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Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace

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Untitled

Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace is the eighth studio album by American punk rock band The Offspring, released on June 17, 2008 in the United States and a week earlier in Japan.[2] It was their first album of new material in nearly five years, following 2003's Splinter, and their first to be produced by Bob Rock.

The span of nearly five years between Splinter and Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace was the longest gap between studio albums in The Offspring's career. The band had been working on new material since the fall of 2004[3], but showed no further signs of progress until November 2006, when they announced on their official website that they had begun recording with producer Bob Rock.[1] The album was supposed to be released in 2007, but kept getting pushed back. The writing and recording process, spanning four years and three recording studios, was finally finished in April 2008. It had produced four singles: "Hammerhead", "You're Gonna Go Far, Kid", "Kristy, Are You Doing Okay?" and "Half-Truism". Although a video was made for "Stuff Is Messed Up", it was never officially released as a single, but saw regular radio play on popular stations such as Southern California's KROQ.

Although drummer Atom Willard (who left in July 2007) was still a member of the band during the recording, session musician Josh Freese actually handled the drum tracks, like he did on Splinter. Due to contract issues with Geffen Records, Willard was not permitted to do recording on the album and later decided to leave the band and continue his duties in Angels & Airwaves full time while Face to Face drummer Pete Parada joined the band just in time for the tour.[4]

On iTunes, You're Gonna Go Far, Kid is labeled explicit, causing it to be the second album by The Offspring to be labeled Parental Advisory since 2003's Splinter. Rise And Fall, Rage And Grace has sold 310,000 copies in the US as of August 2010.[5]

Writing and recording

Work for Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace dates back to September 2004, when frontman Dexter Holland said that he wanted to put out the next Offspring album in 2005 and new songs felt "pretty good".[3] From June to August 2005, the band played the Vans Warped Tour for the first time, and followed that with a tour of Europe and Japan. To coincide with that tour, Sony Music released the first Offspring compilation album, Greatest Hits, which includes their hits from 1994 to 2005. After the Greatest Hits tour ended in the fall of 2005, the band took a break from writing, recording and touring. On February 7, 2006, Holland said in his journal that the band entered a demo studio to work on guitar tracks,[6] and a week later, Holland said in his journal that he went out of town to "meet with a guy who might produce" the album.[7] On June 13, 2006, Holland stated that the band (minus Willard) had been meeting every week and would begin recording shortly.[8] On August 18, he posted another update on the band's journal, saying that they had demoed five songs and were looking to go into the studio soon. He described the new songs as "lots of guitar, energy, lots of energy, and good songs." In September 2006, it was announced that the album would be produced by Bob Rock, who was working with Holland and "helping him sort out songs."[9]

On November 16, 2006, The Offspring announced on their website that they had begun recording the album with Rock, with an intended release date of spring 2007.[1] Recording took place in Hawaii and California with Rock. By May 2007 the music for thirteen songs had been recorded, with a further 10 tracks demoed. At this time Holland announced that all of the songs were completely new with no re-recordings of older songs, jokingly remarking "that would be cheating, wouldn't it?" (in response to rumors that the unreleased song "Pass Me By" and the re-recording of their 1992 song "Dirty Magic" would appear on the album) and commenting that the new tracks "sound like a friggin' freight train."[10] In July 2007, Dexter also confirmed that the band had finished "two more songs" and the album was being recorded in Orange County, California.[11] On the Christmas journal entry, he claimed that he had two more lyrics to write, "a couple more" to sing and "various tweaks" to do before mixing could begin. The band was at that time taking a break to spend Christmas with their families.[12]

In January 2008, the band comically responded to upset fans who wanted news by having a "breaking news" story regarding the band buying plane tickets for their next show. In his journal, Dexter explained that when there were no updates, it's usually because there's nothing to talk about- hence the faux "news."[13] The next month, Dexter told Bombshellzine.com that The Offspring were "just in the studio getting some tracks down for the new record" and claims "it's a lot louder than the last couple". He also said the band wasn't "going to be making another Smash, or another Ixnay" but thought they were still "relevant to punk when they were created, and this one will be no different".[14]

Dexter announced on April 9, 2008 that the new album was finally finished and announced the name and release date, and that "Hammerhead" would be the first single.[2]

The album's title is derived from two tracks. "Rise and Fall" is the last track on the album and the song "Fix You" features the line "Rage and Grace".

Promotion and release

According to a Finnish website, "Kristy, Are You Doing Okay?" was rumored to be the second single.[15] However, this rumor turned out to be false; in June 2008, shortly before the album's release, the influential L.A. station KROQ began playing "You're Gonna Go Far, Kid", making it seem possible that this could be the second single, though the station has played non-singles from the band in the past. Six other stations in the Southwestern United States followed suit.[16] During the Offspring's three May 2008 concerts in California, "You're Gonna Go Far, Kid" was the only new song besides "Hammerhead" that was played, also causing fans to believe this would be the second single. "You're Gonna Go Far, Kid" was digitally released in Australia in July 2008 as a single and also appeared on the album cover as a sticker promoting the album as "includes the songs "Hammerhead and You're Gonna Go Far, Kid". In November 2008, KROQ briefly played "Stuff Is Messed Up", another song off the album, until the plug was pulled after "Kristy, Are You Doing Okay?" was confirmed as the third single. As of February 2009, KROQ has been playing another song off the album, "Half-Truism", which may be the next single.[17] Dexter Holland also confirmed on the band's Forum that they had shot a video that could be "Half-Truism".[18] On July 13, the video that was shot was released, and was not Half-Truism, but "Stuff Is Messed Up", making "Stuff Is Messed Up" the fifth single from the album.[19]

On June 2, 2008, 30 second clips of each song on the new album were accidentally released by Amazon.com. They were removed swiftly but only after fans had ripped the clips and uploaded them to several fileshare and video sharing sites.

The official premiere of the album took place on the band's imeem site on June 9 at 3pm UTC.[20]

Promotional tour

In 2007, The Offspring first premiered "Hammerhead" at the Summersonic Festival, before any details of the new album had been revealed. The song would later be played again on the first night of the Australian Soundwave Festival, before being replaced on the set-list by "Half-Truism". "Hammerhead" was then played again on the last night of Soundwave Festival. In May 2008, during their performances on X-Fest, KJEE Summer Roundup and the KROQ Weenie Roast, they also premiered "You're Gonna Go Far, Kid" alongside "Hammerhead", and have since played both songs in their sets at the Electric Festival in Spain, Rock in Rio 2008 in Portugal and Rock am Ring and Rock im Park in Germany. The band also played a series of Japanese dates from October 6-21, 2008. After headlining the nineteenth annual KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas on December 13, 2008, they went on hiatus for a few months. In March 2009, The Offspring announced on their official website that they would be touring North America from May through July with Dropkick Murphys, Alkaline Trio, Street Dogs, Pennywise, Shiny Toy Guns and Sum 41.[21]

Track listing

CD

All tracks are written by The Offspring, except for "O.C. Life" written by Rikk Agnew

No.TitleLength
1."Half-Truism"3:27
2."Trust in You"3:09
3."You're Gonna Go Far, Kid"2:58
4."Hammerhead"4:38
5."A Lot Like Me"4:28
6."Takes Me Nowhere"2:59
7."Kristy, Are You Doing Okay?"3:42
8."Nothingtown"3:29
9."Stuff Is Messed Up"3:31
10."Fix You"4:19
11."Let's Hear It for Rock Bottom"4:05
12."Rise and Fall"2:59
Japanese bonus track
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
13."O.C. Life" (D.I. cover)Rikk Agnew[22]2:53

LP

The difference between CD and LP versions is that the song "Kristy, Are You Doing Okay?" has switched place with "A Lot Like Me".

Side One
No.TitleLength
1."Half-Truism"3:26
2."Trust in You"3:09
3."You're Gonna Go Far, Kid"2:58
4."Hammerhead"4:38
5."Kristy, Are You Doing Okay?"3:42
6."Takes Me Nowhere"2:59
Side Two
No.TitleLength
1."A Lot Like Me"4:28
2."Nothingtown"3:29
3."Stuff Is Messed Up"3:32
4."Fix You"4:19
5."Let's Hear It for Rock Bottom"4:05
6."Rise and Fall"2:59

Reception

The album received mixed reviews from critics. While Stephen Erlewine for Allmusic compared "Fix You" to Coldplay's song by the same name and gave the album 2 stars out of 5, Kerrang! gave the album a very positive KKKK review, saying that the album is "an exquisite reminder of what a fabulous band they are".[citation needed]

In a interview to L.A Times[23], Dexter Holland said:

"Who decides what is and what isn't punk? I want to write songs that people hear and feel and I want to be successful and reach a big audience," he says. "I'm not trying to be the coolest guy in the world, I'm trying to write songs that mean something to people. As you get successful, sometimes you lose one set of fans and gain another."

Sales

Though the album's first week sales of around 46,000 were considerably lower than the debuts of its predecessors, including that of Splinter (87,000) and Conspiracy of One (125,000),[24] Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace did well when compared to its peers at its time of release. The CD's debut at #10 on the Billboard 200 in the US[25], was a position significantly higher than Splinter's peak position at 30. At the end of October sales increase more than 870,000 copies worldwide.

Chart performance

Charts (2008) Peak
position 		Certification Sales
Australian Albums Chart[26] 3 Gold[27] 35,000+
Austrian Albums Chart[26] 7 Gold 12,000+
Belgium Albums Chart[26] 32 - 6,300
Canadian Albums Chart[28] 4 Platinum[29] 80,000+
Finnish Albums Chart[26] 12 Gold 10,000
French Albums Chart[26] 6 - 27,800
German Albums Chart[30] 13 - 34,500+
Irish Albums Chart[31] 55 Platinum 15,000+
Japanese Albums Chart[32] 1 Gold[33] 100,000+
Netherlands Albums Chart[26] 73 - 6,700
New Zealand Albums Chart[26] 9 Platinum 15,000+
Portuguese Albums Chart[26] 24 Gold 10,000+
Spanish Albums Chart[26] 43 Gold 32,100+
Swedish Albums Chart[26] 52 - 8,000+
Swiss Albums Chart[26] 5 Gold 15,000
UK Albums Chart[34] 39 - 35,600+
U.S. Billboard 200[28] 10 - 310,000+

Release history

Release dates from The Offspring's official Web site.[35]

Personnel

The Offspring

Additional personnel

References

  1. ^ a b c Recording Begins, Offspring.com, 11-16-2006
  2. ^ a b c Maui, HI (Dexter), Offspring.com, 04-09-2008
  3. ^ a b Offspring Bring The Hits, Ultimate-Guitar.com, September 24, 2004
  4. ^ The Offspring have a new drummer, Offspring.com, 07-27-2007
  5. ^ http://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/chart_watch/59953/week-ending-aug-1-2010-the-downloading-of-eminem/
  6. ^ Huntington Beach, CA (Dexter), Offspring.com, 02-07-2006
  7. ^ Huntington Beach, CA (Dexter), Offspring.com, 02-15-2006
  8. ^ In Between (Dexter), The Offspring's Official Website, June 13, 2006
  9. ^ Bob Rock devoting energies to other artists following split from Metallica, Monstersandcritics.com, September 20, 2006
  10. ^ Huntington Beach, CA (Dexter), Offspring.com, 06-12-2007
  11. ^ Huntington Beach, CA (Dexter), Offspring.com, 07-18-2007
  12. ^ Journal: The Offspring
  13. ^ Journal: The Offspring
  14. ^ The Offspring's Dexter Holland talks new record, upcoming tour and new drummer, Punknews.org, February 21, 2008
  15. ^ Radio Rock (Finnish website)
  16. ^ MMR 24-7 Song Airplay Detail, Mediabase 24-7, June 23, 2008
  17. ^ KROQ 106.7 - What's New
  18. ^ [1]
  19. ^ [2]
  20. ^ 'New album and music video to premiere online' Offspring news item 06-06-08
  21. ^ "The Shit Is Fucked Up Tour". Noise Press. Retrieved on 2009-03-29
  22. ^ Sony Music
  23. ^ Boucher, Geoff (2008-05-05). "New Album Release Information". The Offspring. Retrieved 2008-05-05.
  24. ^ Ruben's #1 Debut Falls Short Of Clay's - News Story | Music, Celebrity, Artist News | MTV News
  25. ^ Coldplay Score Second Consecutive #1 Debut - News Story | Music, Celebrity, Artist News | MTV News
  26. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k [3] HitParade.ch.
  27. ^ "ARIA Charts - Accreditations - 2008 Albums" Australian Recording Industry Association.
  28. ^ a b "The Offspring - Charts & Awards - Billboard Albums" allmusic.
  29. ^ "Gold & Platinum Certifications for March 2009" Canadian Recording Industry Association.
  30. ^ "Media Control Charts - The Offspring" musicline.de.
  31. ^ "Irish Album Charts - The Offspring" irish-charts.com.
  32. ^ Riaj Database, Phileweb.com
  33. ^ "RIAJ Database - Search for The Offspring" Recording Industry Association of Japan.
  34. ^ "Chart Log UK (1994–2006) The O – Ozric Tentacles" Zobbel.
  35. ^ "Dexter's Interview".

External links

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