Something special was clearly happening, so all Arctic Monkeys had to do was simply record those songs, capturing the essence of that August afternoon on record while creating a debut album that would still surprise and enthrall their audience.

Then moments later, Helders, Turner and myself were shunted together in an nondescript corridor on the way to the kitchen.Hey, fair play to them—first steps into nightlife, run-ins with bouncers, cops, and schoolmates, these should be the worries in their lives, and of their peers they’re among the best at addressing them. They’re in some ways the first band that was a generation inspired by the Strokes and that New York rock n’ roll revival.

I love M People,” he enthused, before making me feel positively ancient by adding “They remind me of when I was a kid and my mum and dad used to listen to them! They resonated with Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not’s energy, they recognized the experiences Alex Turner’s snapshots captured and then they moved their “dancing feet” to the cavalcade of of riffs and rhythms. Our Record of the Month for April is a special edition of Arctic Monkeys’ Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not, the fastest selling debut LP in British music history. Mardy Bum” with its “cuddles in the kitchen” is probably the closest thing Arctic Monkeys have done to a proper love song, so much so that despite its obvious popularity with live audiences, it was absence from sets for a while after a fit of teenage embarrassment kicked in. The band’s more starry-eyed backers compare their hardscrabble tales to those of predecessors such as the Specials, Smiths, Pulp, and the Streets.Hundreds more – fans and media alike – were stuck trying to sneak a glimpse while listening to the band from outside the circus tent, all because of a host of demos posted on a message-board by a friend of the group who styled himself as “Sheriff Of Sheffield”-- and one self-released EP--had made the group the hottest prospect in years. It’s sold a lot of records, but whatever, it means a lot to a lot of people and I’m 100 percent about that!