I always really liked The Artic Monkeys’ first album “Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not” and I think “The View From The Afternoon” is probably everything that I like about it.

There’s jarring guitars. The bass is heavy. The drums are that kind of indie drumming that made these kind of songs into songs that you could dance to. Vocally, I always like when people sing with their own accents and lyrically, The Artic Monkeys wrote about what was going on around them in the way that they spoke. I liked the truth of it. “The View From The Afternoon” kicked off the album with a bang and I guess that’s part of why it’s stuck with me more than some of the others.

The Artic Monkeys absolutely burst onto the scene and have obviously been super successful in the years since, but I totally lost track after the first album. I guess I was probably just in a different phase when the next album appeared but I felt a bit like I got left behind as they ascended further and further to a point where they were probably the biggest band in the world. While I didn’t keep up, it would be difficult as a fan of the first album to begrudge them their success. “Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not” was so consistent and so good that they earned whatever they get.

You can listen to “The View From The Afternoon” by The Artic Monkeys here.