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

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共13首歌曲

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艺人: Arctic Monkeys
语种: 英语
厂牌: Domino Recording Co
发行时间: 2006年01月23日
专辑类别: 录音室专辑

专辑介绍

◎ 打破全英排行史上当日当週排行销售冠军纪录、首週销售勇破36万张、空降蝉联英国金榜四週冠军、雄霸独立专辑榜八週冠军专辑

◎ 勇夺NME Awards「年度英国最佳乐团」、「年度最佳新进乐团』与〈I Bet You Look On The Dancefloor〉「年度最佳单曲」三项大奖，全英音乐奖「年度最佳新进乐团」

◎ NME十分满分、英国卫报Guardian、纽约时报New York Times、musicOMH.com网站，一致五星满分

这不过是一个2003年才成军于英国Sheffield的年轻乐团，但如今我们已经见到他们势如破竹地夺下全英音乐奖「最佳英国新进艺人」奖项，首张专辑《Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not》得到NME音乐週报给予满分评价，并在正式发售当天便在英国大卖近12万张，成为英国销售最快的首张专辑之一。甚至有传媒形容该团以新进英国吉他乐团姿态所引发的广大效应与现象，比起十年前的Oasis有过之而无不及。

他们是「北极泼猴Artic Monkeys」，成员包括了Alex Turner（主唱／吉他）、Jamie Cook（吉他）、Andy Nicholson（贝斯）与Matt Helders（鼓）。

从某个角度而言，你当然可以将Artic Monkeys视同The Libertines、The Others、The Paddingtons般是近年来英国一波波新庞克浪潮下又一个时势造英雄的例子，然而这个例子之所以在今天造成如此巨大的Phenomenon而为人所津津乐道并不只是这麽简单，而是关乎他们那和Claps Your Hands Say Yeah一样透过网路世界崛起的传奇过程。话说Artic Monkeys在成军不久后便开始广泛在网路上传他们的Demo作品，也在MySpace.com拥有自己的网页，结果让他们在短时间内累积了广大的歌迷，第二首单曲〈I Bet You Look On The Dancefloor〉一举攻佔英国流行榜冠军位置（亦获NME音乐週报选为2005年全年最佳单曲第三名），从而让主流唱片公司EMI送上一百万英镑签约金，在文化层面上成为最具代表性的另类年轻人指标。

音乐上，将The Jam、The Clash、The Smiths等经典乐团列为重要音乐影响的Artic Monkeys，结合着主唱Alex笔下被拿来与Jarvis Cocker（Pulp）、Paul Weller等前辈相提并论的歌词文字，在这张「2006年最受期待首张专辑之一」的《Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not》中，彷彿是集The Strokes的纽约庞克造型与The Libertines的英伦Neo-Classic Punk精神于一身，从开场曲〈The View From The Afternoon〉与获NME选为全年最佳单曲第11名的〈Fake Tales Of San Francisco〉踩着爽朗的Disco-Punk / Punk-Funk节奏而来，到闭幕曲〈A Certain Romance〉揉合着轻盈Ska气息，一首首短小精悍的庞克乐章都在两把吉他的饱满声线/音牆引领下传输着强劲能量。

此外，〈Riot Van〉流露着媲美The Jam、The Kinks慢板作品的内敛情感，〈Mardy Bum〉那让人想起The Bluetones的清爽Folky气息，则展现了Artic Monkeys创作上的细腻层面。

北极猴于2005年9月完成了处女作专辑《Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not》的制作，专辑在 Chapel录音室录制，由Jim Abbiss监制，发行的第一周便售出36万3735张，打破了英国唱片处女作最快销售记录（仅上市第一天便势不可挡的售出了11万8501张，超过了Top20专辑的销售总和）。

专辑的封面是一个叼着烟的男子，是北极猴乐队的朋友Chris McClure ，这个设计曾被批评会误导吸烟的危害，不过乐队方面进行了否认。

这张专辑在一个月后登陆北美，以3.4万张的成绩勉强挤到Billboard排行榜第24名，虽然这也成为了独立摇滚类专辑在北美地区的第二好历史成绩，但与英国火爆的反应比起来，北美显得平静许多，最终专辑一年的销量未抵上英国市场第一周的销量，美国评论界也对北极猴的态度出奇的保守。在这种气氛中北极猴在2006年6月开启了北美巡演，演出出人意料的受到好评。回到英国，本土对北极猴的热情与北美形成了鲜明的对比，著名音乐杂志NME把《Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not》评为英国最伟大专辑第五名，在2006年的NME音乐奖评选中，北极猴更是与他们伟大的前辈The strokes以及OASIS平分秋色，摘得三项由乐迷选出的大奖——最佳英伦乐队，最佳新人乐队，以及最佳专辑奖。

Breathless, hyperbolic praise was piled upon the Arctic Monkeys and their debut album, Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not, an instant phenomenon without peer. Within the course of a year, the band rose from the ranks of an Internet phenomenon to the biggest band in the U.K., all on the strength of early demos circulated on the Web as MP3s. Those demos built the band a rabid fan base before the Monkeys had released a record, even before they played more than a handful of gigs. In effect, the group performed a complete run around the industry, avoiding conventional routes toward stardom, which paid off in spades. When Whatever People Say I Am hit the streets in January 2006, it sold a gob-smacking 118,501 copies within its first week of release, which not only made it the fastest-selling debut ever, but it sold more than the rest of the Top 20 combined — a remarkable achievement by any measure.

Last time such excitement surrounded a new British guitar band it was a decade earlier, as Britpop hit overdrive with the release of Oasis' 1994 debut, Definitely Maybe. All four members of the Arctic Monkeys were a little bit shy of their tenth birthday at the time, a bit young to be sure, but old enough to have Oasis be their first favorite band. So, it's little surprise that the Gallaghers' laddism — celebrating nights out fueled by lager and loud guitars — is the bedrock foundation of the Arctic Monkeys, just the way as it has been for most British rock bands since the mid-'90s, but the Monkeys' true musical ground zero is 2001, the year the Strokes stormed British consciousness with their debut, Is This It. The Arctic Monkeys borrow heavily from the Strokes' stylized ennui, adding an equal element of the Libertines' shambolic neo-classicist punk, undercut by a hint of dance-punk learned from Franz Ferdinand. But where the Strokes, the Libertines, and Franz all knowingly reference the past, this Sheffield quartet is only concerned with the now, piecing together elements of their favorite bands as lead singer/songwriter Alex Turner tells stories from their lives — mainly hookups on the dancefloor and underage drinking, balanced by the occasional imagined tragic tales of prostitution and the music industry.

Whatever People Say I Am captures the band mashing up the Strokes and the Libertines at will, jamming in too many angular riffs into too short of a space, tearing through the songs as quickly as possible. But where the Strokes camouflaged their songwriting skills with a laconic, take-it-or-leave-it sexiness and where the Libertines mythologized England with a junkie poeticism, the Arctic Monkeys at their heart are simple, everyday lads, lacking any sense of sex appeal or romanticism, or even the desire for either. Nor do they harbor much menace, either in their tightly wound music or in how Turner spits out his words. Also, the dry production, sounding for all the world like an homage to Is This It — all clanking guitars and clattering drums, with most of the energy coming from the group's sloppy call-and-response backing vocals — keeps things rather earthbound, too; the band doesn't soar with youthful abandon, it merely raises a bit of noise in the background.

In a way, Whatever People Say I Am is an ideal album for the Information Overload Age — nearly every track here is overloaded with riffs and words, and just when it's about to sort itself out, it stops short. But even if it's an album of and for its time, Whatever People Say I Am doesn't sound particularly fresh. After all, the Arctic Monkeys are reworking the sounds of a revival without any knowledge — or even much interest — in the past, so they wind up with a patchwork of common sounds, stitched together in ways that may have odd juxtapositions, but usually feel familiar, because they're so green, they repeat the same patterns without realizing they're treading a well-worn path.

This, of course, doesn't make them or their debut bad, just surprisingly predictable: they're competent, lacking enough imagination or restlessness to do anything other than the expected, which for anybody who hears them after reading the reviews, is quite underwhelming. The one thing that sets them apart, and does give them promise, is Alex Turner's writerly ambitions. While he may fall far short of fellow Sheffield lyricist Jarvis Cocker, or such past teenage renegades as Paul Weller, Turner does illustrate ample ambition here. While his words can be overcooked — allusions to Romeo & Juliet do not necessarily count as depth — he does tell stories, which does distinguish him from his first-person peers. But it's a double-edged sword, his gift: the very thing that sets him apart — his fondness for detail, his sense of place — may be the quality that makes his work resonate for thousands of young Britons, but they also tie him completely to a particular time and place that makes it harder to relate to for listeners who aren't in his demographic or country (and perhaps time). 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, and that's what makes Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not a curiosity that defines a time when niches are so specialized and targeted, they turn into a phenomenon overnight and last just about as long.

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

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