Break the Cycle

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This article is about the album. For the Motionless in White song, see Reincarnate (album).
Untitled

Break the Cycle is the third studio album by American rock band Staind, released through Elektra Entertainment and Flip Records in 2001. It is Staind's most successful album to date, and was the album that broke them into the mainstream. It was a huge international success for the band, as it spent 3 weeks at number one position in the U.S. album charts and many weeks in the top 10 album charts of the Billboard 200, the UK and New Zealand. It sold at least 4 million copies in 2001. The album was certified 5x platinum by the RIAA.

A total of 5 singles were released from this album, "It's Been Awhile", "Fade", "Outside", "For You" and "Epiphany", all of which did reasonably well. There were videos made for each of these songs (some of which can be found on Staind's MTV Unplugged DVD). The first four singles had varying degrees of success in the UK, "It's Been Awhile" charting the highest of the four released in both countries. The album also includes a track called "Waste" dedicated to a teenage fan who committed suicide. Like Staind's previous album Dysfunction, Break The Cycle has nu metal and alternative metal sounds. However, the album also shows the band's softer post-grunge sound, an element that the band wished to progress further with more acoustic and soft ballad tracks. This included an acoustic rendition of the entire album as a second disc, but this was not finalized.

There is also a bonus track on the album. In the United States, the bonus track is an acoustic version of "It's Been Awhile". However, on the Australian and European editions, the bonus track is a live acoustic version of "Outside", performed with Fred Durst in Biloxi, Mississippi on the Family Values Tour 1999.

Sales

Because of the record's high recording budget of $800,000, there were many worries about whether or not the album would be successful, and the album had to basically top charts internationally to break even with studio costs. Break the Cycle debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 with first week sales of at least 716,000 copies. It remained at the top the following week with 329,299 copies. In the third week it was number one again with 244,698 copies. In the fourth week it dropped to number 2 with 221,179 copies. It sold over 1,000,000 copies in the first 3 weeks. As of June 2006, it sold 5,467,000 copies in the U.S. alone. Break the Cycle also topped the UK charts, where it was certified platinum, in New Zealand and in Canada, where it had the multi-platinum status. The world sales are around 8 million copies.

Reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic(55/100)[2]
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[3]
Blender[2]
Entertainment WeeklyC[4]
NME(2/10)[5]
Q[2]
Rolling Stone[6]
Yahoo! Music UK[7]

Initial critical response ranged from mixed to average. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has received an average score of 55, based on 9 reviews.[2]

Track listing

All lyrics written by Aaron Lewis, all music by Staind, except where noted.

No.TitleMusicLength
1."Open Your Eyes" 3:52
2."Pressure"
3:22
3."Fade" 4:03
4."It's Been Awhile" 4:25
5."Change" 3:35
6."Can't Believe" 2:48
7."Epiphany"Lewis4:19
8."Suffer" 3:59
9."Safe Place" 4:35
10."For You" 3:26
11."Outside"Lewis4:53
12."Waste" 3:56
13."Take It" 3:37
Total length:50:49
U.S. Edition + Bonus track
No.TitleLength
14."It's Been Awhile (Acoustic)"4:30
Total length:55:19
Australian and European Edition + Bonus track
No.TitleLength
14."Outside (Live Version)"5:40
Total length:56:29

Personnel

Chart positions

Album

Preceded by Billboard 200 number-one album
June 9–29, 2001 		Succeeded by
Preceded by UK number one album
September 1, 2001 – September 7, 2001 		Succeeded by

References

  1. ^ "Staind For You (Single) - Spirit of Metal Webzine". Spirit of Metal. Retrieved 25 November 2014.
  2. ^ a b c d "Break the Cycle (2001): Reviews". Metacritic. CNET Networks, Inc. Retrieved 2009-03-13.
  3. ^ Gallucci, Michael. Break the Cycle at AllMusic. Retrieved July 17, 2011.
  4. ^ Morgan, Laura (May 11, 2001). "Break the Cycle Review". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved March 23, 2012. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  5. ^ Pattison, Louis (August 10, 2001). "Album Reviews - Staind : Break The Cycle". NME. Retrieved September 28, 2012. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  6. ^ Walters, Barry (June 7, 2001). "Staind: Break The Cycle: Music Review". Rolling Stone (RS 870). Archived from the original on April 16, 2008. Retrieved July 17, 2011.
  7. ^ Oliver, Lisa (August 20, 2001). "Staind - 'Staind - Break The Cycle (EastWest)'". Yahoo! Music UK. Archived from the original on November 3, 2004. Retrieved September 28, 2012.
  8. ^ a b "Staind – Break the Cycle – charts & awards". AllMusic. Retrieved June 22, 2011.
  9. ^ "Staind – Break the Cycle – UK chart history". Chart Stats. Retrieved June 22, 2011.
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