Foolish | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | April 19, 1994 | |||
Recorded | November 30 – December 2, 1993 | |||
Genre | Indie rock | |||
Length | 50:15 | |||
Label | Merge | |||
Producer | Brian Paulson | |||
Superchunk chronology | ||||
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Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [1] |
The A.V. Club | A− [2] |
Christgau's Consumer Guide | [3] |
Pitchfork | 8.8/10 [4] |
PopMatters | 9/10 [5] |
Rolling Stone | [6] |
The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [7] |
Foolish is the fourth studio album by American indie rock band Superchunk. It was recorded November 30 through December 2, 1993, at Pachyderm Studios, by Brian Paulson and mixed by the band and Paulson at Steve Albini's home studio. [8] The album was released by Merge Records in 1994.
The cover art is credited to the band's bassist, Laura Ballance. Ballance has stated that although the painting has generated much speculation into its deeper meaning, it was simply an "unpracticed" attempt to hark back to an American Music Club album cover. She was the only model available to her, and the dead rabbit was added after she had watched the Michael Moore film Pets or Meat. [8]
Foolish was completed shortly after Ballance and the band's guitarist and lead singer, Mac McCaughan, had broken up. While Ballance rates the album as her third favorite in the band's catalog, she stated that, "....touring for Foolish was so hard. Listening to those words every night and feeling so mute. I didn't get to say anything, and here he was saying everything. I would be up there jumping up and down with tears streaming down my face. [8]
This is the second consecutive Superchunk album where the band recorded a song of the same name, but didn't put it on the album. The US vinyl edition of the album included "Foolish" on a bonus 7" single. [9] The song eventually appeared on the band's Incidental Music compilation.
The video for "Driveway to Driveway" is a takeoff on the classic film The Philadelphia Story . In the video, drummer Jon Wurster plays a rich buffoon and singer Mac McCaughan plays a scrappy lower-class guy both competing for the affections of Ballance's character. Guitarist Jim Wilbur plays a butler. The four members also portray musicians.
Tusk is the twelfth studio album by British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac, released as a double album on 19 October 1979 by Warner Bros. Records. It is considered more experimental than their previous albums, partly as a consequence of Lindsey Buckingham's sparser songwriting arrangements and the influence of post-punk. The production costs were initially estimated to be about $1 million but many years later were revealed to be about $1.4 million, making it the most expensive rock album recorded to that date.
Superchunk is an American indie rock band from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States, consisting of singer-guitarist Mac McCaughan, guitarist Jim Wilbur, bassist Laura Ballance, and drummer Jon Wurster. Formed in 1989, they were one of the bands that helped define the Chapel Hill music scene of the 1990s. Their energetic, high-velocity style and do-it-yourself ethic is influenced by punk rock, specifically, such bands as Hüsker Dü, Sonic Youth, Minutemen, and Buzzcocks.
Merge Records is an independent record label based in Durham, North Carolina. It was founded in 1989 by Laura Ballance and Mac McCaughan. It began as an outlet for music from their band Superchunk and music created by friends, and has expanded to include artists from around the world, with records reaching the top of the Billboard music charts.
Laura Cantrell is a country singer-songwriter and DJ from Nashville, Tennessee.
Holiday is the fourth studio album by American indie pop band The Magnetic Fields. The album was the band's third to be recorded and was intended to be release prior to The Charm of the Highway Strip through the label Feel Good All Over, but due to the label delaying its release, was issued in 1994 five months after its successor. Merge Records would later rerelease the album in 1999.
A.M. is the debut studio album by the American alternative rock band Wilco, released on March 28, 1995, by Sire Records and Reprise Records. The album was released only months after the breakup of Uncle Tupelo, an alternative country band that was the predecessor of Wilco. Prior to its release, there was debate about whether the album would be better than the debut album of Son Volt, the new band of former Uncle Tupelo lead singer Jay Farrar.
Superchunk is the debut studio album by American indie rock band Superchunk. It was recorded January 18–19, 1990, at Duck Kee Studios in Raleigh, North Carolina, and released on Matador Records in 1990.
No Pocky for Kitty is the second studio album by American indie rock band Superchunk, released in 1991. Pocky is a popular Japanese snack food.
Incidental Music 1991–95 is a collection of various b-sides and previously unreleased tracks by Superchunk. It was released by Merge Records in 1995. Despite the name of the collection, the songs included actually date from between 1990 and 1994.
Laura Jane Ballance is the bassist in the rock band Superchunk and co-founder of Merge Records along with Mac McCaughan. In 2013 she announced that she would no longer be touring with the band due to her worsening hyperacusis.
Ralph Lee "Mac" McCaughan is an American musician and record label owner, based in North Carolina. His main musical projects have been Superchunk since 1989 and Portastatic since the early 1990s. In 1989 he founded the independent record label Merge Records with Superchunk bandmate Laura Ballance.
Come Pick Me Up is the seventh studio album by American indie rock band Superchunk, released in 1999. It is marked by the presence of co-producer Jim O'Rourke, a well-known figure in underground circles. Superchunk drummer Jon Wurster said that O'Rourke was selected because the band wanted someone "coming from a different head-space." O'Rourke helped the band decorate the album with string and horn touches that were not typical of their guitar-based sound. One of the horn players who appeared on the album is another well-known figure in underground circles, Shellac's Bob Weston.
Here's to Shutting Up is the eighth studio album by American indie rock band Superchunk. Brian Paulson, who served as co-producer, previously worked with the band on 1994's Foolish.
Brian Paulson is an American record producer and audio engineer from Minnesota, best known for recording albums by Slint, Uncle Tupelo, Son Volt, Superchunk and Wilco.
Spent was an American Indie Rock band from Jersey City, New Jersey consisting of singer/guitarist John King, guitarist/singer/keyboardist Annie Hayden, bassist/occasional vocalist Joe Weston and drummer Ed Radich.
Majesty Shredding is the ninth studio album by American indie rock band Superchunk. It was released on September 14, 2010 on Merge Records. It is the group's first studio album since 2001's Here's to Shutting Up.
"Slack Motherfucker" is a song by American rock band Superchunk. It was the first single released from the band's debut, self-titled album (1990). The song was penned by vocalist and guitarist Mac McCaughan in reference to an indolent co-worker he had at the time. Credited to all four band members, it was the band's second single and first to be released under the name Superchunk.
Bricks were an indie rock band founded in New York City in the late 1980s. The group was formed by Merge Records co-founder Mac McCaughan while he was studying at Columbia University, along with Nashville-born singer-songwriter Laura Cantrell, plus classmates Andrew Webster and Josh Phillips. The foursome recorded at least 18 lo-fi songs between 1988 and 1990, which they released on a cassette and two 7-inch singles before disbanding. Their first single, "Girl With The Carrot Skin", enjoyed college radio airplay and was also made into a music video. Shot on super-8 film, the video featured the band eating and playing with copious amounts of carrots.
What a Time to Be Alive is the eleventh studio album by the American indie rock band Superchunk. It was released in February 2018 by Merge Records.
Wild Loneliness is the twelfth studio album by the American indie rock band Superchunk. It was released on February 25, 2022, by Merge Records. Ahead of the album release, the band put out three singles: "Endless Summer," "This Night," and "On the Floor."