Eminem released The Eminem Show

The Eminem Show Eminem

Released: May 26, 2002 Peak: 16 US, 16 RB, 15 UK, 19 CN, 17 AU Sales (in millions): 10.3 US, 1.2 UK, 27.0 world (includes US and UK) Genre: rap

Tracks: Song Title (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to singles charts. Curtains Up (skit) White America Business (7/13/02, 73a RB, 6 UK, 4 AU) Cleanin’ Out My Closet (8/3/02, 4 US, 11 RB, 4 UK, 3 AU, 2x platinum) Square Dance The Kiss (skit) Soldier Say Goodbye Hollywood Drips Without Me (5/11/02, 2 US, 1 UK, 13 RB, 15 MR, 1 UK, 4 CN, 1 AU, 4x platinum) Paul Rosenberg (skit) Sing for the Moment (4/5/03, 14 US, 6 UK, 2 CN, 5 AU, platinum) Superman (2/1/03, 15 US, 44 RB, platinum) Hailie’s Song Steve Berman (skit) When the Music Stops Say What You Say ‘Till I Collapse My Dad’s Gone Crazy (with Hailie Jade) (8/3/02, #61a RB) Curtains Close (skit) Total Running Time: 77:28

Rating: 3.864 out of 5.00 (average of 26 ratings) Quotable: “Essentially a holding pattern, but it’s a glorious one – one that proves Eminem is the gold standard in pop music in 2002.” – Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album: “It’s all about the title. First time around, Eminem established his alter ego, Slim Shady – the character who deliberately shocked and offended millions, turning Eminem into a star. Second time at bat, he turned out The Marshall Mathers LP, delving deeper into his past while revealing complexity as an artist and a personality that helped bring him an even greater audience and much, much more controversy. Third time around, it’s The Eminem Show – a title that signals that Eminem’s public persona is front and center, for the very first time.” AMG Q magazine said the first two albums “aired dirty laundy, then the world’s most celebrated rapper examined life in the hall of mirrors he’d built for himself.” WK The album’s title was inspired by the film The Truman Show. Jim Carrey portrayed Truman Burbank, a man who unknowingly lives within a television show. Eminem said, “My life felt like it was becoming a circus around that time, and I felt like I was always being watched.” WK Cleanin’ Out My Closet, the second song he wrote for the album, includes the line “I’d like to welcome y’all to The Eminem Show.” WK The album consequently keyed in on “the psychic toll of being America’s biggest pop star and – according to scolds on both ends of the political spectrum – number one moral menace.” RS’11 He addresses very public incidents, such as “the furor over his alleged homophobia and his scolding from Lynne Cheney, which leads to furious criticism about the hypocrisy of America and its government.” AMG He also treads familiar ground, such as his love for his daughter, Hailie, and his troubled relationships with his parents and his ex-wife, Kim. USA Today’s Edna Gundersen accused Eminem as “hoisting The Eminem Show to a level of self-absorption rivaled only by Woody Allen.” WK She noted that he “displays an admirable dexterity in blending invective and invention, even though his approach is more reactionary than revolutionary.” WK “The rhymes were as densely packed and virtuosic as ever (‘When I speak, it’s tongue in cheek/I’d yank my fuckin’ teeth before I’d ever bite my tongue’), but they were also poignantly confessional; the beats largely jettisoned perky hip-hop to embrace the power chords and grandeur of Seventies rock.” RS’11 “All this is married to a production very similar to that of its predecessor – spare, funky, fluid, and vibrant, punctuated with a couple of ballads along the way. So, that means The Eminem Show is essentially a holding pattern, but it’s a glorious one – one that proves Eminem is the gold standard in pop music in 2002, delivering stylish, catchy, dense, funny, political music that rarely panders (apart from a power ballad ‘Dream On’ rewrite on Sing for the Moment and maybe the sex rap Drips, that is).” AMG “Even if there is little new ground broken, the presentation is exceptional – Dre never sounds better as a producer than when Eminem pushes him forward (witness the stunning oddity Square Dance, a left-field classic with an ominous waltz beat) and, with three albums under his belt, Eminem has proven himself to be one of the all-time classic MCs, surprising as much with his delivery as with what he says.” AMG “Perhaps the album runs a little too long at 20 songs and 80 minutes and would have flowed better if trimmed by 25 minutes, but that’s a typical complaint about modern hip-hop records. Fact is, it still delivers more great music than most of its peers in rock or rap, and is further proof that Eminem is an artist of considerable range and dimension.” AMG Complex magazine said the album “cemented Eminem’s place as one of the most important figures in rap history.” WK NME’s Alex Needham said The Eminem Show “is bigger, bolder and far more consistent than its predecessors” WK while Entertainment Weekly’s David Browne called it “a testament to the skills of its star.” WK Rolling Stone’s Kris Ex went so far as to say Eminem “may have made the best rap rock album in history.” WK The album is Eminem’s best-seller and is the second best-seller of the 21st century, tied with Norah Jones’ Come Away with Me and only behind Adele’s 21. It was nominated for a Grammy for Album of the Year and won for Rap Album of the Year (his third such award). Without Me won the Grammy for Best Music Video and MTV’s Video of the Year award.

Resources and Related Links: DMDB Encyclopedia entry for Eminem AMG All Music Guide review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine RS’11 Rolling Stone (7/8/2011). “100 Best Albums of the 2000s” WK Wikipedia Other Related DMDB Pages: First posted 3/12/2008; last updated 4/18/2022.

3 Doors Down released “Kryptonite”

Kryptonite 3 Doors Down

Writer(s): Brad Arnold, Matt Roberts, Todd Harrell (see lyrics here) Released: January 11, 2000 First Charted: February 5, 2000 Peak: 3 US, 16 BA, 15 RR, 4 A40, 24 AA, 19 AR, 111 MR, 17 UK, 6 CN, 8 AU, 1 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 5.0 US, 0.4 UK Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 2.0 radio, 533.88 video, 783.97 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: 3 Doors Down owes their first hit, and perhaps their career, to the fact that Brad Arnold, the band’s lead singer, was bad at math. As he says, when he was fifteen his teacher knew he wasn’t good at the subject, but let him go. Arnold entertained himself in class by writing, as he says, probably “about half of that Better Life album.” SF One of those songs in particular started out as Arnold tapping on his desk. That became the beat for “Krpytonite.” SF It was, he says, only the third or fourth song he’d ever written. SF Lyrically, the song is a series of questions like “If I fall down, will you be there for me?” and “If I go crazy, will you still call me Superman?” However, Arnold says, “It’s easy to be there for someone when they’re down. But it’s not always easy to be there for somebody when they’re doing good.” SF The song, therefore, became not about being there for someone in their time of need, but not being jealous when the person is successful. Arnold says the song actually has very little to do with Superman, despite the line dropping his name and the title referencing the substance which renders the hero powerless. SF The video, however, capitalized on the hero angle, portraying an old man donning a superhero costume to chase down and capture a man who harasses and abducts a woman. WK Resources: DMDB Encyclopedia entry for 3 Doors Down SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia First posted 5/9/2020; last updated 8/8/2023.

 

R.E.M. “Superman” charted

Superman R.E.M.

Writer(s): Gary Zekley, Mitchell Bottler (see lyrics here) First Charted: November 1, 1986 Peak: 17 AR, 19 CO, 3 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 2.8 video, 8.39 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: By the 1990s, R.E.M. achieved superstardom, thanks to Out of Time and Automatic for the People both achieving worldwide sales of 18 million. They’d first reached platinum status with their fifth album, 1987’s Document, thanks to the top-ten success of “The One I Love.” However, over their first four albums it didn’t look like the Athens, Georgia-based band would ever move much beyond its college rock audience. The band released their first single, “Radio Free Europe,” in 1981 and it could make a claim as the college rock anthem. After the 1983 release of their debut album Murmur, critics embraced them for their jangly pop and new folk-rock sound that defied categorization. Over the next three years they released Reckoning, Fables of the Reconstruction, and Life’s Rich Pageant. They definitely showed consistency – all four albums were gold sellers that peaked in the top 40 of the Billboard album chart. After releasing the top-10 album rock cut “Fall on Me,” R.E.M. followed up with “Superman,” the second single from the Life’s Rich Pageant album. While the band had released cover songs as B-sides of previous singles, this was the first time they released a cover as an A-side. The original was recorded by the Clique. The sunshine pop band from Austin, Texas, only released one album in 1969. It featured the singles “Sugar on Sunday (#22 BB) and “I’ll Hold Out My Hand” (#45 BB). The B-side of “Sugar on Sunday” was “Superman.” The song is “about a guy who sees himself as Superman…[and] believes he can see right through the girl (presumably using his X-ray vision) so he knows that she doesn’t really love the guy she’s with.” SF The song takes on a staker vibe when the protagonist “threatens to find her even if she’s a million miles away.” SF Cash Box called R.E.M.’s cover of the song “another sparing example of simplicity maximized.” WK Rolling Stone said it was “an irresistibly cheesy psychedelic grunge rocker.” WK This featured a rare lead vocal from bassist Mike Mills instead of usual singer Michael Stipe. Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for R.E.M. SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 6/18/2024.

R.E.M. Life’s Rich Pageant released

Life’s Rich Pageant R.E.M.

Released: July 28, 1986 Peak: 21 US, 43 UK, 39 CN, -- AU Sales (in millions): 0.5 US, -- UK, 3.0 world (includes US + UK) Genre: college rock

Tracks: Song Title (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to charts. Begin the Begin (16 CO, 31 DF) These Days (24 DF) Fall on Me (8/9/86, 94 BB, 5 AR, 7 CO, 2 DF) Cuyahoga (32 DF) Hyena (32 DF) Underneath the Bunker Flowers of Guatemala I Believe (31 DF) What if We Give It Away? (32 DF) Just a Touch Swan Swan H (24 DF) Superman (11/1/86, 17 AR, 19 CO, 3 DF) Total Running Time: 37:24 The Players: Bill Berry (drums, percussion) Peter Buck (guitar.) Mike Mills (bass, piano, keyboards) Michael Stipe (vocals)

Rating: 4.212 out of 5.00 (average of 27 ratings) Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album: “Fables of the Reconstruction was intentionally murky, and Life’s Rich Pageant was constructed as its polar opposite. Teaming with producer Don Gehman, who previously worked with John Mellencamp, R.E.M. developed their most forceful record to date. Where previous records kept the rhythm section in the background, Pageant emphasizes the beat, and the band turns in its hardest rockers to date, including the anthemic Begin the Begin and the punky Just a Touch.” “From the first sonic blastoff of Peter Buck’s opening riff on ‘Begin the Begin,’ it’s clear this was the moment when the darlings of college radio decided: To hell with student unions, we want to fill arenas!” EW’12 “The cleaner production also benefits the ballads and the mid-tempo janglers, particularly since it helps reveal Michael Stipe’s growing political obsessions, especially on the environmental anthems Fall on Me and Cuyahoga.” “The group hasn’t entirely left myths behind – witness the Civil War ballad Swan Swan H – but the band sound more contemporary both musically and lyrically than they did on either Fables or Murmur, which helps give the record an extra kick. And even with excellent songs like I Believe, Flowers of Guatemala, These Days, and What if We Give It Away, it’s ironic that the most memorable moment comes from the garage rock obscurity Superman, which is sung with glee by Mike Mills.”

Resources and Related Links: DMDB encyclopedia entry for R.E.M. AM AllMusic.com review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine EW’12 Entertainment Weekly (9/27/2012). “Top 100 Albums” Other Related DMDB Pages: Last updated 6/18/2024.