Here's what the guy from Arctic Monkeys' first album cover is up to now
Hopefully he's given up smoking
Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not was “quite a good album” according to many people, what with all its songs and guitars and music on it and that. It’s fair to say it’s up there as one of the best debut albums in British music history.
It also had a very good album cover, which, thanks to the wonders of this here internet, you can see below:
A man there, having a fag. Simple, iconic image.
The story goes that the bloke up there - named Chris McClure (the brother of Reverend and the Makers’ Jon McClure, no less) - had a big old night out and then went and got his photo taken.
Or in his own words, as told the Guardian: “We met the photographer and assistants in a bar at 2pm.
“I said: ‘What do you want us to do?’.
“They said: ‘Go out and get drunk - come back after midnight’.
“They gave us a wad of cash, literally hundreds of pounds. We were young and made the most of it.
“When I arrived back it was gone 2am. There was a venue below the bar and we did the pictures there, just me sat on a stool. They gave me more whiskey and I threw up half way through. Everything was blurry.”
And the rest is CDs-and-posters-all-over-the-country history, accompanied with a brief flirtation with fame, including a stint getting recognised by his heroes:
“Noel [Gallagher] did a double take. He said: ‘I’ve got you hanging in my house!’
“I said: ‘I’ve got you in mine!’”
But what’s our man up to today? Still being on album covers? Or only appearing in inner sleeves? Well, he works with adults with learning difficulties, as well as popping out the odd creative endeavor now and again, on the side. He’s done a bit of ‘band stuff’ too, wrote a sitcom, and if you like football (you probably don’t, hardly anyone does) you may have seen his work on Steve Bracknell’s Sunday League, an online comedy series he created. This one:
Good stuff (if you like football, which you probably don’t). So there you go - get your face on a famous album, be up on the wall in Noel Gallagher’s house, and then finally get a bit of YouTube success - not a bad path, I’d say. Better than the one I’m currently on: get your face on Crimestoppers, be up on the wall behind the bar in every local pub’s banned list, and then finally get a bit of YouTube notoriety for walking into a lampost in front of the Queen.
(Image: Domino)
