Who is the girl on the cover of I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor?
17 October 2024, 14:27
The Chris Moyles show is joined by the Arctic Monkeys cover star
Arctic Monkeys' debut single featured a young woman on its cover, and we tracked her down to share her epic story.
Listen to this article
Loading audio...
Arctic Monkeys' debut single I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor was released on 17th October 2005.
Taken from the Sheffield band's debut album Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not, the single's artwork featured a young woman behind a cash desk wearing a "Trainee" badge on her uniform.
The mundane photo isn't exactly what you'd expect from an official release, but its snapshot of working class life has gone on to be one of the most iconic indie single covers of all time.
But how did the young woman come to feature on the cover, and what does she look like now? Radio X tracked her down to find out...
Watch her appear on The Chris Moyles Show in our video above.
Watch the original video for the track here:
Arctic Monkeys - I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor (Official Video)
Jessie May Cuffe was a teenager when she was approached by a Liverpool-based design company named Juno on a night out.
"I had snuck out with my mates to Liverpool aged 16, we were in a bar called Bumper when the design company took a snap of me and asked for my contact details," she explained exclusively to Radio X.
"I got a call to come in and meet the team and then I was asked to do the shoot with another girl - luckily the band picked my picture."
Speaking on The Chris Moyles Show, where she appeared as a mystery guest about the day of the shoot, Jesse said: "The actual shop, it was a SPAR... and it was open at the time.
"That's a fake uniform they put on us and people were actually queuing up trying to get served, and I was like 'I'm not actually working here!'"
One of those who can truly boast of being a veteran Arctic Monkeys fan ahead of their debut, Jessie revealed: "I'd heard of the band before the shoot and I've remained a huge fan ever since".
She added: "I first met the band at the Ritz in Manchester, at the time they were just typical 19, 20 year old lads winding me up and moaning at me for playing the single over and over again through their speakers because they were sick of hearing it."
The band may have been sick of hearing their own song by the end of 2006, but appearing on the artwork never gets old for Jessie.
Though she was only ever recognised by fans when she was 16, Jessie adds that the response to her "boss claim to fame" has only ever been "positive".
See a snap of the grown up cover star in 2018 when she was 29 years old.
"I still tell anyone who’ll listen," she told us in 2018, adding: "My mum still has a shrine of it on her wall as soon as you step in her front door."
Jessie May had just got engaged when we first spoke to her, and she's now gone on to get married and have a baby! Congratulations Jessie!
