| Girlfriend | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Studio album by Matthew Sweet | ||||
| Released | October 22, 1991 | |||
| Recorded | 1990 at Axis Studios, New York City | |||
| Genre | Power pop,[1] alternative rock | |||
| Length | 60:19 | |||
| Label | Zoo Entertainment | |||
| Producer | Fred Maher and Matthew Sweet | |||
| Matthew Sweet chronology | ||||
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| Music sample | ||||
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"Evangeline"
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| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic | [2] |
| Robert Christgau | (A-) [3] |
| The Music Box | [4] |
| Rolling Stone | [5] |
Girlfriend is the third album by Matthew Sweet, his most commercially and critically successful album to date. AV Club has referred to it as Sweet's magnum opus and labeled it the best power pop album of the 1990s.[1] Sweet was joined in the studio by Lloyd Cole, Robert Quine, and Richard Lloyd, all musicians with whom he had worked previously.
Sweet recorded the album after his divorce and later said to Rolling Stone, "It's funny how the album ended up showing everything I needed to feel. Everything I needed as an antidote is there."[6] He told Entertainment Weekly, "People say, 'This is your big breakup record - will you still be able to write good songs?' I'm sure I'll be just as depressed at some other point in my life."[7]
The album peaked at 100 on the Billboard 200 album chart.[8] The title track, fueled by its anime-themed video, hit number 4 on the Modern Rock chart and 10 on the Mainstream Rock chart. "Divine Intervention" hit 23 on the Modern Rock chart.[9]
The cover features a photograph of actress Tuesday Weld from the late 1950s.[10] Originally called Nothing Lasts[10], the album was retitled following objections to the title from Weld.
The anime clips in the video for "Girlfriend" are taken from the movie Space Adventure Cobra and the clips in the video for "I've Been Waiting" are of the Urusei Yatsura character Lum Invader. "Weird Al" Yankovic parodied the use of animation on his television special Al TV by adding clips of Ren and Stimpy, Bugs Bunny, Betty Boop, and Rocky and Bullwinkle.
"Girlfriend" is featured in Crossroads. Cover version of "Girlfriend" is featured in Guitar Hero II. Cover version of "Girlfriend" is downloadable content for Guitar Hero III Mobile.
Contents |
In 2006, the album was remastered and released under the "Legacy Edition" label[11], with three bonus tracks (originally released on the "Girlfriend" single, subtitled "the superdeformed CD", and also available on the Japanese version of the album), plus a second disk of home demos, live versions and session recordings called Goodfriend. Subtitled "Another Take On 'Girlfriend'", Goodfriend was a promotional CD partly distributed through Sweet's fan club, and was not commercially released until the Legacy Edition.[12] 'Goodfriend' was the original name of the title track. But after early listeners universally misheard the lyric, Sweet changed the title to 'Girlfriend.
All tracks composed by Matthew Sweet; except where indicated
The three demo tracks appear only as bonus tracks from the 2006 Legacy Edition
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