Hospital Music
Encyclopedia
Hospital Music is the third solo album by Canadian musician Matthew Good
. It was released on July 31, 2007 Good performed nearly all the instruments himself, with the exception of drums and a few guitar and bass parts. The album artwork was painted by Vancouver resident Jeremy Crowle.
"Born Losers
" was featured as the "Single of the Week" on the American iTunes Store
for the week starting July 31, 2007. The debut was significant due to Good's lack of previous success in the U.S. market, where he had previously released only one album - 2001's Beautiful Midnight
, which failed to make a major impact on the U.S. charts (due to Good's lack of co-operation).
Hospital Music debuted at #1 on the Canadian albums chart, selling over 11,000 copies in its first week of release. The album was certified Gold in Canada on January 16, 2008.
It was nominated at the 2008 Juno Awards for Best Rock Album.
Matthew Good
Matthew Frederick Robert Good is a Canadian rock musician. He was the lead singer for the Matthew Good Band, one of Canada's most successful alternative rock bands in the 1990s, before dissolving the band in 2002...
. It was released on July 31, 2007 Good performed nearly all the instruments himself, with the exception of drums and a few guitar and bass parts. The album artwork was painted by Vancouver resident Jeremy Crowle.
"Born Losers
Born Losers
This article is about the song. You may be looking for the film http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Born_Losers"Born Losers" is the first single by Matthew Good from his third solo album, Hospital Music...
" was featured as the "Single of the Week" on the American iTunes Store
ITunes Store
The iTunes Store is a software-based online digital media store operated by Apple. Opening as the iTunes Music Store on April 28, 2003, with over 200,000 items to purchase, it is, as of April 2008, the number-one music vendor in the United States...
for the week starting July 31, 2007. The debut was significant due to Good's lack of previous success in the U.S. market, where he had previously released only one album - 2001's Beautiful Midnight
Beautiful Midnight
Beautiful Midnight is the third album released by the Matthew Good Band and the follow-up to the band's 1997 album, Underdogs.The album produced four successful singles and music videos, "Hello Time Bomb", "Load Me Up", "Strange Days", and "The Future is X-Rated"...
, which failed to make a major impact on the U.S. charts (due to Good's lack of co-operation).
Hospital Music debuted at #1 on the Canadian albums chart, selling over 11,000 copies in its first week of release. The album was certified Gold in Canada on January 16, 2008.
It was nominated at the 2008 Juno Awards for Best Rock Album.
Track listing
All tracks written by Matthew Good, except where noted.- "Champions of Nothing" - 9:35
- "A Single Explosion" - 3:04
- "Metal Airplanes" - 5:43
- "99% of Us Is Failure" - 5:39
- "Born LosersBorn LosersThis article is about the song. You may be looking for the film http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Born_Losers"Born Losers" is the first single by Matthew Good from his third solo album, Hospital Music...
" - 5:21 - "Odette" - 3:31
- "Black Helicopter" - 4:46
- "The Boy Come Home" - 4:57
- "The Devil's in Your Details" (Matthew GoodMatthew GoodMatthew Frederick Robert Good is a Canadian rock musician. He was the lead singer for the Matthew Good Band, one of Canada's most successful alternative rock bands in the 1990s, before dissolving the band in 2002...
/Ryan DahleRyan DahleRyan Dahle is a Canadian musician, best known for his contributions to the bands Age of Electric, Nasty Tryxx and Limblifter, each of which have scored several major radio hits.-The Age of Electric:...
) - 3:58 - "Moon Over MarinMoon Over MarinMoon Over Marin is the final track on the Dead Kennedys' album Plastic Surgery Disasters. The song is about pollution in the Marin area of California....
" (Dead KennedysDead KennedysDead Kennedys are an American punk rock band formed in San Francisco, California in 1978. The band became part of the American hardcore punk movement of the early 1980s. They gained a large underground fanbase in the international punk music scene....
) - 3:10 - "Girl Wedged Under the Front of a Firebird" - 1:25
- "I Am Not Safer Than a Bank" - 0:55
- "I'm a Window" - 3:37
- "She's In It for the Money" - 5:09
- "True Love Will Find You in the EndRetired BoxerRetired Boxer is the seventh self-released music cassette album by singer-songwriter Daniel Johnston, recorded in 1984. Beck recorded a cover of the song "True Love Will Find You in the End", which appeared on the Daniel Johnston tribute album, The Late Great Daniel Johnston: Discovered Covered...
" (Daniel JohnstonDaniel JohnstonDaniel Dale Johnston is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and artist. Johnston was the subject of the 2006 documentary The Devil and Daniel Johnston. He currently lives in Waller, Texas....
) - 2:02
Miscellanea
- "Champions of Nothing" was first introduced to fans during Good's 2006 acoustic tour when it was known as "When Hollywood Runs Out of Indians" and used as an introduction to the song "Tripoli". This title, taken from the first line in the song, is inspired by Edward R. Murrow's famous 1958 speech to the Radio Television News Director's Association and, according to Good, "symbolizes the need to placate an ignorant, empty, self centered culture".
- "Metal Airplanes" was written on an airplane during Good's trip to England before personal circumstances forced him to return to Vancouver, where he suffered from the manic episodes which ultimately led to his hospitalization and treatment for bi-polar disorder.
- "99% of Us is Failure" was written for the mother of Good's best friend, Rod Bruno. Bruno's mother had recently been diagnosed with cancer.
- "Black Helicopter" is one of Good's more political songs, dealing with (among other things) COINTELPROCOINTELPROCOINTELPRO was a series of covert, and often illegal, projects conducted by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation aimed at surveilling, infiltrating, discrediting, and disrupting domestic political organizations.COINTELPRO tactics included discrediting targets through psychological...
, the atrocities he believes were committed by the Bush administration, and the existence of Black HelicoptersBlack HelicopterBlack Helicopter is a United States Boston, Massachusetts based hard rock band on Thurston Moore's Ecstatic Peace! independent record label. The band performed at North East Sticks Together in 2005 and 2006....
. It was made available for download on Good's site as a Christmas gift to fans in 2006.
- "The Boy Come Home" is "based on stories of paranoia and disparity felt by a handful of Iraq veterans that Good had been corresponding with". Though Good admits that "the story conveyed in the song is fictional, ... it is steeped in a psychology that, having corresponded with those veterans, is not." Good would revisit some of these themes on "A Silent Army in the Trees" from his 2009 album VancouverVancouver (Matthew Good album)Vancouver is the fourth studio album by Matthew Good, released on October 6, 2009.The album is a concept album, critically reflecting on Good's hometown city of Vancouver...
.
- "Girl Wedged Under the Front of a Firebird" contains loops samples of a story recounted by one of Vancouver's homeless residents about a girl who was run over by a Pontiac FirebirdPontiac FirebirdThe Pontiac Firebird was built by the Pontiac division of General Motors between 1967 and 2002. The Firebird was introduced the same year as the automaker's platform-sharing model, the Chevrolet Camaro...
for drug-related reasons. Good has been a strong advocate for Vancouver's homeless population, donating to various charities and raising awareness on his personal blog .
- "True Love Will Find You In The End" is a cover of a song by Daniel JohnstonDaniel JohnstonDaniel Dale Johnston is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and artist. Johnston was the subject of the 2006 documentary The Devil and Daniel Johnston. He currently lives in Waller, Texas....
. Good became enamored with Johnston's work after watching the film "The Devil and Daniel JohnstonThe Devil and Daniel JohnstonThe Devil and Daniel Johnston is a 2006 documentary film about the noted American artist Daniel Johnston. It chronicles Johnston's life from childhood up to the present, with an emphasis on his experiences with bipolar disorder, and how it manifested itself in demonic self-obsession. The film was...
". Though they do not suffer from the same condition, both Good and Johnston have struggled with mental illness throughout their careers.
Personnel
- Matthew Good - vocals, guitar, bass guitar, keyboards, producer
- Rod Bruno - lead guitar, bass guitar, vocals
- Pat Steward - drums, percussion
- Nadia Johnson - backing vocals (on "Born Losers")
- Zach Blackstone - engineer, mixer
- Eric Mosher - assistant engineer
- Joao Carvalho - mastering
- Ryan DahleRyan DahleRyan Dahle is a Canadian musician, best known for his contributions to the bands Age of Electric, Nasty Tryxx and Limblifter, each of which have scored several major radio hits.-The Age of Electric:...
- co-write and lead guitar on "The Devil's in Your Details"