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- For the 1981 album by Toyah see Anthem (Toyah album).
Anthem is an album by ska punk band Less Than Jake. It was released May 20, 2003 on Sire Records, an imprint of Warner Bros. Records. It was the band's first release on this label. Recording took place between October and December of 2002 at Piety Street Recording in New Orleans, LA and Morning View Studio in Malibu, CA, both with producer Rob Cavallo.
The album performed very well, debuting higher than any Less Than Jake album to date[1]. Successful 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. The album includes a slight reworking of "Look What Happened" off of Borders & Boundaries which omits the horn-driven bridge between the intro and first verse. Curiously, the band continues to play the original version live. Despite all the covers Less Than Jake has written and performed, Cheap Trick's "Surrender" is the only to appear on the A-Side of an LP release.
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" off of Pezcore and Borders & Boundaries respectively. Roger Manganelli, the bass player, 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.
[edit] Artwork
The CD packaging included a different piece of artwork for each track except "Surrender", and two additional pieces not attached to an specific song, but still present and credited in the booklet. One of these can be assumed to represent "Surrender", but is not credited as such. 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.
[edit] Cover Artwork
[edit] Song Artwork
[edit] Additional Artwork
[edit] Track listing
- "Welcome to the New South" – 2:46
- "The Ghosts of Me and You" – 3:21
- "Look What Happened" – 3:06
- "The Science of Selling Yourself Short" – 3:07
- "Short Fuse Burning" – 2:19
- "Motown Never Sounded So Good" – 2:38
- "The Upwards War and the Down Turned Cycle" – 2:59
- "Escape From the A-Bomb House" – 3:31
- "Best Wishes to Your Black Lung" – 2:54
- "She's Gonna Break Soon" – 3:14
- "That's Why They Call It a Union" – 3:03
- "Plastic Cup Politics" – 2:17
- "The Brightest Bulb Has Burned Out/Screws Fall Out" – 4:54
- "Surrender" – 3:45
- The Japanese release includes, in place of "Surrender":
- "A.S.A.O.K." – 2:08
[edit] Personnel
- Luis Conte - additional percussion
- Jamie Muhoberac - additional keyboards
- Heather Tabor - backup vocals ("Look What Happened")
[edit] Miscellanea
- "Welcome To The New South" was finished as the band was recording the album in New Orleans
- "The Science of Selling Yourself Short" was a last-minute idea for the record, and turned out to be the band's most succesful song to date (#37 Billboard Modern Rock Chart)
- 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 music video to "She's Gonna Break Soon" feature Alexis Bledel from Gilmore Girls
- "The Brightest Bulb Has Burned" was also written about Carter Graham, as was "Is This Thing On?"
- "Surrender" was featured on an episode of Scrubs.
[edit] References
