Are Arctic Monkeys
Compilations: Beneath the Boardwalk
Singles: "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor" • "When the Sun Goes Down" • "Leave Before the Lights Come On" •
"Fake Tales of San Francisco"
Related articles
Arctic Monkeys tour history • Scummy Man • Domino Records
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