We Started Nothing is the debut album by the English New Wave

New Wave music

New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...

 duo The Ting Tings

The Ting Tings

The Ting Tings are an English music duo comprising Jules de Martino and Katie White . They formed in December 2007 while based at Islington Mill Studios in Salford...

. It was released by the Columbia

Columbia Records

Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...

 Label Group (UK) on 19 May 2008 in the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

. The US edition has a different cover image in several background colours.
The album was also released in the UK as a limited edition LP on red vinyl limited to 2,000 copies. The US vinyl version is a standard black-vinyl pressing.

Writing process

According to vocalist/guitarist Katie White:

The way we write changes with each song. "Keep Your Head" started with Jules [De Martino] on the drums, "We Walk

We Walk (The Ting Tings song)

"We Walk" is a song by English duo The Ting Tings. It is the sixth and final single from the duo's debut album We Started Nothing. According to The Ting Tings' official Facebook profile, the single was released on 23 February 2009, just before the band's UK Tour...

" started with me on piano, "Shut Up and Let Me Go

Shut Up and Let Me Go

"Shut Up and Let Me Go" is the fourth single by English duo The Ting Tings from their debut studio album We Started Nothing. The song was released in the United Kingdom on 21 July 2008, and was the follow-up to the number one hit single "That's Not My Name"...

" started with Jules on bass, "That's Not My Name

That's Not My Name

"That’s Not My Name" is the third single by British duo The Ting Tings from their debut studio album We Started Nothing. Vocalist Katie White states that the song was written "with me ranting about my frustrations with the record industry." The song was originally released as a double A-side with...

" was me ranting about my frustrations with the record industry. "Great DJ

Great DJ

"Great DJ" is the second single by English Indie pop band The Ting Tings. Vocalist Katie White states that the song was written by "playing a D chord on the guitar for hours, because that's all I could play. And then I put my finger on the wrong string, and got what I discovered was an augmented...

" was me playing a D chord on the guitar for hours, because that's all I could play. And then I put my finger on the wrong string, and got what I discovered was an augmented chord. And that was the riff! The lyrics described the life we were living at the time. It was about getting lost in hedonism

Hedonism

Hedonism is a school of thought which argues that pleasure is the only intrinsic good. In very simple terms, a hedonist strives to maximize net pleasure .-Etymology:The name derives from the Greek word for "delight" ....

, about forgetting that you had bailiffs knocking at your door and just surrendering to the joys of the music in a nightclub for several hours - the boys, the girls, the strings, the drums.

Track listing

Japanese bonus tracks

• "Great DJ" (7th Heaven Radio Mix) – 3:31
• "That's Not My Name" (Soul Seekerz Radio Mix) – 3:23
• "That's Not My Name" (☆Taku Takahashi
  Taku Takahashi
  is a Japanese DJ and record producer, who debuted in 1998 as a member of the group M-Flo. The group rose to prominence in the early 2000s, with hit singles such as "How You Like Me Now?" and "Come Again." Takahashi was also a member of Avex's 20th anniversary dance music project Ravex, and has...
  
   Remix) – 5:16

Deluxe Edition

• "Be the One" (acoustic version) – 3:16
• "Shut Up and Let Me Go" (acoustic version) – 2:46
• "Great DJ" (acoustic version) – 3:33
• "That's Not My Name" (acoustic version) – 4:26

Bonus DVD

1. "Great DJ" (music video)
2. "That's Not My Name" (music video)
3. "Shut Up and Let Me Go" (music video)
4. "Be the One" (music video)
5. Making of "Shut Up and Let Me Go"
6. Making of "Be the One"
7. Salford/Berlin/London/New York

Singles

1. The first single released from the album was a double a side single, the two songs being "That's Not My Name" and "Great DJ". It was released on 27 May 2007 on the independent label Switchflicker Records
   Switchflicker Records
   Switchflicker Records is an independent British record label based in Manchester, England. The company was established in 2000 by Jayne Compton...
   
   .
2. The second single released from the album was "Fruit Machine". This was released as a limited 500 copy run, only available for their fans at the band's concerts. Four covers were made: one for Salford, one for Berlin, one for London and one for New York.
3. The third single released from the album was the re-release of "Great DJ". The song did not enter the charts until the re-release of "That's Not My Name" and it charted at 33 in the UK. It was released on 3 March 2008.
4. The fourth single released from the album was the re-release of "That's Not My Name". The song is so far their most popular in the UK, reaching the top spot in this country for one week. Due to the popularity of this single it caused "Great DJ" to finally chart (two months after its release) it also caused "Shut Up and Let Me Go" to chart early (two months before its release). The song ended 2008 being the UK's 22nd highest-selling single of the year, selling 300,000 copies. It was released in the US and reached number 39 on the Billboard Hot 100.
5. The fifth single released from the album was "Shut Up and Let Me Go". Due to the popularity of "That's Not My Name" it entered the top 75 two months before its release, from downloads. The song was officially released on 21 July 2008. It is their second most popular song in the UK charting at 6, it also showed popularity in the US charting inside the Hot 100 at 55.
6. The sixth single released from the album was "Be the One", it was released on 13 October 2008, despite the popularity of the last two single it only managed to peak at 28 in the UK.
7. The re-release of "Fruit Machine" was set as the seventh single due to be released on 9 February 2009, but was cancelled a week before the release, the seventh single released from the album was "We Walk". It was released on 23 February 2009 and was the first single by the band not to have a seven inch vinyl release, instead coming out on 12 inch vinyl only and digital download.
8. The eighth single was planned to be "Keep Your Head", but they decided to cancel it to spend more time recording the next album.

Charts and certifications

Chart (2008)	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...	22
Austrian Albums Chart	64
Belgian Album Chart Ultratop Ultratop is an organization which generates and publishes the official record charts in Belgium, and it is also the name of most of those charts...  (Wallonia)	54
Belgian Albums Chart (Flanders)	38
French Albums Chart Syndicat National de l'Edition Phonographique The Syndicat national de l'édition phonographique is the inter-professional organization which protects the interests of the French record industry...	21
German Albums Chart Media Control Charts The official music charts in Germany are gathered and published by the company Media Control GfK International on behalf of Bundesverband Musikindustrie...	59
Irish Albums Chart Irish Albums Chart The Irish Albums Chart is the Irish music industry standard albums popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on its behalf by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured electronically...	3
Dutch Albums Chart MegaCharts MegaCharts is responsible for the composition and exploitation of a broad collection of official charts in the Netherlands, of which the Mega Top 50 and the Mega Album Top 100 are the most known ones. Mega Charts also provides information to the Stichting Nederlandse Top 40, of which the Dutch Top...	20
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...	16
Swiss Albums Chart	28
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...	1
U.S. 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...	78
U.S. Billboard Top Heatseekers Top Heatseekers Top Heatseekers refers to either of two separate "Breaking and Entering" music charts issued weekly by Billboard Magazine: the Heatseekers Albums chart or the Heatseekers Songs chart. They were introduced by Billboard in 1993 with the purpose of highlighting the sales by new and developing musical...	7
U.S. Billboard Top Independent 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...	8

Certifications

Country	Certification	Sales
Australia	Gold	45,000+
United Kingdom	2× Platinum	600,000+
World	N/A	2,000,000+

End of year charts

Year	Country	Chart	Ranking
2008	Australia	ARIA Top 100 Albums	76
	United States	Top Independent Albums	26