VMP Magazine
-
Arctic Monkeys’ Timeless, Resonant ‘Whatever People Say I Am’
“Somebody call 999, Richard Hawley’s been robbed!”
As acceptance speeches go, Alex Turner’s request that someone telephone the British version of 911 upon learning he’d just won the 2006 Mercury Prize, will be hard to beat. Witty, clever, inspired, daring and acknowledging its influences – fellow Yorkshire musician Hawley whose record Coles Corner was also up for the same prestigious UK award – the Arctic Monkeys frontman’s off the cuff reaction to the band’s first major honor in many ways captured the spirit of the album they had triumphed with, their irrepressible, eccentric and energetic debut: Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not.
