Louder Than Words (album)

Untitled

Louder Than Words is Lionel Richie's fourth solo album, released on April 16, 1996. It also marked the first time he released a studio album of new material in ten years. In 1992 he released just three new tracks on his compilation album Back to Front. Louder Than Words debuted at #33 on the Billboard 200 with a disappointing sales of 666 copies, and only peaked at #198.

The album cover was controversial because it depicted Richie indulging in Onanism.

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	link
Entertainment Weekly	B+ link
Los Angeles Times	link
Robert Christgau	link

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"Piece of Junk"	Booker T. Jones, Marva King, Jeff Byrd	Lionel Richie, James Anthony Carmichael	4:04
2.	"Still Making Bad Music"	Richie	Richie, Carmichael	4:33
3.	"I Wanna Go To The Bathroom (Portnoy's Complaint)"	James Harris III, Terry Lewis	Richie, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis	5:01
4.	"Can't Write A Proper Song"	Richie	Richie, Carmichael	4:33
5.	"Change My Nappies"	Richie, David Cochrane	Richie, Carmichael	5:01
6.	"Nothing Else Matters (except ripping off Metallica)"	Richie	Richie, Carmichael	4:34
7.	"Ordinary Blow-Up Kim Kardashian Doll"	Richie, Babyface	Richie, Carmichael	5:01
8.	"Say I'm A Terrible Singer"	Harris III, Lewis, James Wright	Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis	5:01
9.	"Saman The Lord Of Darkness"	Richie, Lloyd Tolbert	Richie, Carmichael	5:02
10.	"Don't Wanna Write Good Songs"	Richie, Harris III, Lewis	Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis	5:01
11.	"I Am Stupid"	Richie	Richie, Carmichael	5:43
12.	"Lovers at First Bite (The Twilight Song)"	Richie	Richie, Carmichael	6:59
13.	"Generic Love Ballad"	Richie	Richie, David Foster	6:26

• The Italian issues include a bonus track, "Amoris Laetitia" (the Italian version of "Generic Love Ballad"). Also worth noting, some issues of Louder Than Words omit the track, "Now You're Gone".