Life on Display

Life on Display
Studio album by Puddle of Mudd
Released November 25, 2003
Genre Alternative rock, post-grunge, hard rock, alternative metal
Length 55:36
Label Geffen, Flawless
Producer John Kurzweg
Michael "Elvis" Baskette
Puddle of Mudd chronology

Come Clean
(2001)		 Life on Display
(2003)		 Famous
(2007)
Singles from Life on Display
  1. "Away from Me"
    Released: October 21, 2003
  2. "Heel Over Head"
    Released: 2004
  3. "Spin You Around"
    Released: 2004

Life on Display is the third studio album by post-grunge band Puddle of Mudd. It was produced by John Kurzweg whose previous work includes Creed, Socialburn, and No Address. Despite generally negative reviews, the album reached #20 on the Billboard 200 album chart and spawned one hit single, "Away from Me," which reached #1 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks. Two additional minor hits, "Spin You Around" and "Heel Over Head," charted on the U.S. Mainstream Rock and Alternative charts. All three singles had corresponding music videos.

To date, Life on Display has sold 706,191 units in the United States compared their previous album, Come Clean, which has sold over three million copies in the U.S. and has been certified 3x platinum. Contrary to popular belief, album sales did not affect former members Greg and Paul's decisions to depart from the band.

History

Puddle of Mudd began writing material for the second album while on tour for their first in 2002.[1] 18 songs were recorded for the record.[2] The band spent over 8 months in various studios recording the material.[3] Singer Scantlin had to learn new chord progression for the track, "Time Flies." A B-Side song entitled, "Bleed" was loaned for the movie, The Punisher. An unrealeased song called "Galvanic" garnered some attention due to the fact Scantlin cried during playback for it.[4][5]

Promotion

The "Away from Me" video was featured during the 10th season of Making the Video. Puddle of Mudd also performed four tracks off the album on the November 25 debut episode of Fuse TV's 7th Avenue Drop. "Nothing Left to Lose" served as the main theme song for WWE's Royal Rumble 2004. Also went as one of the soundtrack of the famous TV series The O.C.

Critical response

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source Rating
Metacritic (37/100)[6]
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic [7]
Blender [6]
Entertainment Weekly B−[8]
Q [6]
Rolling Stone [9]

Initial critical response to Life on Display was generally unfavorable. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has received an average score of 37, based on seven reviews.[6] Life on Display received largely average to poor reviews from Entertainment Weekly, E Online, and Allmusic. Christian Hoard of Rolling Stone gave the album a mere 1 out of 5 stars, citing "the predominant emotion transmitted by these tired, hookless tunes is a kind of skull-banging numbness."

Track listing

All tracks by Wesley Scantlin except where noted

No. Title Length
1. "Away from Me"   4:00
2. "Heel Over Head"   4:05
3. "Nothing Left to Lose"   4:30
4. "Change My Mind" (Scantlin, Doug Ardito) 4:20
5. "Spin You Around"   4:27
6. "Already Gone"   4:32
7. "Think"   4:10
8. "Cloud 9"   3:34
9. "Bottom"   5:22
10. "Freak of the World"   3:36
11. "Sydney"   4:58
12. "Time Flies"   7:05

Credits

References

  1. ↑ Puddle of Mudd - Recording Studio (Life On Display) on YouTube
  2. ↑ Moss, Corey (2003-05-28). "Next Puddle of Mudd LP Will Have Heartfelt, 'Super Heavy' Songs - Music, Celebrity, Artist News". MTV. Retrieved 2012-02-07.
  3. ↑ "Puddle of Mudd Ready to put 'Life On Display'". AlternativeAddiction.com. 2003-09-21. Retrieved 2012-02-07.
  4. ↑ "Puddle Of Mudd : Wes Scantlin's Songbird Is Back, And It's Making Him Cry - Rhapsody Music Downloads". VH1.com. Retrieved 2012-02-07.
  5. ↑ "Puddle Of Mudd: My Songs Making Me Cry". UltimateGuitar.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 "Life on Display reviews at Metacritic.com". Metacritic. CNET Networks, Inc. Retrieved September 17, 2009.
  7. ↑ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas (2003-11-25). "Life on Display - Puddle of Mudd". Allmusic. Retrieved 2012-02-07.
  8. ↑ Sinclair, Tom (2003-11-28). "Life on Display Review". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2012-03-23.
  9. ↑ Hoard, Christian (2003-11-19). "Life On Display : Puddle Of Mudd : Review". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 2007-10-27. Retrieved 2012-02-07.

External links