Nothing Is Sound
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| Nothing Is Sound | |||||
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| Studio album by Switchfoot | |||||
| Released | September 13, 2005 | ||||
| Recorded | 2004–2005 | ||||
| Genre | Alternative rock, Hard rock | ||||
| Length | 50:54 | ||||
| Label | Columbia | ||||
| Producer | John Fields, Switchfoot | ||||
| Professional reviews | |||||
| Switchfoot chronology | |||||
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| Singles from Nothing Is Sound | |||||
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Nothing Is Sound is the fifth studio album by American alternative rock band Switchfoot. It was released on September 13, 2005, and debuted at number three on the Billboard 200.[1] The first single from this album was "Stars," which was the number one most-added song on Modern Rock Radio, and received much airplay on alternative rock stations upon release. A second single "We Are One Tonight" was released in early 2006, but without much success on the Billboard charts.
There was some controversy over the inclusion of XCP copy protection on the disc, which led to a posting by Switchfoot bassist Tim Foreman on their website about ways to get around it (which Columbia Records promptly removed). The album was at the forefront of the Sony BMG CD copy prevention scandal and in turn eventually led to the CD being recalled to remove the protection.
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[edit] Album history and recording
After the large success of Switchfoot's previous record, The Beautiful Letdown, the band found itself constantly on tour and worked on most of the new record while the band was on the road. As a result, many of the songs on Nothing Is Sound made their public debuts while the band was on tour. Every night on tour, the band would write parts to new songs, and test them out during the shows. "There's nothing like playing a new song in front of real people with real opinions. The people at those shows, (the extended Switchfoot family), they shaped this song as much as anyone," Jon Foreman said.[2]
[edit] Market success
In October, just over a month after its original release date, Nothing Is Sound was certified gold by the RIAA, indicating that it had shipped at least 500,000 copies. The incredible pacing tapered off significantly, following the revelation of Sony's rootkit on the disks. The November 1st, 2006 edition of Billboard magazine reported that Nothing Is Sound had sold 549,000 units. Despite the obstacles to continued sales, its debut position on the Billboard 200 at number three is the highest that any Switchfoot album has ever placed. "Stars" is the best charting single of the album, reaching as high as 16 on the modern rock chart, and number 68 on the Billboard Hot 100.
[edit] Copy protection controversy
In November 2005, it was revealed that Sony was distributing albums with Extended Copy Protection, a controversial feature that automatically installed rootkit software on any Microsoft Windows machine upon insertion of the disc. In addition to preventing the CDs contents from being copied, it was also revealed that the software reported the users' listening habits back to Sony and also exposed the computer to malicious attacks that exploited insecure features of the rootkit software. Though Sony refused to release a list of the affected CDs, the Electronic Frontier Foundation identified Nothing Is Sound as one of the discs with the invasive software.
Bassist Tim Foreman posted a way around the protection on the bands message boards.[3] The original post was soon deleted, which caused some people to speculate that Sony would sue the band over this issue.[4] However, no legal action has been taken. Jon Foreman would later say that he felt the album was "tainted" by this.[5]
An additional copy protection problem was found on some of the disks that were published by EMI. These disks contained Cactus Data Shield copy protection. Ironically, some copies of that version were also recalled due to incorrect copy protection settings, although they were exchanged for other copy-protected copies with the correct settings.[6]
[edit] Dual Disc release
A DualDisc version of Nothing is Sound was also released simultaneously to the standard editions. Notable is the fact that was originally the only version of the album that did not contain the copy protection software.
The DVD-side of the album featured the entire album in 5.1 Surround sound, and also includes an approximately 30-minute long documentary on the making of the album.
[edit] Lyrical themes
Nothing Is Sound is characterized as being a much "darker" album compared to Switchfoot's other releases. Lead song writer Jon Foreman even hinted that the album could be viewed as "a dark chapter revealing even more mysteries to be solved".[7] Lyrically the songs explore topics ranging from loneliness, the end of the world, anti-entropy, and the commercialization of sex.[7] The band has always viewed the album as being more hopeful than anything, pointing to songs like "The Shadow Proves the Sunshine" as how a seemingly dark theme, can actually be positive. Jon says, "I may write about how everything is meaningless, but it’s a very hopeful thing for me to be proven wrong."[8]
[edit] Music videos
Switchfoot's first music video from this album is "Stars", which was filmed almost entirely underwater. Switchfoot has since released a live video version of "Stars", and another two videos for the album's second single "We Are One Tonight". The band also filmed a video for the song Happy Is a Yuppie Word in anticipation of it being released as the first single. However, it was never formally released, but was later included on the DVD Switchfootage 2 along with a video for The Blues.
[edit] Track listing
- "Lonely Nation" – 3:44
- "Stars" – 4:20
- "Happy Is a Yuppie Word" – 4:49
- "The Shadow Proves the Sunshine" – 5:04
- "Easier Than Love" – 4:28
- "The Blues" – 5:15
- "The Setting Sun" – 4:24
- "Politicians" – 3:26
- "Golden" – 3:35
- "The Fatal Wound" – 2:44
- "We Are One Tonight" – 4:39
- "Daisy" – 4:20
[edit] Extra songs
In addition to the mainstay tracks listed above, the album was released with extra material at different stores.
- Albums purchased at Target stores contained an extra track called "Goodnight Punk". The song was originally considered for the The Beautiful Letdown album but was cut from the final selection.
- Albums purchased at Wal-Mart contained a Christmas song called "Old Borego" as a bonus track, which Jon Foreman had penned earlier for a charity album released locally in the band's hometown of San Diego.
- In Japan, the album was released with an alternative version of "Dare You to Move" which is featured during a montage in the band's DVD "Switchfootage", along with the unreleased track "Monday Comes Around."
- Albums purchased at iTunes included an acoustic version of the song "Stars".
[edit] Charts
| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Billboard 200 | #3 |
| 2005 | Top Internet albums | #1 |
| 2005 | Top Christian albums | #1 |
[edit] Credits and production
- Produced by - John Fields and Switchfoot
- Recorded by - Steven Miller, John Fields, Chris Testa, Dorian "wook" Crozier, and Switchfoot
- Assistants - Michael Harris, Ben Moore, Matt Beckley, Cameron Barton, and Zeph Sowers
- Mixing - Bob Clearmountain and Chris Lord-Alge
- Mastered by - Ted Jensen
- Cover Art - Nessim Higson
[edit] Additional Instrumentation
- "Daisy" - Strings: Chris Westlake and Tommy Barbarella
- "The Blues" - Strings: Tommy Barbarella - Choir: Todd Cooper, Jimmy Coup and Joel Hossler - Segue Vocals: The Kuyasa Kids
- "Stars" - Guest background vocals: Andy Sturmer
- "We Are One Tonight" - Guest background vocals: Rachel Masen
[edit] References
- ^ Artist Chart History - Switchfoot - Billboard. Retrieved 2007-02-09
- ^ Nothing Is Sound Song Stories - Retrieved March 27, 2008
- ^ Foreman, Tim (2005-09-14). ilikeswitchfoot.homestead.com. Retrieved on 2006-08-13.
- ^ "Artist Suggesting Ways Around Copy Protection", Slashdot, (2005-09-19). Retrieved on 2006-08-13.
- ^ Newman, Melinda. "Switchfoot switches plans, back in studio", Reuters, (2006-06-26). Retrieved on 2006-08-13.
- ^ Recall of Switchfoot, "Nothing is Sound," Discs - EMI Retrieved 2007-02-09
- ^ a b Foreman, Jon (2005-09-12). 12 days of Switchfoot. Retrieved on 2007-06-27.
- ^ Switchfoot, nothing is sound (2005-08-26). Retrieved on 2007-06-27.
[edit] External links
- Nothing Is Sound lyrics
- Nothing Is Sound song stories
- Switchfoot - Nothing Is Sound press release
- Are You Affected By Sony-BMG's Rootkit? (November 9, 2005) from Electronic Frontier Foundation
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