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Light Grenades

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Light Grenades
Against a background with white and orange stripes features a bomb with white things and a heart in the middle. Above is "Incubus" in white and "Light Grenades" below in orange. A light is flashing in the background.
Studio album by
Incubus
ReleasedNovember 28, 2006
RecordedJanuary – July 2006
StudioHenson Recording Studio in Hollywood, California and at Southern Tracks Recording in Atlanta, Georgia
GenreAlternative rock
Length47:39
LabelEpic/Immortal
ProducerBrendan O'Brien
Incubus chronology
A Crow Left of the Murder...
(2004) 		Light Grenades
(2006) 		If Not Now, When?
(2011)
Singles from Light Grenades
  1. "Anna Molly"
    Released: September 20, 2006
  2. "Dig"
    Released: March 27, 2007
  3. "Oil and Water"
    Released: June 5, 2007
  4. "Love Hurts"
    Released: October 7, 2008
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
Alternative Press[2]
Blender[3]
Entertainment WeeklyB+[4]
IGN8.8/10[5]
PopMatters7/10[6]
Rock Sound8/10[7]
Rolling Stone[8]
Spin[9]

Light Grenades is the sixth studio album by alternative rock band Incubus, released on November 28, 2006 on Epic Records. The album sold 359,000 copies during its first week of release worldwide, and debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, selling 165,000 copies in the US in its first week; it is the band's first number one album.[10] However, until November 20, 2016,[11][12] Light Grenades held the dubious honor of having the title of the biggest drop from No. 1 in chart history, falling to number 37.[13] The album only achieved Gold, breaking a string of Platinum records beginning with 1999's Make Yourself.

History

"Earth to Bella" and "Love Hurts" made their live debut in front of an audience at the Make Some Noise concert on April 29, 2006.

"A Kiss to Send Us Off" and "Anna Molly" made their live debut on VH1's Decades Rock: Live Tribute to the Pretenders on August 11, 2006, even though the songs were not featured in the program. The same two songs were also performed at Edgefest 2006 on September 30 at Tempe Beach Park, Arizona.

"Rogues" made its debut at a pair of pre album-release shows at the London Astoria and the Berlin Postbahnhof on November 14 and 16, 2006.

The songs "Punch Drunk" and "Look Alive" were recorded during the Light Grenades sessions, but were originally only available as bonus tracks on the Japanese edition of the album. Live versions have since seen release worldwide on the Look Alive live DVD. The studio versions of both songs are also on Monuments and Melodies.

Musical style

Mike Einziger, Incubus' guitarist, commented in an interview with MTV that the album "sounds like 13 different bands playing 13 different songs... Every time we're about to start making a new album, I tell myself, 'Okay, this one's going to be cohesive,' and it never happens."[14] For the most part, Light Grenades expands upon the sounds previously explored in 2004's A Crow Left of the Murder....

Other songs showcase a new direction for the band. For example, Brandon Boyd describes the curious recording technique behind "Paper Shoes": "There's a song called 'Paper Shoes' where Michael and I mic'd our bodies with ambient mics and did the percussion tracks pounding on our chests and skulls. The galloping rhythm is us pounding on our chests. It was really funny. We were trying so hard not to laugh because we were sitting there like cavemen beating our chests!"

Themes

When asked about the album title, Boyd explained: "There's a song called that on the record and it felt like the most pertinent conceptual aspect of the album, the idea of throwing ideas at problems and the ideas explode with light and good results and intention on consciousness. So I started imagining imagery of students in different countries protesting and throwing Molotov cocktails with masks over their faces. But there's one brave student who runs up to the police line and, as opposed to throwing rocks or things that destroy, there's this concept of that one courageous, lonely student running up and throwing ideas and having them actually change things. It just seemed kind of a cool concept: the redefining of weaponry."

Track listing

All tracks are written by Incubus

No.TitleLength
1."Quicksand"2:13
2."A Kiss to Send Us Off"4:16
3."Dig"4:17
4."Anna Molly"3:46
5."Love Hurts"3:57
6."Light Grenades"2:20
7."Earth to Bella (Part I)"2:28
8."Oil and Water"3:50
9."Diamonds and Coal"3:47
10."Rogues"3:56
11."Paper Shoes"4:17
12."Pendulous Threads"5:35
13."Earth to Bella (Part II)"2:56
Japanese bonus tracks
No.TitleLength
14."Punch Drunk"5:14
15."Look Alive"4:21
iTunes bonus track
No.TitleLength
14."Anna Molly" (Acoustic)"3:59
Best-Buy Pre-sale bonus disc
No.TitleLength
14."Anna Molly" (Live)"3:55
15."Drive" (Live)"4:07
16."Love Hurts" (Acoustic)"3:57

Personnel

Incubus

Production

  • Brendan O'Brien – producer, mixing
  • Nick DiDia – engineer
  • Billy Bowers – additional engineering
  • Mike Einziger – additional engineering, engineering and mixing on "Quicksand"
  • Suzi Katayama – strings conductor
  • Tom Syrowski – assistant engineer
  • Matt Serricchio – assistant engineer
  • Glen Pittman – assistant engineer
  • Kevin Mills – assistant engineer
  • Tom Tapley – assistant engineer
  • Bob Ludwig – mastering

Singles

  • "Anna Molly" – was briefly available online on September 20. It was slated for release on October 16, and debuted at No. 19 on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks chart. Anna Molly peaked at No. 1 on the Modern Rock Chart, at No. 4 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks Chart and at No. 66 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song is featured in the music video game Guitar Hero: On Tour.
  • "Dig" is the second single from Light Grenades. The video for the single was chosen from a pool of applicants in a fan-film contest. The song is featured in the music video game Lego Rock Band.
  • "Love Hurts" was released as the third single in some international markets. It was released as the fourth US single in October 2008, 16 months after "Oil and Water".
  • "Oil and Water" was the third US single. It was released to radio stations on June 5, 2007.
  • "Light Grenades" is used on the soundtrack of the Xbox 360 game Project Gotham Racing 4.

Charts

Album

Year Chart First Week Sales Position
2006 Billboard Top 200 165,000 1

Singles

Year Single Chart Position
2006 "Anna Molly" Billboard Hot 100 66
Modern Rock Tracks 1
Mainstream Rock Tracks 4
Billboard Pop 100 81
2007 "Dig" Billboard Hot 100 94
Canadian Hot 100 72
Modern Rock Tracks 4
Mainstream Rock Tracks 17
Pop 100 96
Adult Top 40 17
"Oil and Water" Modern Rock Tracks 8
Mainstream Rock Tracks 38
2008 "Love Hurts" Modern Rock Tracks 1

Certifications

Region Certification Certified units/sales
Canada (Music Canada)[16] Gold 50,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[17] Silver 60,000*
United States (RIAA)[18] Gold 500,000^

* Sales figures based on certification alone.
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References

  1. ^ Allmusic review
  2. ^ "Reviews – Alternative Press". Archived from the original on October 13, 2007. Retrieved October 8, 2007.
  3. ^ Blender review Archived September 30, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ "Light Grenades - EW.com".
  5. ^ Foreman, Jon (December 7, 2006). "Incubus – Light Grenades".
  6. ^ "Music Reviews, Features, Essays, News, Columns, Blogs, MP3s and Videos – PopMatters".
  7. ^ Rock Sound review[permanent dead link]
  8. ^ "Light Grenades".
  9. ^ Spin review Archived February 22, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  10. ^ Katie Hasty, "Incubus' 'Grenades' Ignite At No. 1", Billboard, December 6, 2006.
  11. ^ Jeff Giles, "Bon Jovi’s ‘This House Is Not for Sale’ Takes Steep Tumble on Sales Charts". Ultimate Classic Rock, 1 December 2016
  12. ^ Keith Caulfield, "A Tribe Called Quest Returns to No. 1 on Billboard 200 Chart After 20-Year Wait". Billboard, 20 November 2016
  13. ^ "Top 200 Albums". Billboard. Retrieved January 21, 2017.
  14. ^ Chris Harris, "Incubus Find Explosive Cure For Boredom: Light Grenades", MTV, August 1, 2006
  15. ^ "Incubus-Earth to bella (live) pt.2". April 2, 2009. Retrieved February 28, 2012 – via YouTube.
  16. ^ "Canadian album certifications – Incubus – Light Grenades". Music Canada.
  17. ^ "British album certifications – Incubus – Light Grenades". British Phonographic Industry. Select albums in the Format field. Select Silver in the Certification field. Type Light Grenades in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
  18. ^ "American album certifications – Incubus – Light Grenades". Recording Industry Association of America.
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