Girlfriend (album)
Encyclopedia
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
. 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." 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."
The album peaked at 100 on the Billboard 200 album chart. 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.
The cover features a photograph of actress Tuesday Weld
from the late 1950s. Originally called Nothing Lasts, 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
.
ese 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. 'Goodfriend' was the original name of the title track. But after early listeners universally misheard the lyric, Sweet changed the title to 'Girlfriend.
The three demo tracks appear only as bonus tracks from the 2006 Legacy Edition
Matthew Sweet
Sidney Matthew Sweet is an American alternative rock/power pop musician. He was part of the burgeoning Athens, Georgia music scene in the early and mid-1980s before gaining commercial success during the early 1990s...
, his most commercially and critically successful album to date. AV Club has referred to it as Sweet's magnum opus
Masterpiece
Masterpiece in modern usage refers to a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or to a work of outstanding creativity, skill or workmanship....
and labeled it the best power pop
Power pop
Power pop is a popular musical genre that draws its inspiration from 1960s British and American pop and rock music. It typically incorporates a combination of musical devices such as strong melodies, crisp vocal harmonies, economical arrangements, and prominent guitar riffs. Instrumental solos are...
album of the 1990s
1990s in music
For music from a year in the 1990s, go to 90 | 91 | 92 | 93 | 94 | 95 | 96 | 97 | 98 | 99This article includes trends in popular music in the 1990s....
. Sweet was joined in the studio by Lloyd Cole
Lloyd Cole
Lloyd Cole is an English singer and songwriter, known for his role as lead singer of Lloyd Cole and the Commotions from 1984 to 1989, and for his subsequent solo work.-Early life:...
, Robert Quine
Robert Quine
Robert Wolfe Quine was an American guitarist, known for his innovative guitar solos.A native of Akron, Ohio, Quine worked with a wide range of musicians, though he himself remained relatively unknown in comparison...
, and Richard Lloyd, all musicians with whom he had worked previously.
Sweet recorded the album after his divorce
Divorce
Divorce is the final termination of a marital union, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between the parties...
and later said to 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...
, "It's funny how the album ended up showing everything I needed to feel. Everything I needed as an antidote is there." He told Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
, "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."
The album peaked at 100 on the Billboard 200 album chart. The title track, fueled by its anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
-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.
The cover features a photograph of actress Tuesday Weld
Tuesday Weld
Tuesday Weld is an American actress.Weld began her acting career as a child, and progressed to more mature roles during the late 1950s. She won a Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Female Newcomer in 1960...
from the late 1950s. Originally called Nothing Lasts, the album was retitled following objections to the title from Weld.
The anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
clips in the video for "Girlfriend" are taken from the movie Space Adventure Cobra
Space Adventure Cobra
is a space-opera manga series written and illustrated by Buichi Terasawa of the Black Sheep studio. The serialized form of Cobra originally appeared the Japanese shōnen manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump during 1978–1984...
and the clips in the video for "I've Been Waiting" are of the Urusei Yatsura
Urusei Yatsura
is a comedic manga series written and illustrated by Rumiko Takahashi that premiered in Weekly Shōnen Sunday in 1978 and ran until its conclusion in 1987. Its 374 individual chapters were collected and published in 34 tankōbon volumes. The series tells the story of Ataru Moroboshi, and the alien...
character Lum Invader
Lum Invader
is a fictional character and the female protagonist from Rumiko Takahashi's manga and anime series Urusei Yatsura. She is often believed to be the main protagonist of the series due to her iconic status. However, Takahashi has stated that Ataru Moroboshi is the main character. She is named Lamu in...
.
"Weird Al" Yankovic
"Weird Al" Yankovic
Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic is an American singer-songwriter, music producer, accordionist, actor, comedian, writer, satirist, and parodist. Yankovic is known for his humorous songs that make light of popular culture and that often parody specific songs by contemporary musical acts...
parodied the use of animation on his television special Al TV
Al TV
Al TV is a series of comedy/music video specials created by and starring singer-songwriter "Weird Al" Yankovic.-Overview:The premise of the show is that Yankovic uses his private satellite transmitter to commandeer the airwaves of a music video station in order to show the videos that he wants to...
by adding clips of Ren and Stimpy, Bugs Bunny
Bugs Bunny
Bugs Bunny is a animated character created in 1938 at Leon Schlesinger Productions, later Warner Bros. Cartoons. Bugs is an anthropomorphic gray rabbit and is famous for his flippant, insouciant personality and his portrayal as a trickster. He has primarily appeared in animated cartoons, most...
, Betty Boop
Betty Boop
Betty Boop is an animated cartoon character created by Max Fleischer, with help from animators including Grim Natwick. She originally appeared in the Talkartoon and Betty Boop film series, which were produced by Fleischer Studios and released by Paramount Pictures. She has also been featured in...
, and Rocky and Bullwinkle.
"Girlfriend" is featured in Crossroads
Crossroads (2002 film)
Crossroads is a 2002 comedy-drama road film directed by Tamra Davis and starring American recording artist Britney Spears, Zoe Saldana and Taryn Manning...
.
Cover version of "Girlfriend" is featured in Guitar Hero II
Guitar Hero II
Guitar Hero II is a music video game developed by Harmonix Music Systems and published by RedOctane. It is the second installment in the Guitar Hero series and is the sequel to Guitar Hero...
.
Cover version of "Girlfriend" is downloadable content for Guitar Hero III Mobile
Guitar Hero III Mobile
Guitar Hero Mobile is a series of rhythm video games in the Guitar Hero series, adapting the normal console-based gameplay which uses a guitar-shaped controller to match notes of popular rock music songs to work with the face buttons on advanced mobile phones, including BlackBerry devices and those...
.
2006 Legacy Edition
In 2006, the album was remastered and released under the "Legacy Edition" label, with three bonus tracks (originally released on the "Girlfriend" single, subtitled "the superdeformed CD", and also available on the JapanJapan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese 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. 'Goodfriend' was the original name of the title track. But after early listeners universally misheard the lyric, Sweet changed the title to 'Girlfriend.
Track listing
All tracks composed by Matthew Sweet; except where indicated- "Divine Intervention" – 5:37
- "I've Been Waiting" – 3:36
- "GirlfriendGirlfriend (Matthew Sweet song)"Girlfriend" is a 1991 single by American power pop musician Matthew Sweet, released as the lead single from his third album, Girlfriend. The song reached #4 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart and #10 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart....
" – 3:40 - "Looking at the Sun" – 4:16
- "Winona" – 4:59 (a song named after but not about Winona RyderWinona RyderWinona Ryder is an American actress. She made her film debut in the 1986 film Lucas. Ryder's first significant role came in Tim Burton's Beetlejuice as a goth teenager, which won her critical and commercial recognition...
) - "Evangeline" – 4:45 (sung from the point of view of Johnny Six from the comic book EvangelineEvangeline (comics)Evangeline is a 1980s comic book co-created and written initially by then-husband and wife team Chuck Dixon & Judith Hunt, with pencils by Hunt inks by Ricardo Villagran. Letters were by cartoonist and letterer Ed J...
) - "Day for Night" – 2:55
- "Thought I Knew You" – 2:57
- "You Don't Love Me" – 5:21
- "I Wanted to Tell You" – 4:30
- "Don't Go" – 3:24
- "Your Sweet Voice" – 3:54
- "Does She Talk?" – 3:27
- "Holy War" – 3:25
- "Nothing Lasts" – 3:33
- "Good Friend" (demo) - 3:36
- "Superdeformed" (demo) - 4:09
- "Teenage Female" (demo) - 3:54
The three demo tracks appear only as bonus tracks from the 2006 Legacy Edition
Track Listing for Goodfriend - included with "Legacy Edition"
- "Divine Intervention" (acoustic) - 3:05
- "Girlfriend" - 2:52
- "Day for Night" (live) - 3:21
- "Thought I Knew You" (live) - 3:57
- "Looking at the Sun" (acoustic) - 4:15
- "Does She Talk" (live) - 4:23
- "You Don't Love Me" (live) - 6:47
- "Someone to Pull the Trigger" - 3:53
- "I've Been Waiting" (live) - 3:45
- "Winona" (acoustic) - 4:30
- "Girlfriend" (live) - 4:05
- "Cortez the KillerCortez the Killer"Cortez the Killer" is a song by Neil Young from his 1975 album, Zuma. It was recorded with Young's band Crazy Horse and ranked #39 on Guitar World's 100 Greatest Guitar Solos and #321 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time....
" (Neil YoungNeil YoungNeil Percival Young, OC, OM is a Canadian singer-songwriter who is widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians of his generation...
) (live) - 6:28 - "IsolationIsolation (John Lennon song)"Isolation" is a 1970 song appearing on John Lennon's first official solo album release, John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band.-Personnel:The musicians who performed on the original recording were as follows:*John Lennon – vocals, piano, organ...
" (John LennonJohn LennonJohn Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
) (acoustic) - 3:01
Personnel
- Matthew Sweet - vocals, guitar, bass, piano
- Lloyd ColeLloyd ColeLloyd Cole is an English singer and songwriter, known for his role as lead singer of Lloyd Cole and the Commotions from 1984 to 1989, and for his subsequent solo work.-Early life:...
- guitar - Robert QuineRobert QuineRobert Wolfe Quine was an American guitarist, known for his innovative guitar solos.A native of Akron, Ohio, Quine worked with a wide range of musicians, though he himself remained relatively unknown in comparison...
- guitar - Richard Lloyd - guitar
- Ivan JulianIvan JulianIvan Julian is a guitarist and bassist, founding member of the seminal Punk/New Wave group Richard Hell and the Voidoids, The Outsets and Lovelies.He has performed with the Isley Brothers, The Clash, Matthew Sweet, and Shriekback....
- guitar - Greg LeiszGreg LeiszGreg Leisz is an American multi-instrumentalist, playing lap and pedal steel guitars, guitar, mandolin, and bass.- Biography :Leisz was influenced early on by the Byrds and Flying Burrito Brothers, especially pedal steel player "Sneaky" Pete Kleinow...
- pedal steel guitar - Fred MaherFred MaherFred Maher is an American drummer, programmer and record producer.He was a member of Massacre , Material, Scritti Politti, Lou Reed, and is best known as the producer of I'm Talking's album Bear Witness , Lou Reed's album New York , Matthew Sweet's album Girlfriend , and Information Society's self...
- drums, guitar - Ric Menck - drums
- Ron Pangborn - drums
- Amy RayAmy RayAmy Elizabeth Ray is an American singer-songwriter and member of the contemporary folk duo Indigo Girls. She also pursues a solo career and has released four albums under her own name, and founded a record company, Daemon Records....
- guitar, vocals - Emily SaliersEmily SaliersEmily Saliers is an American singer-songwriter and member of the Indigo Girls. Saliers plays lead guitar as well as banjo, piano, mandolin, ukulele, bouzouki and many other instruments.-Background:...
- acoustic guitar - Jane ScarpantoniJane ScarpantoniJane Scarpantoni is a classically trained cello player who has played on a number of alternative rock albums.She was a member of Hoboken, New Jersey's Tiny Lights in the mid-'80s, then went on to play with other musicians especially those associated with the Hoboken underground rock scene of the...
- cello - Paul Chastain - bass, vocals
- Andy McCulla - guitar