From Mystery Man to Midlife Marvel: What the Arctic Monkeys’ Album Cover Icon Looks Like Now Will Blow Your Zodiac-Savvy Mind!
Added on February 1, 2026 inMusic News Cards
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If you’ve ever glanced at the Arctic Monkeys’ debut album and thought, “Who’s that mysterious cigarette-dragging bloke?” — you’re not alone. Millions around the globe recognize that iconic black-and-white snapshot of Chris McClure, yet fast forward two decades, and most would struggle to pick him out in a crowd. Born under a sign that probably foresaw a twist of fate (isn’t it funny how a Mercury retrograde can toss you into unexpected spotlight?), McClure’s path from Sheffield bus rides with the lads to the cover of Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not is as serendipitous as it gets. Imagine being handed a wad of cash, told to “go out and get drunk,” and ending up immortalized on what became the fastest-selling British album of all time — all while juggling sociology classes and late-night pub shifts. It’s a tale of chance, friendship, and a blurred night that changed everything, reminding us that sometimes, the stars align in the smokiest bars and the most unassuming moments. Curious how a casual mate-ship on the bus turned into emblematic album art? LEARN MORE
If you’re a fan of the Arctic Monkeys, you’ll definitely know this man’s face – but do you know how he ended up on the front of their debut album?
Millions of people around the world have seen the iconic black-and-white snap of Chris McClure coolly taking a drag of a cigarette, but they would probably struggle to pick him out of a line-up 20 years on.
Music fans were first introduced to the bleary-eyed bloke on the cover of Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not back in January 2006, and these days, he looks a lot different. Which is inevitable really, given that he was only a teenager when the legendary picture was taken.
McClure previously explained that he met the Sheffield rockers who make up the Arctic Monkeys on the bus when he was just 16.
After their repeated run-ins on public transport, he ended up becoming pals with Alex Turner, Matt Helders, Jamie Cook, and the band’s original bassist Andy Nicholson.
Chris McClure previously shared the colour version of the iconic snap with Arctic Monkeys fans (X/@chrismcclure86)
Three years later, while studying for his sociology degree at a university in Manchester, McClure received a call from Nicholson while the Arctic Monkeys were wrapping up their first album.
“They wanted pictures of a guy on a night out for the artwork,” McClure previously told The Guardian. “There was no suggestion it was for the cover.
“Andy asked if I’d do it, and I said, ‘Why not?’ I’m not sure why me. I never asked. I think they just wanted someone normal.”
According to McClure, who was also the band’s first ever guitar tech, he was handed a ‘wad of cash‘ which amounted to hundreds of pounds before he was sent on the p*ss in Liverpool with his mates.
Recalling what went down that day, he explained that he met a photographer in a bar at 2pm who gave him the instructions: “Go out and get drunk – come back after midnight.”
McClure and his friends obviously ‘made the most of it’ and ended up missing their Cinderella curfew, however, the shoot still went ahead.
He described his surge in popularity upon the release of the band’s debut album as ‘really intense’ (X/@chrismcclure86)
“There was a venue below the bar and we did the pictures there, just me sat on a stool,” he said. “They gave me more whisky and I threw up half way through. Everything was blurry.”
Although McClure’s memory of this pivotal event was a bit hazy, his musician mates ‘loved the results’ and decided to slap one of the snaps on the cover of Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not.
At the time, he didn’t realise ‘how massive it was going to be’ – but he soon realised on release day, as ‘everyone in the world wanted to know who he was’.
Once his identity became known, reporters waited outside the pub where he worked, E4 offered him a presenting gig, and the Daily Star said they’d pay him £10,000 to follow him around on a night out.
His modelling gig also ended up earning him some serious street cred among his fellow uni students as well as a £750 payment, but in hindsight, he wishes he had asked ‘for 10p of every album sale’ instead.
Sharing an update on where he was at in life these during the 2016 interview, McClure said: “These days, I work with adults with learning difficulties and people recognise me less. I get the odd person saying they know me from somewhere but I shrug it off. I don’t tell people. I’m a creative person – I’ve been in bands and I’m writing a sitcom – and I don’t want to be remembered as just a guy on an album cover.”
McClure met the Arctic Monkeys, pictured in 2006, on the bus before becoming pals with the music stars as a teen (Dave M. Benett/Getty Images)
McClure has also become a TikTok star thanks to his comedic skits showing him playing the fictional character of amateur football manager Steve Bracknall, who runs the fake Sunday League team, Royal Oak FC.
Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not turned 20 on 23 January this year, and to mark the milestone, McClure reminisced on his experience during an appearance on BBC Radio Sheffield this month.
“I remember the release date were really intense,” he told listeners. “There were, like, reporters outside my mum’s house. I worked in a boozer in Grenoside at that time and there were reporters in the pub.
“But I was thinking the other day, like, you imagine now a band coming from England, a working class band of four lads, and being headline news on the Six O’Clock News on the BBC?
“I don’t think it would happen now. But that’s how big it were at the time, you know, fastest selling British album of all time.”
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