The Burdens of Being Upright

Last updated

The Burdens of Being Upright
Tracy Bonham - The Burdens of Being Upright.jpg
Studio album by
ReleasedMarch 19, 1996 (1996-03-19)
RecordedSummer 1995
Studio Fort Apache Studios,
Cambridge, MA
Genre
Length35:28
Label Island
Producer
Tracy Bonham chronology
Liverpool Sessions EP
(1995)
The Burdens of Being Upright
(1996)
Down Here
(2000)
Singles from The Burdens of Being Upright
  1. "Mother Mother"
    Released: March 12, 1996 [1]
  2. "Sharks Can't Sleep"
    Released: 1996
  3. "The One"
    Released: 1996
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [2]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [3]
Entertainment Weekly A [4]
Kerrang! Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [5]
MusicHound Rock Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [6]
NME 7/10 [7]
Seventeen Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [8]

The Burdens of Being Upright is the debut studio album by American singer-songwriter Tracy Bonham, released on March 19, 1996 by Island Records. [9] [10]

Contents

Content

The Burdens of Being Upright was recorded in the summer of 1995 at Fort Apache Studios in Cambridge, Massachusetts. [11] Referencing this album, in 2015 Bonham said,

That whole album was my experiment with getting a guitar. I was rebelling. It was just raw. I was like, ‘Just get out and do it; get behind a microphone and just scream.’ Twenty years ago I had more doubts; I thought, ‘I can’t just stand there and do that’ — which is when I knew I had to do it. [12]

The album cover (a reference to German photographer August Sander's work "The Bricklayer") was photographed by George DuBose, who was the in-house photographer at the hip hop label Cold Chillin' Records.

Commercial performance

The Burdens of Being Upright debuted at number 136 on the Billboard 200 chart dated April 27, 1996, [13] and later reached its peak position of number 54 on the chart on June 15, 1996. [14] It remained on the chart for 25 weeks. [15] On November 12, 1996, the album was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), signifying the shipment of 500,000 copies of the album. [16]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Tracy Bonham

No.TitleLength
1."Mother Mother"3:00
2."Navy Bean"2:49
3."Tell It to the Sky"4:05
4."Kisses"2:20
5."Brain Crack"1:05
6."The One"3:26
7."One Hit Wonder"3:01
8."Sharks Can't Sleep"4:33
9."Bulldog"2:07
10."Every Breath"2:33
11."30 Seconds"3:14
12."The Real"3:16

Personnel

Credits adapted from the album's liner notes. [17]

Charts

Chart (1996)Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA Charts) [18] 31
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100) [18] 26
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista) [18] 27
New Zealand Album (RMNZ) [18] 46
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan) [18] 48
US Heatseekers Albums ( Billboard ) [19] 9
US Billboard 200 [14] 54

Certifications

RegionCertification Certified units/sales
United States (RIAA) [20] Gold500,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

Awards

Grammy Award Nominations

YearNomineeCategory
1996"Mother Mother" Best Female Rock Vocal Performance
1996The Burdens of Being Upright Best Alternative Album

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References

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  2. AllMusic Review
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  5. Elliott, Paul (June 8, 1996). "Albums". Kerrang! . No. 600. EMAP. p. 45.
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  8. Anon. (April 1996). "Music Reviews". Seventeen : 128 via WayBack Machine.
  9. Dawn, Randee (April 1996). "Reviews". CMJ New Music Monthly . CMJ Network, Inc. (32): 28. ISSN   1074-6978.
  10. Borzillo, Carrie (May 11, 1996). "Island's Bonham Hits". Billboard . Vol. 108, no. 19. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. pp. 1, 74. ISSN   0006-2510.
  11. Fritz, J. (March 2, 1996). "Tracy Bonham – The Burdens of Being Upright – Interview | Lollipop Magazine". Lollipop. Archived from the original on February 18, 2023. Retrieved February 19, 2023.
  12. Laban, Linda (August 27, 2015). "Tracy Bonham: From 'Mother, Mother' to Exploring Motherhood on 'Wax and Gold'". The Village Voice. Retrieved May 8, 2021.
  13. Anon. (April 27, 1996). "The Billboard 200". Billboard . Vol. 108, no. 17. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. p. 97. ISSN   0006-2510.
  14. 1 2 Anon. (June 15, 1996). "The Billboard 200". Billboard . Vol. 108, no. 24. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. p. 92. ISSN   0006-2510.
  15. Chinen, Nate (July 11, 2010). "Foot in the City and Cowboy Boot In the Country". The New York Times : AR19 via ProQuest.
  16. "Gold & Platinum". RIAA. Retrieved February 19, 2023.
  17. The Burdens of Being Upright (booklet). Tracy Bonham. Island. 1996. 314-524 187-2.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  18. 1 2 3 4 5 "norwegiancharts.com - Tracy Bonham - The Burdens Of Being Upright". norwegiancharts.com. Archived from the original on February 18, 2023. Retrieved February 18, 2023.
  19. Anon. (April 27, 1996). "Billboard's Heatseekers Albums Chart". Billboard . Vol. 108, no. 17. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. p. 18.
  20. "American album certifications – Tracy Bonham – The Burdens of Being Upright". Recording Industry Association of America . Retrieved February 18, 2023.