TravelBeat’s partner the British Music Experience, are delighted to announce their new temporary exhibition Don’t Believe the Hype… Uncovering the Artwork of Arctic Monkeys’ Debut Album.

Album image photo montage: Alexandra Wolkowicz, Andy Brown, Scott Jones

British Music Experience, Liverpool

23 January- 22 March 2026

The British Music Experience presents Don’t Believe the Hype… Uncovering the Artwork of Artic Monkeys’ Debut Album.

The temporary exhibition explores the creation and cultural legacy of one of the most recognisable album covers of the 21st century: Whatever people Say I Am, That’s What I Not, the 2006 debut by Arctic Monkeys, with the exhibition launching 20 years to the day of the album’s release.

Centred on the artwork surrounding the album, the exhibition moves beyond the iconic cover image to examine the wider visual world from which it emerged- a sequence of ordinary moments, encounters, and traces that together formed an authentic portrait of youth culture at the time.

The exhibition documents the conceptual journey of Scott Jones, Creative Director for the album, alongside original photographic material, outtakes, interior imagery, and personal artefacts from the period. it traces a day-in-the-life approach to the album’s visual identity: the cover image, single artwork, and photographic sequences that documented a specific moment in time.

Together, these materials form an extended visual document of youth, place, and lived experience, shared spaces, boredom, anticipation, and the small moments that later took on cultural meaning.

The exhibition also reveals for the first time the photograph that inspired the smoke-filled photobooth image that became the album’s cover

More information: www.britishmusicexperience.com/dontbelievethehype