No Pleasantries | ||||
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Studio album by U.P.O. | ||||
Released | May 30, 2000 | |||
Genre | Post-grunge, Alternative rock | |||
Length | 50:12 | |||
Label | Epic, Sony | |||
Producer | Rick Parashar, U.P.O. | |||
U.P.O. chronology | ||||
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No Pleasantries is the debut album of American post-grunge band U.P.O. Released on May 30, 2000, the album broke U.P.O. into the mainstream rock scene and was their most successful release. It was made available on iTunes on September 22, 2004. [1]
Post-grunge is a rock music subgenre that emerged in the 1990s. Originally, the term was used almost pejoratively to label bands such as Bush, Candlebox and Collective Soul that emulated the original sound of grunge.
U.P.O. was an American rock band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 1997. The band's line-up originally included Shawn Albro, Chris Weber (guitar), Ben Shirley (bass) and Tommy Holt (drums). Shirley and Holt left and were replaced by Zoltan Bathory and Philippe Mathys shortly before the band's breakup in 2004.
iTunes is a media player, media library, Internet radio broadcaster, and mobile device management application developed by Apple Inc. It was announced on January 9, 2001. It is used to play, download, and organize digital multimedia files, including music and video, on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating systems. Content must be purchased through the iTunes Store, whereas iTunes is the software letting users manage their purchases.
In promotion of No Pleasantries, U.P.O. toured throughout 2000 with popular acts such as Linkin Park, Nickelback, Godsmack, and 3 Doors Down. July saw the group joining Slipknot, Slayer, and Metallica on the Tattoo the Earth Tour. U.P.O. played two more shows in 2001 before their brief hiatus. [2]
Linkin Park is an American rock band from Agoura Hills, California. The band's current lineup comprises vocalist/rhythm guitarist Mike Shinoda, lead guitarist Brad Delson, bassist Dave Farrell, DJ/keyboardist Joe Hahn, and drummer Rob Bourdon, all of whom are founding members. Former members include bassist Kyle Christner and vocalists Mark Wakefield and Chester Bennington, the latter being a member until his passing in 2017.
Nickelback is a Canadian rock band formed in 1995 in Hanna, Alberta, Canada. The band is composed of guitarist and lead vocalist Chad Kroeger, guitarist, keyboardist and backing vocalist Ryan Peake, bassist Mike Kroeger, and drummer Daniel Adair. The band went through several drummer changes between 1995 and 2005, achieving its current lineup when Adair replaced drummer Ryan Vikedal.
Godsmack is an American rock band from Lawrence, Massachusetts, formed in 1995. The band is composed of founder, frontman and songwriter Sully Erna, guitarist Tony Rombola, bassist Robbie Merrill, and drummer Shannon Larkin. Since its formation, Godsmack has released seven studio albums, one EP, four DVDs, one compilation album, and one live album.
Professional ratings | |
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Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
Allmusic |
No Pleasantries boasted two chart-placing singles; "Godless" climbed to #5 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Chart and “Feel Alive” reached #25. The album managed to sell over 100,000 copies.
David Reamer of Allmusic noted, "With a sound similar to Badmotorfinger -era Soundgarden and featuring vocal distortion like that employed by Travis Meeks of Days of the New fame, the album is nothing revolutionary, but it is full of quality tracks that will please all but the most jaded alternative fans." He also claimed that U.P.O. obviously "knows what it's doing" and enjoys making music. Vocalist Shawn Albro's varied delivery has also been compared to The Cult's Ian Astbury.
Badmotorfinger is the third studio album by American rock band Soundgarden, released on September 24, 1991, through A&M Records. Soundgarden began the recording sessions for the album with new bassist Ben Shepherd in the spring of 1991. The album maintained the band's heavy metal sound while featuring an increased focus on songwriting as compared with the band's previous releases. AllMusic considered the album's music to be "surprisingly cerebral and arty"; alternative tunings and abnormal time signatures were present on several of the album's songs, and lyrics were intended to be ambiguous and create imagery.
Soundgarden was an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1984 by singer and rhythm guitarist Chris Cornell, lead guitarist Kim Thayil, and bassist Hiro Yamamoto. Matt Cameron became the band's full-time drummer in 1986, while bassist Ben Shepherd became a permanent replacement for Yamamoto in 1990. The band dissolved in 1997 and re-formed in 2010. Following Cornell's death in 2017, the band said it couldn’t possibly continue, and so has likely dissolved for the last time.
Travis Shane Meeks is an American musician, and is the lead singer, guitarist and songwriter for acoustic rock band Days of the New. In recent years he has been battling drug addiction causing the break up of his 2014 reunion with Days Of The New shortly after it began for the second time. Since then he has been arrested several times for possession of narcotics and paraphernalia, served jail time and as of 2018 still struggling with substance abuse issues.
"Godless" was included on MTV's Return of the Rock Vol. 2. Tattoo The Earth: The First Crusade included A live rendition of "Dust." "Feel Alive" was included on the soundtrack to Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 . A track entitled "Now You Want Me," which may be from the No Pleasantries sessions, was featured on the ECW Anarchy Rocks! compilation. Nash Bridges and ESPN Under the Helmet also bared tracks from No Pleasantries.
Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 is a 2000 American psychological horror film, directed and co-written by Joe Berlinger and starring Jeffrey Donovan, Stephen Barker Turner, Kim Director, Erica Leerhsen and Tristine Skyler. The film was immediately greenlit upon pitch due to the surprising success of its predecessor, the wildly successful 1999 film The Blair Witch Project. Stylistically different from the first film, the plot revolves around a group of people fascinated by the mythology surrounding The Blair Witch Project film; they go into the Black Hills where the original film was shot, and experience supernatural phenomena and psychological unraveling.
Nash Bridges is an American television police drama created by Carlton Cuse starring Don Johnson and Cheech Marin as two Inspectors with the San Francisco Police Department's Special Investigations Unit. The series ran for six seasons on CBS from March 29, 1996, to May 4, 2001, for a total of 122 episodes.
All lyrics written by Shawn Albro; all music composed by Shawn Albro and Chris Weber.
Chris Weber is an American musician best known as the guitarist and founder of the groups U.P.O. and Hollywood Rose. With U.P.O., he released two albums, No Pleasantries (2000) and The Heavy (2004), while the Hollywood Rose demos, recorded in 1984, were released in 2004 titled The Roots of Guns N' Roses.
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Circle of Life" | 3:24 |
2. | "Freaks and Pigs" | 3:42 |
3. | "Feel Alive" | 3:59 |
4. | "Godless" | 4:14 |
5. | "Shame" | 4:32 |
6. | "My Life" | 4:07 |
7. | "Dust" | 3:45 |
8. | "Catch the Sun" | 4:06 |
9. | "Shut Up" | 4:48 |
10. | "Autumn Grey" | 4:51 |
11. | "The Hurt" | 4:20 |
12. | "Dead" | 4:17 |
Total length: | 50:12 |
Year | Chart | Position |
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2000 | Top Heatseekers | 19 |
Year | Single | Chart | Position |
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2000 | "Feel Alive" | Mainstream Rock Tracks | 25 [4] |
2000 | "Godless" | Mainstream Rock Tracks | 6 |
"The Rock Show" is a song recorded by American rock band Blink-182 for the group's fourth studio album, Take Off Your Pants and Jacket (2001). It was released as the lead single from the album on June 25, 2001. The track was composed primarily by bassist Mark Hoppus about meeting a girl at a rock concert. It was inspired by the band's early days touring punk rock clubs, mainly Soma in their hometown of San Diego.
Ten is the debut studio album by American rock band Pearl Jam, released on August 27, 1991 through Epic Records. Following the disbanding of bassist Jeff Ament and guitarist Stone Gossard's previous group Mother Love Bone, the two recruited vocalist Eddie Vedder, guitarist Mike McCready, and drummer Dave Krusen to form Pearl Jam in 1990. Most of the songs began as instrumental jams, to which Vedder added lyrics about topics such as depression, homelessness, and abuse. As of 2019, Ten has sold more than 13 million copies in United States alone and is widely regarded as one of the greatest albums ever made.
Heart is an American rock band that first found success in Canada and later in the United States and worldwide. Over the group's five-decade history, it has had three primary lineups, with the constant center of the group since 1973 being sisters Ann Wilson and Nancy Wilson. Heart rose to fame in the mid-1970s with music influenced by hard rock and heavy metal, as well as folk music. Their popularity declined in the early 1980s, but in 1985, the band launched a successful comeback which saw them experience greater success with album-oriented rock hits and hard-rock ballads that went into the 1990s.
Alive II is the second live album by American hard rock band Kiss, released on October 14, 1977 by Casablanca Records. The band had released three albums since the previous live outing, the 1975 release Alive!, and the band drew upon the variety of new tracks, with Eddie Kramer producing.
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