Crash Love
Encyclopedia
Crash Love is the eighth studio album
by the rock
band AFI
. Produced by Joe McGrath and Jacknife Lee
, it was released on September 29, 2009 through Interscope Records
.
, AFI spent two years writing and recording their next album while also working on a number of side projects: bassist Hunter Burgan
started Hunter Revenge and briefly reunited with his old band The Force
, while singer Davey Havok
and guitarist Jade Puget
recorded and performed as the electronic
act Blaqk Audio
. Havok also launched a fashion line while Puget worked on remix
ing and production
for other musical artists. In November 2008 AFI announced that they had finished writing their next album and would be recording it with producer David Bottrill
. The following month the band's official website was redesigned and relaunched, and a contest entitled "Begin Transmission" was announced in which fans were invited to submit homemade videos to be considered for a spot to record backing vocals on the album. Thousands of entries were received and personally reviewed by the band members, and the five winners recorded their parts with the band at Conway Studios in Los Angeles
in February 2009.
In January 2009 AFI split with Bottrill in favor of producers Joe McGrath (who had worked with Morrissey
, Alkaline Trio
, and Blink-182
) and Jacknife Lee
. However, they continued working on the same songs and did not abandon any of the material that had already been recorded. The album's title was announced as Crash Love in February 2009, and in July its release date was set as September 29. A viral marketing
campaign was used to reveal the album's tracks, with songs announced one-by-one on the band's website as fans sent messages to a Twitter
account. The full track listing and album art were reported by various music publications on August 21. In announcing the completion of Crash Love, Havok stated that "personally, I've never been more proud of an AFI record" and called it "the album by which we'll be remembered."
, "Medicate
", became available for purchase through iTunes
on August 25, 2009, was released to radio stations September 1, and is included as a playable track in the video game Guitar Hero 5
. Deluxe CD and digital download
editions of Crash Love include a number of b-side
and demo
tracks as additional content. The album debuted at number 12 on the Billboard 200
, selling 52,000 copies in the US in its first week.
scores the album at 70 out of 100, based on 12 reviews. Matt Collar of Allmusic remarked that the album is "less mannered than its predecessor and reveals a band exploding with a creative power pop and metal spark" and that "Ultimately, AFI have lightened up the band's darkly sexy vibe on Crash Love and delivered a yearning, perfect pop/rock crush of an album." Jason Pettigrew of Alternative Press praised the tight, precise playing of Carson and Burgan, Puget's "sense of the appropriate", Havok's ability to put a face to his vocals, and the detail in the album's arrangements and atmospheres, commenting that it "reveals more treasures with repeated listens" and that "In no uncertain terms, Crash Love is an accomplishment that raises the bar for [AFI] as musicians and writers." Steve Appleford of the Los Angeles Times
similarly complimented the album as confident and enjoyable, noting that the band had "grown with accelerating sophistication, stepping further beyond easy pop-punk thrashings to something grander, with music to match the mopey melodrama of Havok's words."
Vik Bansal of MusicOMH praised AFI's ability to keep their sound fresh and different with each album, remarking that "[Crash Love] may be AFI's eighth album but there is no sign of fatigue, waning in quality or the song remaining the same." Dave de Sylvia of Sputnikmusic
shared this sentiment, stating that "Crash Love smashes precedent to pieces, but, far from being a regression, it’s the best move they could have made at this stage in their career." He also praised Puget's guitar work and Havok's lyrics, remarking of the latter that "while Crash Love never quite hits the lyrical highs of Sing the Sorrow
, it’s earthier and more relatable on a human level." Though he felt that the album occasionally sounds disjointed, with fun uptempo tracks placed next to more subtle ones, he concluded that it was "a more intricate and well-constructed album" than its platinum-selling predecessor Decemberunderground
, and "an unexpectedly focused affair". Barry Thomson of The Phoenix
called the album "easily A.F.I.'s best since 2003's Sing the Sorrow, and the cheeky pop-punk chorus of 'Too Shy to Scream' is their first successful decree to boogie the night away." Chris Fallon of AbsolutePunk rated the album an 83%, calling "Cold Hands" "painfully cheesy" and "Veronica Sawyer Smokes" "the album's most overwhelming misfire, shifting from massive hooks to a jangly indie-pop mentality", but praised each band member's performance and concluded that the album is "by no means a work of art, but it's a nice step-up from the mildly enjoyable 2006 release Decemberunderground".
Negative criticism of the album centered around its polished sound and weak lyrics. Christian Hoard of Rolling Stone
noted that while Crash Love is more streamlined than Decemberunderground, streamlined' here means spidery guitars and wailed choruses". He also criticized the "vague concept of a souring relationship" that Havok's lyrics are built around, and remarked that "It can sound like AFI are just writing for their upcoming fall tour: The bombastic 'It Was Mine' could go on Green Day
's next disc." Daniel Yates of Drowned in Sound
was also highly critical, scoring the album three out of ten and complaining that the band's guitar sound had become increasingly polished over the years and thus lost its effectiveness: "drop-d
's lost their weight, palm-mute
s were drenched in enough [effects] to make [a] nu metal
ler blush, and now with the synths apparently ditched, Crash Love sees the culmination of all that disgrace in a collection of sounds that fall somewhere between P.O.D.
and a fart that's been trapped in a turbo-fx pedal for ten years." He also criticized Havok's lyrics as "clumsy strings of inchoate metaphors" that fail to evoke true emotion, remarking that "the band that once set Baudelaire
to music are going to be keeping the Morrisseyism-shorthand-for-literacy vocal quirk, which permeates [Havok's] contribution to this album."
J. Gabriel Boylan of Spin
also criticized the album's polished sound and vocals, stating that "Too often, Puget's fine guitar work can't overcome traces of the band's oompah pop-punk past or lyrics both illogical ('The broken radio was playing suicide') and cliché ('I feel nothing')." He also felt that the band's punk rock roots prevented them from allowing subtlety: "Crash Love never pauses to take a breath or slows the tempo or eases back on the hypercompressed everything. The whole history of gloomy pop is on display, but the band's hardcore background doesn't allow for the more subtle atmospherics of, say, Bauhaus
or even the Cramps
." Jason Heller of The A.V. Club
scored the album a C-
, feeling that it was weakened by abandoning Decemberunderground' s range of styles and textures in favor of straightforward guitar rock: "The limited palette this time around doesn't do the band any favors: Where the sheer scope and giddy dynamics of Decemberunderground helped cover up some of the group's weak spots–for instance, Havok's histrionic flair and bad Marc Almond
impression–Crash Love traffics in more of the same utilitarian riffs and bleating anger-slash-melancholy that AFI made its name on."
Crash Love continues AFI's trend of varying their style from one release to the next, with a sound rooted in punk rock
but having absorbed and experimented with hardcore punk
, gothic rock
, and electropop influences on previous albums. Bassist Hunter Burgan
described Crash Love as "definitely more of a rock album–more immediate and definitely more of a focused, direct approach musically. Compared to Decemberunderground, where some of the songs were more subtle, these are more in-your-face." Dave de Sylvia of Sputnikmusic
speculated that part of the motivation behind Puget and Havok's side project Blaqk Audio
was to allow them to expand on the electronic
elements that had been prevalent on Decemberunderground while preserving AFI as a primarily pop-punk act. Havok stated that though it was not a purposeful move, the experience with Blaqk Audio did contribute to there being few electronic elements on Crash Love:
Critics compared Crash Love' s sound to Morrissey
, the Raspberries
, The Cure
, The Smiths
, U2
, New Order
, and Alkaline Trio
. Some compared Puget's guitar lines to Jimmy Page
, Johnny Marr
, Trent Reznor
, and Black Sabbath
. Several critics compared "Too Shy to Scream" to Adam and the Ants
, specifically the song "Goody Two-Shoes".
Of its style, Matt Collar of Allmusic said that the album is "sticky with epic swaths of melodic rock and just enough swaggering goth-itude to please the emo
-tweens" and that "Havok's glitter-goth persona is well intact, it seems tempered here with a bit more punkish muscle and '80s pop croon." Jason Pettigrew of Alternative Press felt that the album's style falls somewhere between their punk roots and mainstream rock, fitting neither extreme: "Although the members of AFI can't go home anymore, they're exploring more sonic vistas than any random group of smelly dudes in a van plastered with hardcore stickers or Clear Channel
-sanctioned modern-rock dullards kicking back in $8K-a-week coaches, combined." Other reviewers noted elements of gothic rock
, post-punk
, 1980s pop
, hardcore punk
, and synthpop
in the album. Vik Bansal of MusicOMH remarked that Crash Love "shows that while fusing goth, punk and pop doesn't need to be rocket science, when AFI are involved it's very definitely an artform." Chris Fallon of AbsolutePunk stated that "fans have to understand AFI is no longer that angry, sarcastic punk band anymore -- every member has strengthened their craft to coincide with each individual's influence."
"We've Got the Knife" and "Where We Used to Play"
"100 Words"
Studio album
A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...
by the rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
band AFI
AFI (band)
AFI is an American alternative rock band from Ukiah, California that formed in 1991. They have consisted of the same lineup since 1998: lead vocalist Davey Havok, drummer and backup vocalist Adam Carson, with bassist Hunter Burgan and guitarist Jade Puget, who both play keyboard and contribute...
. Produced by Joe McGrath and Jacknife Lee
Jacknife Lee
Garret "Jacknife" Lee is an Irish music producer and mixer. He has worked with a variety of artists, including The Cars, U2, R.E.M., Snow Patrol, Bloc Party, AFI, The Hives, Weezer, Vega4 and Editors.-Biography:...
, it was released on September 29, 2009 through Interscope Records
Interscope Records
Interscope Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group that currently operates as one third of UMG's Interscope-Geffen-A&M label group.-History:...
.
Background and recording
Following the touring cycle for 2006's DecemberundergroundDecemberunderground
Decemberunderground is the seventh studio album by American alternative rock band AFI. The album was released on June 6, 2006 through Interscope Records. It debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200, selling 182,000 in its first week. The album certified Gold by the RIAA on August 30, 2006 and has sold...
, AFI spent two years writing and recording their next album while also working on a number of side projects: bassist Hunter Burgan
Hunter Burgan
Hunter Lawrence Burgan is an American multi-instrumentalist. He is the third and current bass guitarist of AFI.-Biography:Burgan grew up in Grass Valley, California. He is vegan.-Career:...
started Hunter Revenge and briefly reunited with his old band The Force
The Force (band)
The Force is a Grass Valley punk/hardcore band. Members Matt Wedgley , Hunter Burgan , Mark Roustabout , and Chad Cox were all in different punk bands before forming The Force in May 1995. Between 1996 and 1998, The Force released a 7", a 10"/CD and a split 7" as well as a number of songs on...
, while singer Davey Havok
Davey Havok
David Paden Marchand , more commonly known by the stage name Davey Havok, is the lead vocalist of the American rock band AFI and the electronic music band Blaqk Audio....
and guitarist Jade Puget
Jade Puget
Jade Errol Puget is the guitarist for the alternative rock band AFI , and the keyboardist/synthesizer operator for the electronic duo Blaqk Audio. Puget is vegetarian and straight edge....
recorded and performed as the electronic
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
act Blaqk Audio
Blaqk Audio
Blaqk Audio is an American electronic music duo formed by current AFI members Davey Havok and Jade Puget under Interscope Records. Their debut album CexCells was released on August 14, 2007 and reached number eighteen on the Billboard 200.-Origins:...
. Havok also launched a fashion line while Puget worked on remix
Remix
A remix is an alternative version of a recorded song, made from an original version. This term is also used for any alterations of media other than song ....
ing and production
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
for other musical artists. In November 2008 AFI announced that they had finished writing their next album and would be recording it with producer David Bottrill
David Bottrill
David Bottrill is a Canadian record producer. He has won three Grammys. Currently, he owns Rattlebox Studios in Toronto, Ontario with producer Brian Moncarz...
. The following month the band's official website was redesigned and relaunched, and a contest entitled "Begin Transmission" was announced in which fans were invited to submit homemade videos to be considered for a spot to record backing vocals on the album. Thousands of entries were received and personally reviewed by the band members, and the five winners recorded their parts with the band at Conway Studios in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
in February 2009.
In January 2009 AFI split with Bottrill in favor of producers Joe McGrath (who had worked with Morrissey
Morrissey
Steven Patrick Morrissey , known as Morrissey, is an English singer and lyricist. He rose to prominence in the 1980s as the lyricist and vocalist of the alternative rock band The Smiths. The band was highly successful in the United Kingdom but broke up in 1987, and Morrissey began a solo career,...
, Alkaline Trio
Alkaline Trio
Alkaline Trio is an American punk rock band that formed in McHenry, Illinois, in 1996. The band's line-up consists of Matt Skiba , Dan Andriano , and Derek Grant...
, and Blink-182
Blink-182
Blink-182 is an American rock band consisting of vocalist and bass guitarist Mark Hoppus, vocalist and guitarist Tom DeLonge, and drummer Travis Barker. They have sold over 27 million albums worldwide since forming in Poway, California in 1992...
) and Jacknife Lee
Jacknife Lee
Garret "Jacknife" Lee is an Irish music producer and mixer. He has worked with a variety of artists, including The Cars, U2, R.E.M., Snow Patrol, Bloc Party, AFI, The Hives, Weezer, Vega4 and Editors.-Biography:...
. However, they continued working on the same songs and did not abandon any of the material that had already been recorded. The album's title was announced as Crash Love in February 2009, and in July its release date was set as September 29. A viral marketing
Viral marketing
Viral marketing, viral advertising, or marketing buzz are buzzwords referring to marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networks to produce increases in brand awareness or to achieve other marketing objectives through self-replicating viral processes, analogous to the spread of viruses...
campaign was used to reveal the album's tracks, with songs announced one-by-one on the band's website as fans sent messages to a Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
account. The full track listing and album art were reported by various music publications on August 21. In announcing the completion of Crash Love, Havok stated that "personally, I've never been more proud of an AFI record" and called it "the album by which we'll be remembered."
Release
The album's first singleSingle (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
, "Medicate
Medicate
"Medicate" is a song by the American rock band AFI, released as the first single from their 2009 album Crash Love. It was released as a music download through iTunes on August 25, 2009, and made its radio airplay premiere on September 1. It reached #7 on Billboards Alternative Songs chart and #16...
", became available for purchase through iTunes
ITunes
iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....
on August 25, 2009, was released to radio stations September 1, and is included as a playable track in the video game Guitar Hero 5
Guitar Hero 5
Guitar Hero 5 is a music video game and the fifth main entry in the Guitar Hero series. The game was developed by Neversoft and published by RedOctane and Activision, and released internationally in September 2009 for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, 3 and Wii consoles...
. Deluxe CD and digital download
Music download
A music download is the transferral of music from an Internet-facing computer or website to a user's local computer. This term encompasses both legal downloads and downloads of copyright material without permission or payment...
editions of Crash Love include a number of b-side
A-side and B-side
A-side and B-side originally referred to the two sides of gramophone records on which singles were released beginning in the 1950s. The terms have come to refer to the types of song conventionally placed on each side of the record, with the A-side being the featured song , while the B-side, or...
and demo
Demo (music)
A demo version or demo of a song is one recorded for reference rather than for release. A demo is a way for a musician to approximate their ideas on tape or disc, and provide an example of those ideas to record labels, producers or other artists...
tracks as additional content. The album debuted at number 12 on the Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
, selling 52,000 copies in the US in its first week.
Critical reception
Critical response to Crash Love was generally favorable, with most critics praising its intricacy and musicianship as well as the band's stylistic growth. The review aggregator MetacriticMetacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
scores the album at 70 out of 100, based on 12 reviews. Matt Collar of Allmusic remarked that the album is "less mannered than its predecessor and reveals a band exploding with a creative power pop and metal spark" and that "Ultimately, AFI have lightened up the band's darkly sexy vibe on Crash Love and delivered a yearning, perfect pop/rock crush of an album." Jason Pettigrew of Alternative Press praised the tight, precise playing of Carson and Burgan, Puget's "sense of the appropriate", Havok's ability to put a face to his vocals, and the detail in the album's arrangements and atmospheres, commenting that it "reveals more treasures with repeated listens" and that "In no uncertain terms, Crash Love is an accomplishment that raises the bar for [AFI] as musicians and writers." Steve Appleford of the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
similarly complimented the album as confident and enjoyable, noting that the band had "grown with accelerating sophistication, stepping further beyond easy pop-punk thrashings to something grander, with music to match the mopey melodrama of Havok's words."
Vik Bansal of MusicOMH praised AFI's ability to keep their sound fresh and different with each album, remarking that "[Crash Love] may be AFI's eighth album but there is no sign of fatigue, waning in quality or the song remaining the same." Dave de Sylvia of Sputnikmusic
Sputnikmusic
Sputnikmusic, or simply Sputnik, is a music website offering music criticism and music news alongside features commonly associated with wiki-style websites...
shared this sentiment, stating that "Crash Love smashes precedent to pieces, but, far from being a regression, it’s the best move they could have made at this stage in their career." He also praised Puget's guitar work and Havok's lyrics, remarking of the latter that "while Crash Love never quite hits the lyrical highs of Sing the Sorrow
Sing the Sorrow
Sing the Sorrow is the sixth studio album by American rock band AFI. It was released on March 11, 2003 through DreamWorks Records. It debuted at #5 on the Billboard 200. It was certified Platinum in December 2004 by the RIAA. The album was supported by three singles, "Girl's Not Grey", "The Leaving...
, it’s earthier and more relatable on a human level." Though he felt that the album occasionally sounds disjointed, with fun uptempo tracks placed next to more subtle ones, he concluded that it was "a more intricate and well-constructed album" than its platinum-selling predecessor Decemberunderground
Decemberunderground
Decemberunderground is the seventh studio album by American alternative rock band AFI. The album was released on June 6, 2006 through Interscope Records. It debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200, selling 182,000 in its first week. The album certified Gold by the RIAA on August 30, 2006 and has sold...
, and "an unexpectedly focused affair". Barry Thomson of The Phoenix
The Phoenix (newspaper)
The Phoenix is the name of several alternative weekly newspapers published in the United States by Phoenix Media/Communications Group of Boston, Massachusetts including the Boston Phoenix, the Providence Phoenix, the Portland Phoenix and the now-defunct Worcester Phoenix...
called the album "easily A.F.I.'s best since 2003's Sing the Sorrow, and the cheeky pop-punk chorus of 'Too Shy to Scream' is their first successful decree to boogie the night away." Chris Fallon of AbsolutePunk rated the album an 83%, calling "Cold Hands" "painfully cheesy" and "Veronica Sawyer Smokes" "the album's most overwhelming misfire, shifting from massive hooks to a jangly indie-pop mentality", but praised each band member's performance and concluded that the album is "by no means a work of art, but it's a nice step-up from the mildly enjoyable 2006 release Decemberunderground".
Negative criticism of the album centered around its polished sound and weak lyrics. Christian Hoard of Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
noted that while Crash Love is more streamlined than Decemberunderground, streamlined' here means spidery guitars and wailed choruses". He also criticized the "vague concept of a souring relationship" that Havok's lyrics are built around, and remarked that "It can sound like AFI are just writing for their upcoming fall tour: The bombastic 'It Was Mine' could go on Green Day
Green Day
Green Day is an American punk rock band formed in 1987. The band consists of lead vocalist and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, bassist and backing vocalist Mike Dirnt, and drummer Tre Cool...
's next disc." Daniel Yates of Drowned in Sound
Drowned in Sound
DrownedinSound.com or DiS is a UK based music webzine financed by artist management company Silentway . The site is an editorially independent music website.-History:...
was also highly critical, scoring the album three out of ten and complaining that the band's guitar sound had become increasingly polished over the years and thus lost its effectiveness: "drop-d
Drop D tuning
Drop D tuning, also known as DADGBE, is an alternate, or scordatura, form of guitar tuning — specifically, a dropped tuning — in which the lowest string is tuned down from the usual E of standard tuning by one whole step to D.- Uses of drop D tuning :In drop D the three bass strings...
's lost their weight, palm-mute
Palm mute
The palm mute is a playing technique for guitar and bass guitar executed by placing the side of the picking hand below the little finger across all of the strings very close to the bridge and then plucking the strings with the fingers while the damping is in effect. This produces a muted sound...
s were drenched in enough [effects] to make [a] nu metal
Nu metal
Nu metal is a subgenre of heavy metal. It is a fusion genre which combines elements of heavy metal with other genres, including grunge and hip hop...
ler blush, and now with the synths apparently ditched, Crash Love sees the culmination of all that disgrace in a collection of sounds that fall somewhere between P.O.D.
P.O.D.
Payable on Death is an American Christian metal band formed in 1992. The band's line-up consists of vocalist Sonny Sandoval, drummer Wuv Bernardo, guitarist Marcos Curiel, and bassist Traa Daniels. Their Christian faith is an important part of their music.They have released seven studio albums and...
and a fart that's been trapped in a turbo-fx pedal for ten years." He also criticized Havok's lyrics as "clumsy strings of inchoate metaphors" that fail to evoke true emotion, remarking that "the band that once set Baudelaire
Charles Baudelaire
Charles Baudelaire was a French poet who produced notable work as an essayist, art critic, and pioneering translator of Edgar Allan Poe. His most famous work, Les Fleurs du mal expresses the changing nature of beauty in modern, industrializing Paris during the nineteenth century...
to music are going to be keeping the Morrisseyism-shorthand-for-literacy vocal quirk, which permeates [Havok's] contribution to this album."
J. Gabriel Boylan of Spin
Spin (magazine)
Spin is a music magazine founded in 1985 by publisher Bob Guccione Jr.-History:In its early years, the magazine was noted for its broad music coverage with an emphasis on college-oriented rock music and on the ongoing emergence of hip-hop. The magazine was eclectic and bold, if sometimes haphazard...
also criticized the album's polished sound and vocals, stating that "Too often, Puget's fine guitar work can't overcome traces of the band's oompah pop-punk past or lyrics both illogical ('The broken radio was playing suicide') and cliché ('I feel nothing')." He also felt that the band's punk rock roots prevented them from allowing subtlety: "Crash Love never pauses to take a breath or slows the tempo or eases back on the hypercompressed everything. The whole history of gloomy pop is on display, but the band's hardcore background doesn't allow for the more subtle atmospherics of, say, Bauhaus
Bauhaus (band)
Bauhaus was an English rock band formed in Northampton in 1978. The group consisted of Peter Murphy , Daniel Ash , Kevin Haskins and David J . The band was originally Bauhaus 1919 before they dropped the numerical portion within a year of formation...
or even the Cramps
The Cramps
The Cramps were an American rock band, formed in 1976 and active until 2009. The band split after the death of lead singer Lux Interior. Their line-up rotated much over their existence, with the husband and wife duo of Interior and lead guitarist Poison Ivy the only permanent members...
." Jason Heller of The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club is an entertainment newspaper and website published by The Onion. Its features include reviews of new films, music, television, books, games and DVDs, as well as interviews and other regular offerings examining both new and classic media and other elements of pop culture. Unlike its...
scored the album a C-
Academic grading in the United States
Academic grading in the United States most commonly takes on the form of five letter grades. Historically, the grades were A, B, C, D, and F—A being the highest and F, denoting failure, the lowest. In the mid-twentieth century, many American educational institutions—especially in the Midwest —began...
, feeling that it was weakened by abandoning Decemberunderground
Marc Almond
Marc Almond is an English singer-songwriter and musician, who originally found fame as half of the seminal synthpop/New Wave duo Soft Cell...
impression–Crash Love traffics in more of the same utilitarian riffs and bleating anger-slash-melancholy that AFI made its name on."
Style
| I would really describe this as a rock record, a really straightforward rock record. I don't think we've ever recorded one of those before, we’ve released hardcore records and we've released very multi-layered alt-rock records but this is the most straightforward rock record I think we've ever written so for us that is another matter of progression. Certainly creating a rock record is nothing new in [relation] to the greater world of rock music but for us it's something we've never done before so it's very fresh for us. |
| — Davey Havok |
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
but having absorbed and experimented with hardcore punk
Hardcore punk
Hardcore punk is an underground music genre that originated in the late 1970s, following the mainstream success of punk rock. Hardcore is generally faster, thicker, and heavier than earlier punk rock. The origin of the term "hardcore punk" is uncertain. The Vancouver-based band D.O.A...
, gothic rock
Gothic rock
Gothic rock is a musical subgenre of post-punk and alternative rock that formed during the late 1970s. Gothic rock bands grew from the strong ties they had to the English punk rock and emerging post-punk scenes...
, and electropop influences on previous albums. Bassist Hunter Burgan
Hunter Burgan
Hunter Lawrence Burgan is an American multi-instrumentalist. He is the third and current bass guitarist of AFI.-Biography:Burgan grew up in Grass Valley, California. He is vegan.-Career:...
described Crash Love as "definitely more of a rock album–more immediate and definitely more of a focused, direct approach musically. Compared to Decemberunderground, where some of the songs were more subtle, these are more in-your-face." Dave de Sylvia of Sputnikmusic
Sputnikmusic
Sputnikmusic, or simply Sputnik, is a music website offering music criticism and music news alongside features commonly associated with wiki-style websites...
speculated that part of the motivation behind Puget and Havok's side project Blaqk Audio
Blaqk Audio
Blaqk Audio is an American electronic music duo formed by current AFI members Davey Havok and Jade Puget under Interscope Records. Their debut album CexCells was released on August 14, 2007 and reached number eighteen on the Billboard 200.-Origins:...
was to allow them to expand on the electronic
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
elements that had been prevalent on Decemberunderground while preserving AFI as a primarily pop-punk act. Havok stated that though it was not a purposeful move, the experience with Blaqk Audio did contribute to there being few electronic elements on Crash Love:
Crash Love is a more guitar-focused, guitar-based record than Decemberunderground was. I think what that is a result of is Jade and I having toured for two months and recorded the CexCellsCexCellsCexCells is the debut studio album by the American electronic duo Blaqk Audio. It was initially scheduled to be released on August 7, 2007, however, it was rescheduled and released a week further on August 14, 2007 through Interscope Records. It debuted at number 18 on the Billboard 200, selling...
record [with Blaqk Audio]. So when we sat down and began writing Crash Love it was refreshing to be playing rock and I think that having done Blaqk Audio, it rejuvenated our interest in rock. Blaqk Audio was already entirely purely electronic but coming from that sitting down and writing rock we just didn't have as much inspiration to insert those electronic [sounds] into the rock music that we were playing. But it wasn’t a conscious thing.
Critics compared Crash Love
Morrissey
Steven Patrick Morrissey , known as Morrissey, is an English singer and lyricist. He rose to prominence in the 1980s as the lyricist and vocalist of the alternative rock band The Smiths. The band was highly successful in the United Kingdom but broke up in 1987, and Morrissey began a solo career,...
, the Raspberries
Raspberries (band)
Raspberries is an American power pop/pop rock band from Cleveland, Ohio. They had a run of success in the early 1970s music scene with their crisp pop sound, which Allmusic later described as featuring "exquisitely crafted melodies and achingly gorgeous harmonies." The members were known for their...
, The Cure
The Cure
The Cure are an English rock band formed in Crawley, West Sussex in 1976. The band has experienced several line-up changes, with frontman, vocalist, guitarist and principal songwriter Robert Smith being the only constant member...
, The Smiths
The Smiths
The Smiths were an English alternative rock band, formed in Manchester in 1982. Based on the song writing partnership of Morrissey and Johnny Marr , the band also included Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce...
, U2
U2
U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin. Formed in 1976, the group consists of Bono , The Edge , Adam Clayton , and Larry Mullen, Jr. . U2's early sound was rooted in post-punk but eventually grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music...
, New Order
New Order
New Order are an English rock band formed in 1980 by Bernard Sumner , Peter Hook and Stephen Morris...
, and Alkaline Trio
Alkaline Trio
Alkaline Trio is an American punk rock band that formed in McHenry, Illinois, in 1996. The band's line-up consists of Matt Skiba , Dan Andriano , and Derek Grant...
. Some compared Puget's guitar lines to Jimmy Page
Jimmy Page
James Patrick "Jimmy" Page, OBE is an English multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and record producer. He began his career as a studio session guitarist in London and was subsequently a member of The Yardbirds from 1966 to 1968, after which he founded the English rock band Led Zeppelin.Jimmy Page...
, Johnny Marr
Johnny Marr
Johnny Marr is an English musician and songwriter. Marr rose to fame in the 1980s as the guitarist in The Smiths, with whom he formed a prolific songwriting partnership with Morrissey. Marr has been a member of Electronic, The The, and Modest Mouse...
, Trent Reznor
Trent Reznor
Michael Trent Reznor is an American multi-instrumentalist, composer, record producer, and leader of industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails. Reznor is also a member of How to Destroy Angels alongside his wife, Mariqueen Maandig, and Atticus Ross. He was previously associated with bands Option 30,...
, and Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath are an English heavy metal band, formed in Aston, Birmingham in 1969 by Ozzy Osbourne , Tony Iommi , Geezer Butler , and Bill Ward . The band has since experienced multiple line-up changes, with Tony Iommi the only constant presence in the band through the years. A total of 22...
. Several critics compared "Too Shy to Scream" to Adam and the Ants
Adam and the Ants
Adam and the Ants were a British rock band active during the late 1970s and early 1980s. The original group, which existed from 1977 to 1980, became notable as a cult band marking the transition from the late-1970s punk rock era to the post-punk and New Wave era...
, specifically the song "Goody Two-Shoes".
Of its style, Matt Collar of Allmusic said that the album is "sticky with epic swaths of melodic rock and just enough swaggering goth-itude to please the emo
Emo
Emo is a style of rock music and its associated subcultureEmo may also refer to:- Businesses :* Emo , an Irish oil company and filling station chain* Emo Speedway, a racetrack in Emo, Ontario...
-tweens" and that "Havok's glitter-goth persona is well intact, it seems tempered here with a bit more punkish muscle and '80s pop croon." Jason Pettigrew of Alternative Press felt that the album's style falls somewhere between their punk roots and mainstream rock, fitting neither extreme: "Although the members of AFI can't go home anymore, they're exploring more sonic vistas than any random group of smelly dudes in a van plastered with hardcore stickers or Clear Channel
Clear Channel Communications
Clear Channel Communications, Inc. is an American media conglomerate company headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It was founded in 1972 by Lowry Mays and Red McCombs, and was taken private by Bain Capital LLC and Thomas H. Lee Partners LP in a leveraged buyout in 2008...
-sanctioned modern-rock dullards kicking back in $8K-a-week coaches, combined." Other reviewers noted elements of gothic rock
Gothic rock
Gothic rock is a musical subgenre of post-punk and alternative rock that formed during the late 1970s. Gothic rock bands grew from the strong ties they had to the English punk rock and emerging post-punk scenes...
, post-punk
Post-punk
Post-punk is a rock music movement with its roots in the late 1970s, following on the heels of the initial punk rock explosion of the mid-1970s. The genre retains its roots in the punk movement but is more introverted, complex and experimental...
, 1980s pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
, hardcore punk
Hardcore punk
Hardcore punk is an underground music genre that originated in the late 1970s, following the mainstream success of punk rock. Hardcore is generally faster, thicker, and heavier than earlier punk rock. The origin of the term "hardcore punk" is uncertain. The Vancouver-based band D.O.A...
, and synthpop
Synthpop
Synthpop is a genre of popular music that first became prominent in the 1980s, in which the synthesizer is the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s by the use of synthesizers in progressive rock, electronic art rock, disco and particularly the "Kraut rock" of...
in the album. Vik Bansal of MusicOMH remarked that Crash Love "shows that while fusing goth, punk and pop doesn't need to be rocket science, when AFI are involved it's very definitely an artform." Chris Fallon of AbsolutePunk stated that "fans have to understand AFI is no longer that angry, sarcastic punk band anymore -- every member has strengthened their craft to coincide with each individual's influence."
Track listing
Bonus tracks
Band
- Davey HavokDavey HavokDavid Paden Marchand , more commonly known by the stage name Davey Havok, is the lead vocalist of the American rock band AFI and the electronic music band Blaqk Audio....
– vocalsSingingSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments... - Jade PugetJade PugetJade Errol Puget is the guitarist for the alternative rock band AFI , and the keyboardist/synthesizer operator for the electronic duo Blaqk Audio. Puget is vegetarian and straight edge....
– guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with... - Hunter BurganHunter BurganHunter Lawrence Burgan is an American multi-instrumentalist. He is the third and current bass guitarist of AFI.-Biography:Burgan grew up in Grass Valley, California. He is vegan.-Career:...
– bass guitarBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick.... - Adam CarsonAdam CarsonAdam Alexander Carson is the drummer of the rock band AFI. He and Davey Havok are the two original members left in the lineup. Carson also filled in as drummer for the band Tiger Army. His drumming can be found on Tiger Army's Early Years EP as well as their debut album Tiger Army...
– drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
Backing vocalists
- Nick 13Nick 13Nick 13 is the guitarist, vocalist, and main songwriter of psychobilly band Tiger Army as well as a solo artist in the Americana/Country genre....
, Dan Under, Ben Grey, Luke Wood, Julie Delgado, and Kenna Ramsey – backing vocals - Christy Vegas, Scott Raymond, Natacia Marriott, Courtney Cavazos, Brock Honma, and Mark Oshiro – backing vocals on "I Am Trying Very Hard to Be Here"
Production
- Joe McGrath – producerRecord producerA record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
and engineer of tracks 1, 2, 4, and 7-12 - Seth Waldmann, Jake Davies, John Silas Cranfield, and Andrew Scheps – engineers of tracks 1, 2, 4, and 7-12
- Morgan Stratton and Bill Mims – assistant engineers of tracks 1, 2, 4, and 7-12
- Jacknife LeeJacknife LeeGarret "Jacknife" Lee is an Irish music producer and mixer. He has worked with a variety of artists, including The Cars, U2, R.E.M., Snow Patrol, Bloc Party, AFI, The Hives, Weezer, Vega4 and Editors.-Biography:...
– producer of tracks 3-5 and 6 - Tom McFall – engineer of tracks 3-5 and 6
- Kevin Mills – assistant engineer of tracks 3-5 and 6
- Todd Parker – additional engineering of tracks 2, 6, 9, and 10
- German Villacorta – Pro ToolsPro ToolsPro Tools is a digital audio workstation platform for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X operating systems, developed and manufactured by Avid Technology. It is widely used by professionals throughout the audio industries for recording and editing in music production, film scoring, film, and television...
editing - Rich CosteyRich CosteyRich Costey is an American record producer, engineer, and mixer who has worked with many bands including Muse, Cave In, Thursday, Franz Ferdinand, Glasvegas, The Mars Volta, Doves, Bloc Party, Ontronik , Jimmy Eat World, My Chemical Romance, Supergrass, Audioslave, Rage Against the Machine, Nine...
– mixing engineerMixing engineerA mix engineer is the person responsible for incorporating all the different recorded elements of music to make the final version of a song. These mixing professionals have many years of experience and training with audio equipment which has enabled them to master the art of audio mixing... - Charlie Stavish and Noah Goldstein – assistant mixing engineers
- Vlado Meller – masteringAudio masteringMastering, a form of audio post-production, is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device ; the source from which all copies will be produced...
- Mark Santangelo – assistant mastering
Artwork
- Morning Breath Inc. – art direction and design
- 2 FAKE – 3D rendering
- Jason Odell – photography
Bonus track production
"Fainting Spells"- Jerry FinnJerry FinnJerry Finn was an American record producer. He was perhaps best known for his work with Blink-182, as well as Morrissey, AFI, Bad Religion, Alkaline Trio, MxPx, Rancid, Green Day, Sum 41 and The Offspring.-Death:...
– producer and mixing - Joe McGrath – engineer
- Seth Waldmann, Jason Gossmann, Kevin Mills, Eric Weaver, and Dimitar Krhjaic – assistant engineers
- Ted Jensen – mastering
"We've Got the Knife" and "Where We Used to Play"
- Daniel Sternbaum – engineer
- John Silas Cranfield – engineer and mixing
- Tyler Muelrath and Jun Park – assistant engineers
"100 Words"
- Jerry Finn – producer and mixing
- Joe McGrath – engineer
- Chris Holmes, Alan Mason, Dan Chase, Stacey Dodds, and Alan SandersonAlan SandersonAlan Sanderson is a Grammy Winning recording engineer, mixing engineer and record producer. Alan Sanderson is credited with working on some of the most successful albums during the 1990s while working as an engineer at Cello and Ocean Way Studios in Hollywood, California...
– assistant engineers - Ted Jensen – mastering
- Butch VigButch VigButch Vig is an American musician and record producer, best known internationally as the drummer of the Madison, Wisconsin-based alternative rock band Garbage and the producer of multi-platinum selling album Nevermind by Nirvana....
– producer - Jade Puget – executive producer
Chart performance
| Chart | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Albums Chart ARIA Charts The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June... |
16 |
| Canadian Albums Chart Canadian Albums Chart The Canadian Albums Chart is the official album sales chart in Canada. It is compiled every Wednesday by U.S.-based music sales tracking company Nielsen Soundscan, and published every Thursday by Jam! Canoe and Billboard, along with its sister charts the Canadian Singles Chart and the Canadian BDS... |
17 |
| New Zealand Albums Chart Recording Industry Association of New Zealand The Recording Industry Association of New Zealand is a non-profit trade association of record producers, distributors and recording artists who sell music in New Zealand... |
38 |
| UK Albums Chart UK Albums Chart The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart... |
73 |
| US Billboard 200 Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
12 |
| US Billboard Billboard (magazine) Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis... Alternative Albums Billboard charts The Billboard charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs or albums in the United States. The results are published in Billboard magazine... |
5 |
| US Billboard Hard Rock Albums | 4 |
| US Billboard Rock Albums | 5 |