We Care | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | 3 July 1995 (Europe) | |||
Genre | ||||
Label | Virgin | |||
Producer | Whale Falcon (tracks 6, 9 & 10) Tricky (tracks 1 & 8) | |||
Whale chronology | ||||
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We Care is the debut album by Swedish alternative rock group Whale. The album was produced by Whale; several tracks were produced in cooperation with Falcon or Tricky.
After forming an impromptu band, Gordon Cyrus, Henrik Schyffert, and Cia Berg recorded a music track. Released in May 1994 as "Hobo Humpin' Slobo Babe" on East West Records, it became a novelty hit, especially on MTV, where it received heavy rotation. It rose to number 24 on Billboard's Modern Rock chart. The word "slobo" was a mistranslation by the band, who meant to use the British slang word "sloane". After Warner Sweden declined to exercise their option on the band, Virgin signed them and released We Care on 3 July 1995 in Europe, 31 July in the UK, and 1 August in the United States. [1] Schyffert described their collaboration style on the album as "scream[ing] out ideas". Though this resulted in a wide variety in styles and a difficult-to-describe album, he dismissed concerns that it was too confusing. [2]
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [3] |
Cash Box | (favorable) [4] |
Christgau's Consumer Guide | A− [5] |
Entertainment Weekly | B [6] |
The Guardian | [7] |
NME | 8/10 [8] |
Rolling Stone | [9] |
Sacha Jenkins of Vibe wrote, "Whale exhibits an alert grasp on the desires of the fast-food, on-line generation." [10] Chris Molanphy of CMJ New Music Monthly wrote that while the album is fun, its lack of effort to be smart hampers the ability to take the band seriously. [11] Robert Christgau rated it A− and wrote, "They're so good you have to think twice to remember which two tracks Tricky helped out on." [5] Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic rated it 4.5/5 stars and wrote, "Taking elements of trip-hop beats, heavy metal guitars, sing-song pop, and football chants, the band creates a joyously noisy racket that emphasizes their humor and their sexiness." [3] James Hunter of Rolling Stone rated it 4/5 stars and wrote, "The trio satisfies a raging appetite for distorted guitars while remembering punk and betraying an inevitable background in Abbaesque pop." [9]
American Thighs is the 1994 debut studio album by American alternative rock band Veruca Salt. The album features the single "Seether".
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Per Henrik Schyffert is a Swedish comedian, actor, musician and radio and television personality.
Whale was a Swedish alternative rock group active from 1992 to 1999.
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Hot Trip to Heaven is the fifth studio album by British rock band Love and Rockets, released in 1994 on Beggars Banquet in the United Kingdom and American in the United States. Released after a five-year hiatus, the album saw the band drop their former gothic, alternative rock sound in favour of a hi-tech electronic, ambient direction, taking influences from ambient techno artists such as The Orb and Orbital, while retaining the band's psychedelic focus. The group were first intrigued in making electronic music at the start of the decade.
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"Hobo Humpin' Slobo Babe" is a song recorded by Swedish alternative rock band Whale, released in 1993 by Warner Records and EastWest as the debut single from the band's first album, We Care (1995). Written and produced by the band, the song received critical acclaim and achieved success particularly in Europe, reaching the top 10 in both Denmark and Norway, and the top 20 in Belgium, the Netherlands, and the UK, where it peaked at number 15. In the US, the single became a radio hit, after being played incessantly as an import by KROQ Los Angeles. However, it only charted on the Billboard Alternative Songs chart, peaking at number 24. The accompanying music video for "Hobo Humpin' Slobo Babe" was directed by Mark Pellington and was played frequently on MTV. It also won an award at the first MTV Europe Music Award in 1994.
The MTV Europe Music Award for Best Video is an award category presented at the MTV Europe Music Awards. The award was first presented in 1994 under the name Best Director, awarded to Whale's "Hobo Humpin' Slobo Babe". This is the only MTV EMA award - excluding special awards - whose winner is chosen by MTV, rather than by the public. "Hey Ya!", "Born This Way" and "Havana" are the only music videos to also win Best Song. The artist with the most wins is Taylor Swift with three wins. Taylor Swift is the artist with the most nominations, with seven. Swift and Kendrick Lamar are the only performers to have won the award for a video they co-directed: Lamar for "Humble" in 2017 and Swift for "Me!" in 2019.