| Waking Up the Neighbours | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Studio album by Bryan Adams | ||||
| Released | September 24, 1991 | |||
| Recorded | March 1990-June 1991 at Battery Studios, England and the Warehouse Studios, Canada | |||
| Genre | Rock | |||
| Length | 74:52 | |||
| Label | A&M | |||
| Producer | Bryan Adams, Robert John "Mutt" Lange | |||
| Bryan Adams chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Waking Up the Neighbours | ||||
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Waking Up the Neighbours is an album by Canadian singer/songwriter Bryan Adams released in 1991 (see 1991 in music) and his sixth studio album. The album was recorded at Battery Studios in England, and at The Warehouse Studio in Vancouver, mixed at Mayfair Studios in England, and mastered by Bob Ludwig at Masterdisk in New York City. "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You" was number one on the British charts for a record-breaking sixteen weeks.[1] The album held the #1 spot on the UK album chart for one week.[2] and is Adams' second-best-selling album.[3]
The album was also notable in Canada for creating controversy concerning the system of Canadian content.[4] Although Adams was one of Canada's biggest recording stars at the time, his collaboration with the British–Zambian Lange meant that, under the rules in force until 1991, Waking Up the Neighbours did not qualify as Canadian content.[4] As a result of Adams's complaints, in September of that year, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission announced that the Canadian content rules would be changed to allow collaborations with non-Canadians.[4]
Contents |
The album was recorded at Battery Studios in England and the Warehouse Studios in Canada. Recording began in March 1990, and along with mixing, finished in June 1991. Robert John "Mutt" Lange, previously known for his work with AC/DC, Foreigner, and Def Leppard, was helping Adams' writing the songs for his next album. Adams' spent much of his time in Hindhead and London, England with Lange working on his sixth album.[5]
"(Everything I Do) I Do It for You" is a song co-written and performed by Bryan Adams, featured on the soundtrack for the film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves in 1991. It was an enormous chart success internationally, spending seven weeks at number one in the United States' Billboard Hot 100, sixteen consecutive weeks at number one in the UK singles chart (the longest in British chart history), and nine weeks at number one on the Canadian singles chart in Canada.[2][5][6] The song won a Grammy Award for Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture or Television in the Grammy Awards of 1992, and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Song of 1991.[7]
It was the most successful single off the album, and has become one of the most successful songs of all time. The song came about when Adams was approached to write something by the producers of the upcoming Kevin Costner film, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, and was asked to work on a theme song. He was provided a tape of orchestration written by the composer of the film score, Michael Kamen.[5] With this, he and Lange used a section of Michael's orchestration and created "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You," which was then placed deep into the closing credits of the film when it opened on June 14, 1991.[5] It's interesting to note that the song went to number one the week before the film's release and went on to top the charts in 16 countries and sold about 10 million copies worldwide becoming one of the biggest selling singles of all time.[8] The song was nominated for an Academy Award but won a Grammy award for best song from a motion picture. Years later when the BBC asked Adams' about the recent acoustic live version from his Bare Bones CD "Do you ever get bored of hearing your record-breaking hit Everything I Do?" Adams said
"Of course not. What a silly question."[9]
In May 1991, Julien Temple directed the music video for "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You", The music video was shot in Sheffield, England May 17–18.[10]
"Can't Stop This Thing We Started" was the second single from the album. A rock song in contrast to "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You", it peaked at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100, behind Prince's "Cream".[6] "Can't Stop This Thing We Started" received two nominations at the Grammy Awards of 1992 for Best Rock Song and Best Rock Performance, Solo, winning none.[3]
"There Will Never Be Another Tonight" was the third single from the album. The title came from a fragment Bryan Adams and Jim Vallance wrote in late 1980s. The phrase was written into the song in the end of 1990 and released on Adams' album in 1991.
"Thought I'd Died and Gone to Heaven" was the fourth single released from Waking up the Neighbours. Written by Mutt Lange and Bryan Adams the song was the first song written for the album. "Thought I'd Died and Gone to Heaven" reached #13 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #14 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks, In the UK, it reached #8.[2][6]
"All I Want Is You", "Do I Have to Say the Words?" (#11 on the Billboard Hot 100) and "Touch the Hand" where also released as singles but didn't get the heavy rotation as the first four singles released.[6]
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic | [11] |
| Robert Christgau | [12] |
| Entertainment Weekly | (B-)[13] |
| Rolling Stone | [14] |
Waking Up the Neighbours co-produced by Adams and Mutt Lange and peaked at number six on the Billboard 200.[6] The album was released in September 1991 and album and single topped the charts in many countries with "(Everything I Do) I Do It For You" spending record-breaking 16 weeks at number one on UK Singles Chart and topped the charts in 17 countries.[1][4] It also made record-breaking sales of 4 million copies in the US.[15] Canadian content regulations were revised in 1991 to allow radio stations to credit airplay of this album towards their legal requirements to play Canadian music.[4] The album has become Adams second best-selling album worldwide.[3] Adams won a Grammy Award in 1992 for Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture or Television for "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You".
Waking Up the Neighbours included other hit singles including "Can't Stop This Thing We Started", "There Will Never Be Another Tonight", "Thought I'd Died and Gone to Heaven", "All I Want Is You", "Do I Have to Say the Words?" and "Touch the Hand" and all had accompanying music videos. All of these songs including "Do I Have to Say the Words?" placed on the Billboard Hot 100. "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You" was the most successful song from Waking Up the Neighbours on the rock charts, reaching number 10 on the Mainstream Rock Charts and number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.[6] "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You" arguably became Adams' most recognizable and popular song. Its music video received heavy airplay on music television.
The album made much controversy in Canada concerning the system of Canadian Content, even if Adams was one of Canada's biggest recording stars at the time, his collaboration with non-Canadians meant that the album and all its songs were not of Canadian content.[4]
In February 1992, Adams had issues with his homeland’s “Canadian Content” regulations, which restricted airplay of his album because Adams co-wrote and co-produced the record with an Englishman, Mutt Lange.[16] Adams briefly threatened to boycott the annual Juno Awards, where his album had been completely ignored by the Juno Awards (who are subsided by the CRTC). He ended up winning the Entertainer (voted by the public ) and Producer of the Year Award.[16] Adams publicly criticised the law, calling it "a disgrace, a shame...stupidity". He continued his attack with;
"You'd never hear Elton John being declared un-British," Adams continues. It's time to abolish the CRTC. Not everyone agrees."[4]
September that very same year, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission announced that Canadian content rules would be changed to allow collaborations with non-Canadians.[4]
Before releasing the album, Adams had already started a tour promoting it, and on June 8, 1991, he held large concerts in Europe co-headlining with ZZ Top. Shortly after the tour started, "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You" was released as the debut single for the album. The single became a worldwide hit.[17] Adams further supported the new album with his tour Waking Up the World, which started in October 1991 and ran through May 1993. On October 4, 1991, the World Tour started in Belfast, Northern Ireland. On December 18, 1991, Adams played his two first-ever shows in Reykjavik, Iceland. After his tour in Europe,the concert at Wembley Stadium with more than 72.000 people. Adams left for the United States where he performed at the Ritz Theatre on January 10.[10] That concert sold-out in less than 20 minutes.[10] In attendance were Ben E. King and Nona Hendrix.[10] The Canadian leg of the ‘Waking Up The World’ Tour kicked off in Sydney, Nova Scotia on January 13, 1992, and wrapped up with a standing room only concert in Vancouver, British Columbia, on January 31. In February 1992, he started touring in New Zealand & Australia for 7 dates - kicking off with a press conference in Sydney. On February 21 the tour headed to Japan for close to a dozen shows in 6 cities. Bryan taped an interview with Much Music’s Terry Dave Mulligan in Calgary, Alberta and the[10] air date was scheduled for mid-March. The tour continued through several European countries in June 1992, including Italy, Germany, Holland and Scandinavia, and in July 1992, Bryan performed for the first time in Hungary and Turkey. September through December 1993 saw the tour in the U.S. The Asian tour headed to Thailand, Singapore, Japan, and Hong Kong in February, 1993, before returning to the U.S. during March through May.[10][17]
Coca-Cola became the official sponsor of the event and a commercial of it has the song "House Arrest" with him and his band playing the song in a neighborhood. The commercial featured actress Neve Campbell.
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Is Your Mama Gonna Miss Ya?" | Adams, Lange | 4:40 |
| 2. | "Hey Honey - I'm Packin' You In!" | Adams, Lange, Russell, Scott | 3:59 |
| 3. | "Can't Stop This Thing We Started" | Adams, Lange | 4:29 |
| 4. | "Thought I'd Died and Gone to Heaven" | Adams, Lange | 5:48 |
| 5. | "Not Guilty" | Adams, Lange | 4:12 |
| 6. | "Vanishing" | Adams, Lange | 5:03 |
| 7. | "House Arrest" | Adams, Lange, Vallance | 3:57 |
| 8. | "Do I Have to Say the Words?" | Adams, Lange, Vallance | 6:11 |
| 9. | "There Will Never Be Another Tonight" | Adams, Lange, Vallance | 4:40 |
| 10. | "All I Want Is You" | Adams, Lange | 5:20 |
| 11. | "Depend on Me" | Adams, Lange, Vallance | 5:07 |
| 12. | "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You" | Adams, Lange, Kamen | 6:34 |
| 13. | "If You Wanna Leave Me (Can I Come Too?)" | Adams, Lange | 4:43 |
| 14. | "Touch the Hand" | Adams, Lange | 4:05 |
| 15. | "Don't Drop That Bomb on Me" | Adams, Lange | 5:58 |
| Country | Peak Position | Certification (If Any) | Sales/shipments | ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canada | 1 | Diamond | +1,000,000 | [18][19] |
| Australia | 1 | [20] | ||
| Germany | 1 | Platinum | +500,000 | [21][22] |
| Austria | 1 | Platinum | +20,000 | [23][24] |
| UK | 1 | 3× Platinum | +900,000 | [2][25] |
| Norway | 1 | [26] | ||
| Sweden | 1 | [27] | ||
| Switzerland | 1 | 4× Platinum | +120,000 | [28][29] |
| United States | 6 | 4× Platinum | +4,000,000 | [6][15] |
| Italy | 9 | [30] | ||
| Hungary | 18 | [31] | ||
| New Zealand | 28 | |||
| Netherland | N/A | 3× Platinum | 120,000 | [33] |
| France | N/A | Gold | +100,000 | [34] |
| Finland | N/A | Platinum | 82,230 | [35] |
| Preceded by Use Your Illusion II by Guns N' Roses |
UK number one album October 5, 1991 – October 11, 1991 |
Succeeded by Stars by Simply Red |
| Preceded by Use Your Illusion II by Guns N' Roses |
Australian ARIA Albums Chart number-one album October 20 - November 16, 1991 |
Succeeded by Soul Deep by Jimmy Barnes |
List of diamond-certified albums in Canada
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