Man on front of iconic Arctic Monkeys album cover reveals bizarre reason he was smoking cigarette in photo
When you're asked to name some of the most iconic album covers, you probably think of The Beatles' Abbey Road, Nirvana's Nevermind and David Bowie's Aladdin Sane.
If you're of a slightly younger age, then you may well consider Arctic Monkeys' debut album, Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not, in that conversation.
It's difficult to know exactly what the younger generation is listening to these days, considering many in Benson Boone's Coachella audience had no idea who Brian May (an original member of Queen) was.
However, you would hope that the vast majority recognise the dulcet tones of Alex Turner, whether he's singing about wanting to be your vacuum cleaner or someone being a Mardy Bum, which is Sheffield speak for someone who's moody.
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Back when the band were first starting out, they recruited Chris McClure, a student at Manchester Metropolitan University, to be the face of their first album.
Chris, who you may well recognise as the alter-ego of Sunday league TikTok icon Steve Bracknall, has opened up on the bizarre reason why he's smoking a cigarette on the cover.
Speaking on the Northern Chorus podcast, Chris said: "We took some [photos] in Sheffield at around five in the morning and then we went to Liverpool. While we were there, the guy asked me to just pose for a portrait photo with a cigarette, but there was no mention of it being a cover.
"I thought that was job done but then I got a call off Andy Nicholson who was bass player at the time.
"He said, 'The band have seen this image, they like it but we want it to be authentic. Would you be happy for us to pay for you to have a day out, and then we can recreate the image'."
Chris said he was given £700, which might only get you seven pints in London these days but back in 2005, you can imagine just how much boozing was completed.
He added: "I had three friends with me and I was told not to come back to the bar until every penny was spent. So you can imagine the day I had. I rolled back into the venue at around 11. I essentially had a joint and I was taken downstairs.
"By that point, my world had turned upside down and I was thinking 'Get me out'. I woke up in Manchester and they rang me up and said 'We've got it, we want it to be the front cover'."
He almost forgot about it until the album came out in January 2006, with the press visiting his family home and his face well and truly plastered across the UK, as it became the fastest-selling album at the time. Though the lad probably wished he'd taken some residuals instead of the free pints.
Chris reckons he's had a conversation about the album almost every week in the 19 years since its release, so it just goes to show what can happen on a night out, even if one too many mojitos means that you don't remember everything you initially did.
Topics: Arctic Monkeys, Music
James Moorhouse