Rockin' the Suburbs

Rockin' the Suburbs
Studio album by
Ben Folds
ReleasedSeptember 11, 2001
Recorded2000
GenreAlternative rock
Length48:42
LabelEpic
ProducerBen Folds, Ben Grosse
Ben Folds chronology
Rockin' the Suburbs
(2001) 		Ben Folds Live
(2002)
Singles from Rockin' the Suburbs
  1. "Rockin' the Suburbs"
    Released: 2001
  2. "Still Fighting It"
    Released: April 9, 2001
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic75/100[1]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
Alternative Press8/10[3]
Entertainment WeeklyA−[4]
The Guardian[5]
Los Angeles Times[6]
Pitchfork6.3/10[7]
Q[8]
Rolling Stone[9]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[10]
Spin7/10[11]

Rockin' the Suburbs is the first solo album by American singer-songwriter Ben Folds released on September 11, 2001, after Folds disbanded his group Ben Folds Five. Rockin' the Suburbs was recorded in Adelaide, Australia, where Folds was living at the time. Two singles from the album were released, "Rockin' the Suburbs", and "Still Fighting It".

"Rockin' the Suburbs" is Folds' only single to make Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks chart, peaking there at number 28 in September 2001. The album peaked at number 42 on the Billboard 200 chart, and at number 11 on the Top Internet Albums chart. A remake of the title track featuring William Shatner appeared in the soundtrack for the 2006 film Over the Hedge, which stars Shatner as an opossum named Ozzie.

Track listing

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All tracks are written by Ben Folds, except where noted

No.TitleLyricsLength
1."Annie Waits" 4:17
2."Zak and Sara" 3:11
3."Still Fighting It" 4:25
4."Gone" 3:22
5."Fred Jones Part 2" 3:45
6."The Ascent of Stan" 4:14
7."Losing Lisa"Folds, Frally Hynes4:10
8."Carrying Cathy" 3:49
9."Not the Same" 4:17
10."Rockin' the Suburbs" 5:00
11."Fired" 3:49
12."The Luckiest" 4:24
13."Hiro's Song" (Bonus track on Japanese CD and US vinyl releases.) 4:23

Track notes

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According to Folds, "Not the Same" is based on a true story of a person he knew who, under the influence of LSD, climbed a tree at a party hosted by Darren Jessee (not Robert Sledge, as the song states), stayed in the tree overnight, and when he came down the next morning was a born-again Christian. Folds used Sledge's name instead of Jessee's in the lyrics because he thought "it sounded better".[12]

Folds performed "Gone" with Street Corner Symphony on the finale of Season 2 of The Sing-Off and performed "Not the Same" with the Dartmouth Aires on the finale of Season 3.

"Still Fighting It" is a bittersweet ode to the pain of adolescence dedicated to his son Louis. He would later write an accompanying song for his daughter Gracie on his 2005 album Songs for Silverman, and he often performs the two songs together live.

"Rockin' the Suburbs" parodies the nu metal style of Korn and Rage Against the Machine. Folds stated of the song "I am taking the piss out of the whole scene, especially the followers."[12]

Ben Folds stated that Hiro's Song was actually one of his favorites from the album, stating "I also did not use a song called "Hiro" about a Japanese guy. That is actually one of my favorite songs of the album. But it didn’t sequence. I like songs about names and characters. Because people are interesting."[12]

Of Zak and Sara, Folds said "I was thinking of these kids growing up in the Midwest. A 16 year old boy plays guitar and his girlfriend has to sit and watch him play all day. She just buzzes there and listens like she had nothing better to do. Maybe the girl is also writing songs and she has this idea in her of music that will happen in 20 years time. She really has some good ideas. But she is not saying anything, cause she is supposed to listen to her boyfriend. And he is playing music that was written 20 years ago."[12]

Personnel

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Credits adapted from album’s liner notes.[13]

Production

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  • Producers: Ben Folds, Ben Grosse
  • Recording: Ben Grosse, Andrew R. Wallace
  • Mixing: Ben Grosse
  • Additional Engineers: Blumpy, Cameron Webb
  • Assistant Engineers: Rick Behrens, Aaron Lepley, Chuck Bailey, Justin Pynes, Uly Noriega, Dale Lawtone
  • Programming: Ben Grosse, Andrew R. Wallace, Blumpy, Cameron Webb, John Vitale
  • Programming Engineer: Andrew R. Wallace
  • Mastering: Ted Jensen

Charts

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Album

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Year Chart Position
2001 The Billboard 200 42
2001 Top Internet Albums 11

Singles

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Year Single Chart Position
2001 "Rockin' the Suburbs" Modern Rock Tracks 28

References

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  1. ^ "Reviews for Rockin' The Suburbs by Ben Folds". Metacritic. Retrieved April 5, 2013.
  2. ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Rockin' the Suburbs – Ben Folds". AllMusic. Retrieved April 5, 2013.
  3. ^ "Ben Folds: Rockin' the Suburbs". Alternative Press (159): 79. October 2001.
  4. ^ Weingarten, Marc (September 14, 2001). "Rockin' the Suburbs". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved April 5, 2013.
  5. ^ Clarke, Betty (September 7, 2001). "Ben Folds: Rockin' the Suburbs (EMI)". The Guardian. Retrieved May 3, 2016.
  6. ^ Appleford, Steve (September 16, 2001). "Ben Folds 'Rockin' the Suburbs' Epic". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on November 12, 2013. Retrieved April 5, 2013.
  7. ^ Tangari, Joe (September 16, 2001). "Ben Folds Five: Rockin' the Suburbs". Pitchfork. Retrieved March 7, 2012.
  8. ^ "Ben Folds: Rockin' the Suburbs". Q (182): 119. October 2001.
  9. ^ Kot, Greg (September 4, 2001). "Ben Folds: Rockin' The Suburbs". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on November 15, 2007. Retrieved April 5, 2013.
  10. ^ Sarig, Roni (2004). "Ben Folds Five". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. pp. 61–62. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
  11. ^ Berrett, Jesse (September 2001). "Ben Folds: Rockin' the Suburbs". Spin. 17 (9): 160–62. Retrieved May 3, 2016.
  12. ^ a b c d R. Pally (2003). "The Ben Folds Interview". Fufkin.com. Archived from the original on October 28, 2004. Retrieved October 16, 2004.
  13. ^ Rockin' the Suburbs (booklet). Epic. 2001.
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