Far from today's arena tours and number one albums, Whatever People Say I Am... was written at a time when the Monkeys were still teenage clubbers whose tours rarely took them further than their native heartland of Sheffield. As such, the record's thirteen tracks lack the polish and experience exhibited on later releases, but are instead lyrically driven from direct observations of the culture of their home city. Despite this seeming enclosed concept, there's a remarkable level of variation in the styles and themes of the songs; tracks like I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor dissect the mentalities of partygoers in hails of power chords and shouted choruses, while the slower but deceptively catchy Mardy Bum considers the ever-relatable topic of domestic arguments with sharper lyricism, "I've seen your frown and it's like looking down the barrel of a gun and it goes off" providing a case in point. Elsewhere there's a tentative critique of warring music scenes on A Certain Romance and a poignant but witty discussion of prostitution in When The Sun Goes Down. The variety in lyrical themes is complimented by an impressive arsenal of musical techniques for such a young band, although almost every track becomes dominated by a single tectonic riff at one point or another, a subtle indication of the group's relative lack of songwriting experience. The record's constant references to the band's experiences of Sheffield's culture result in the creation of a homespun style often juxtaposed with the dark lyrical themes, a side of the band which unfortunately became more and more supressed as their music became more sleek and polished. It's not quite a concept album, but it does mark a high point in observational lyricism with frontman Alex Turner's lyrics occasionally sounding more like poems than songs, a feat again rarely achieved by the band after the release of their debut. 
Of course, there's a double edged sword to this, as the musical similarity of many of the tracks results in some samey and rather unmemorable moments; if it wasn't for the lyrics, you might not realised the song had actually changed between The View From The Afternoon and I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor. Of course, albums where the songs seep into one mass of music have been done before to great effect, take System of a Down's Toxicity for instance, but the fact that the lyrical themes vary so dynamically from song to song by comparison means that this becomes a hindrance to the effect of listening to the record all the way through. And despite the hype, there are few truly original points on the album; the jarring power chord guitars could have been Franz Ferdinand's and the distorted and empathised vocals (a technique used liberally throughout the Monkey's career) is clearly lifted from the work of The Strokes. This does improve during the later stages of the album however, as the smash and grab hits of the first few songs give way to more intelligent and careful writing on Riot Van and When The Sun Goes Down, a single which, remarkably, managed the reach the top of the charts despite it's somewhat commercially unattractive themes of seediness and prostitution. This is all in preparation for the true high point of the album (and possibly the band's career) on the record's final track A Certain Romance. It's here that the sound of the whole album is condensed into a single moment of genius, a distorted riff fading into a tentative guitar melody eventually to be replaced by one of the record's loudest and most violent riffs, over which Turner sings cautious and uncertain lyrics about the futility of the different factions of the local scene. Whatever People Say I Am... is by no means a perfect album, nor is it the Monkey's best. It's songs are often far too similar, and the young band's lack of experience often shines through with a lack of musical depth. However, the homegrown lyrical explorations and moments of true brilliance make it surely one of the most impressive debuts of recent years.
8/10
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