Wiggle (album)
Wiggle is the fifth studio album by the American punk rock band Screeching Weasel. It was released on January 15, 1993 through Lookout! Records. Their previous album, My Brain Hurts, had seen a sharp rise in the band's popularity and a shift in sound towards mid-tempo pop songs. With Wiggle, the band shifted gears yet again. Though several tracks retained the catchy, pop-punk sound, many others saw the band venturing into experiments with new wave and some of the harder-edged sounds of the early albums. Another major change was the amount of collaboration in songwriting. Rather than Ben Weasel being the sole author of the majority of the songs, Wiggle features a few credited to the entire band, one by guitarist Danny Vapid, and a couple with bassist (for only this album) Johnny Personality. In addition to this, there are three songs co-written by Joe King of The Queers, which were also recorded by his band. The album received mixed reviews. Many expected a continuation of the previous album and were surprised by the experimentation and harder-edged production. Since its initial release, many of the songs have come to be regarded as the band's best. Others have not held up so well over time. The band has voiced some regrets about the recording of the album, which allowed each member a voice in the mixing of specific songs and resulted in a less cohesive sound. There have also been regrets about the songs chosen for the album in recent years.
The bonus tracks of the original Lookout! CD release are "Teenage Slumber Party", "Danny Is a Wimp", and "Going Home". The lyrics to "Going Home" were written by Aaron Cometbus of Crimpshrine, and the music by Weasel.
After a short time of being out of print, the album was remastered by producer Mass Giorgini and re-released with an additional bonus track "Fuck the World" (another song co-written by Joe King of The Queers) on Asian Man Records in 2005. The band had recorded another version of this song entitled "Amy Saw Me Looking at Her Boobs" which was released on the compilation album Thank You Very Little. The Queers released their version of the song on their album Love Songs for the Retarded.
Track listing
- "Hanging Around" (Screeching Weasel) – 3:31
- "I'm Not in Love" (Weasel) – 2:00
- "One Step Beyond" (Weasel) – 3:04
- "I Was a High School Psychopath" (Vapid) – 2:07
- "Crying in My Beer" (Weasel) – 3:51
- "Slomotion" (Personality/Weasel) – 1:20
- "Like a Parasite" (King/Weasel) – 3:20
- "Joanie Loves Johnny" (Weasel) – 1:58
- "Second Floor East" (Weasel) – 2:58
- "Automatic Rejector" (Screeching Weasel) – 1:49
- "Jeannie's Got a Problem With Her Uterus" (Weasel) – 2:04
- "Sad Little Girl" (Personality/Vapid/Weasel) – 2:57
- "Ain't Got No Sense" (Kerr/Lewis/Mahon/Stipanitz) – 3:46
- "It's All in My Head" (Weasel) – 3:11
- "Teenage Slumber Party" (Jughead/Weasel) – 2:24 *
- "Danny Is a Wimp" (King/Weasel) – 1:00 *
- "Going Home" (Cometbus/Weasel) – 2:42 *
- "Fuck the World" (King/Weasel) **
* Only available on CD release ** Only available on 2005 re-release
- Track 15 from the "Achtung Chicago" compilation LP (Underdog Records, 1990)
- Track 17 from the Screeching Weasel / Pink Lincolns Split EP
- Tracks 16-17 are demos recorded by Steve Albini in 1992
- Track 18 Previously unreleased outtake
Personnel
- Ben Weasel - lead vocals
- Jughead - guitar
- Danny Vapid - guitar, backing vocals
- Johnny Personality - bass
- Dan Panic - drums