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Anthem (Less Than Jake album)

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Anthem
Studio album by
Less Than Jake
ReleasedMay 20, 2003
RecordedOctober - December 2002, Piety Street Recording in New Orleans, Morning View Studios in Malibu
GenreSka punk,[1] punk rock,[2] pop punk,[2][3] Skate punk[3]
Length43:52
LabelSire
ProducerRob Cavallo
Less Than Jake chronology
Goodbye Blue & White
(2002) 		Anthem
(2003) 		B Is for B-sides
(2004)
Singles from Anthem
  1. "The Science of Selling Yourself Short"
    Released: December 2, 2003

Anthem (stylized as anthem.) is the fifth studio album by American ska punk band Less Than Jake, released on May 20, 2003 on Sire Records. Produced by Rob Cavallo, the album was preceded by the single "She's Gonna Break Soon", and was the band's most commercially successful album to date, reaching number 45 on the Billboard 200. It is the first of the band's albums to feature saxophone player Peter "JR" Wasilewski since he joined the band in 2000.

During the recording sessions, the band worked on a second, self-produced album of additional tracks each night after Cavallo left the studio. This was subsequently released the following year under the name B Is for B-sides.[4]

Recording and composition

Recording took place between October and December 2002 at Piety Street Recording in New Orleans and Morning View Studio in Malibu, California, with producer Rob Cavallo.

The album includes a re-recorded version of "Look What Happened" from the band's previous album, Borders & Boundaries, which omits the horn-driven bridge between the intro and first verse. Still another form of the song exists, used on the Grind soundtrack, omitting all horn section. The band continues to play the original version live.

The title of the album directly comes from a lyric in the song "Screws Fall Out", but also from its use among the band to describe a powerful song that the band can rally behind, similar to "My Very Own Flag" and "Gainesville Rock City" from Pezcore and Borders & Boundaries respectively. Bassist, Roger Manganelli, often jokes that the title was selected by the band writing down every single word in the English language, crossing out words until "Anthem" was the only one left uncrossed.

Release

In April and May 2003, the group supported Good Charlotte and New Found Glory on the Honda Civic Tour.[5] A radio edit of "She's Gonna Break Soon" without horns was released as a single on April 15.[6] It was released on May 20, 2003 on Sire, an imprint of Warner Bros. Records. From June to August, the group went on the 2003 edition of Warped Tour.[7] "The Science of Selling Yourself Short" was released as a single on July 1,[8] and released to radio a week later.[9] The music video for the song was posted on the group's website in late August.[10]

Reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic(71/100)[11]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
Alternative Press[11]
Blender[11]
Playlouder[2]
Q[11]
Rolling Stone[3]

The album performed very well, debuting higher than any Less Than Jake album to date.[12] Songs released from the record include "She’s Gonna Break Soon" and "The Science of Selling Yourself Short", two of Less Than Jake's most commercially successful songs, and both of which became video singles.

Anthem is, commercially, the band's most successful to date; the album debuted at #45 on the Billboard 200[13] (the band's highest to date), spent 12 weeks on the Billboard 200, and debuted at #7 for Top Internet Albums. "The Science of Selling Yourself Short" was a last-minute idea for the record, and turned out to be the band's most successful song to date (#36 Billboard Modern Rock Chart). BuzzFeed included the album at number 23 on their "36 Pop Punk Albums You Need To Hear Before You F——ing Die" list.[14]

Track listing

No.TitleLength
1."Welcome to the New South"2:46
2."The Ghosts of Me and You"3:21
3."Look What Happened"3:06
4."The Science of Selling Yourself Short"3:07
5."Short Fuse Burning"2:19
6."Motown Never Sounded So Good"2:38
7."The Upwards War and the Down Turned Cycle"2:59
8."Escape From the A-Bomb House"3:31
9."Best Wishes to Your Black Lung"2:54
10."She's Gonna Break Soon"3:14
11."That's Why They Call It a Union"3:03
12."Plastic Cup Politics"2:17
13."The Brightest Bulb Has Burned Out/Screws Fall Out"4:54
14."Surrender"3:43

Charts

Chart (2003) Peak
position
US Billboard 200[15] 45

Artwork

The CD packaging included a different piece of artwork for each track except "Surrender", and two additional pieces not attached to a specific song, but still present and credited in the booklet. Each song's lyrics are printed on the back of a piece of artwork, but no lyrics are provided for "Surrender". The art direction was done by Vinnie Fiorello and Wendy Dougan, with Fiorello creating the concept for the CD booklet and Dougan designing the booklet itself. Most notable are a piece by Shepard Fairey of Obey Giant for "The Upwards War and the Down Turned Cycle" and Chip Wass's design for "The Science of Selling Yourself Short". The latter would inspire the music video for "The Science Of Selling Yourself Short" and be immortalized as a toy in Less Than Jake drummer Vinnie's Monkey Vs. Robot collection.

Cover Artwork
  • Concept by Stephanie Allen
  • Artwork by Erik Davison
Song Artwork
  • "Welcome to the New South" by Jeff Soto
  • "The Ghosts of Me And You" by Steve Vance
  • "Look What Happened" by Wendy Ann Garbner
  • "The Science of Selling Yourself Short" by Chip Wass
  • "Short Fuse Burning" by Florenzio Zavala
  • "Motown Never Sounded So Good" by Kurt Halsey Fredericksen
  • "The Upwards War and the Down Turned Cycle" by Shepard Fairey
  • "Escape From the A-Bomb House" by David Choe
  • "Best Wishes to Your Black Lung" by Alison Zawacki
  • "She's Gonna Break Soon" by Mitch O'Connell
  • "That's Why They Call It a Union" by Peter Wonsowski
  • "Plastic Cup Politics" by Scott Sinclair
  • "The Brightest Bulb Has Burned Out" by Camille Rose Garcia
  • "Screws Fall Out" by Speed Scott Hall
Additional Artwork
  • Jason Miracle
  • Shawn Hall

Personnel

Allusions

  • The guitar riff to "Short Fuse Burning" is a tribute to AC/DC's "Thunderstuck"
  • "Best Wishes To Your Black Lung" is written about Pete Anna, who left the band to go back to Chicago after Borders & Boundaries to become a firefighter
  • "The Brightest Bulb Has Burned Out" was written about Carter Graham, as was "Is This Thing On?"
  • A version of "The Brightest Bulb Has Burned Out" which features Billy Bragg singing the second verse appears on the compilation album Rock Against Bush, Vol. 1.
  • The band covers Cheap Trick's "Surrender" on the album.

References

  1. ^ a b allmusic review
  2. ^ a b c "Playlouder review". Archived from the original on 2003-06-03. Retrieved 2013-03-18.
  3. ^ a b c "Rolling Stone review". Archived from the original on 2008-01-01. Retrieved 2007-09-21.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  4. ^ "Less Than Jake rank their albums, from worst to best". Team Rock. May 12, 2016. Retrieved October 6, 2016.
  5. ^ Moss, Corey (February 25, 2003). "New Found Glory, Good Charlotte To Roll Out On Civic Tour". MTV. Viacom. Retrieved February 23, 2018.
  6. ^ https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/shes-gonna-break-soon-radio/id299082429
  7. ^ D'angelo, Joe (January 21, 2003). "Warped Tour Dates Announced, 17 More Bands Added". MTV. Retrieved June 29, 2016.
  8. ^ https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/science-selling-yourself-short/id1782921
  9. ^ "FMQB Airplay Archive: Modern Rock". Friday Morning Quarterback Album Report, Incorporated. Archived from the original on March 22, 2013. Retrieved October 30, 2016.
  10. ^ MTV Staff (August 21, 2003). "For The Record: Quick News On Beanie Sigel, Ashanti, Chevelle, MxPx, Sheryl Crow, Thursday & More". MTV. Viacom. Retrieved February 2, 2018.
  11. ^ a b c d Critic reviews at Metacritic
  12. ^ AllMusic Charts: Anthem Accessed 19 October 2007
  13. ^ http://www.mtv.com/news/1472109/staind-marked-for-1-on-billboard-albums-chart/
  14. ^ Sherman, Maria; Broderick, Ryan (July 2, 2013). "36 Pop Punk Albums You Need To Hear Before You F----ing Die". BuzzFeed. Retrieved July 29, 2015.
  15. ^ "Less Than Jake Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved May 27, 2003.


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