Anthem

Anthem
Studio album by Less Than Jake
Released	May 20, 2003
Recorded	Piety Street Recording in New Orleans, Morning View Studios in Malibu
Genre	Ska punk, pop punk
Length	42:52 41:17 (Japanese Version)
Label	Sire
Producer	Rob Cavallo
Less Than Jake chronology
Borders and Boundaries (2000) Anthem (2003) B Is for B-sides (2004)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
Rolling Stone	[2]

Anthem is the fifth studio album by ska punk band Less Than Jake, released on May 20, 2003 on Sire, an imprint of Warner Bros. Records. Recording took place between October and December 2002 at Piety Street Recording in New Orleans, LA and Morning View Studio in Malibu, CA, with producer Rob Cavallo.

The album performed very well, debuting higher than any Less Than Jake album to date^[3]. Songs released from the record include "She’s Gonna Break Soon" and "The Science of Selling Yourself Short", two of Less Than Jake's most commercially successful songs, and both of which became video singles. The album includes a re-recorded version of "Look What Happened" from the band's previous album, Borders & Boundaries, which omits the horn-driven bridge between the intro and first verse. Still another form of the song exists, used on the Grind soundtrack, omitting all horn section. The band continues to play the original version live.

The title of the album directly comes from a lyric in the song "Screws Fall Out", but also from its use among the band to describe a powerful song that the band can rally behind, similar to "My Very Own Flag" and "Gainesville Rock City" from Pezcore and Borders & Boundaries respectively. Bassist, Roger Manganelli, often jokes that the title was selected by the band writing down every single word in the English language, crossing out words until "Anthem" was the only one left uncrossed.

The album reached #45 on the billboard charts.^[3]

Track listing

Artwork

The CD packaging included a different piece of artwork for each track except "Surrender", and two additional pieces not attached to a specific song, but still present and credited in the booklet. Each song's lyrics are printed on the back of a piece of artwork, but no lyrics are provided for "Surrender". The art direction was done by Vinnie Fiorello and Wendy Dougan, with Fiorello creating the concept for the CD booklet and Dougan designing the booklet itself. Most notable are a piece by Shepard Fairey of Obey Giant for "The Upwards War and the Down Turned Cycle" and Chip Wass's design for "The Science of Selling Yourself Short". The latter would inspire the music video for "The Science Of Selling Yourself Short" and be immortalized as a toy in Less Than Jake drummer Vinnie's Monkey Vs. Robot collection.

Cover Artwork

• Concept by Stephanie Allen
• Artwork by Erik Davison

Song Artwork

• "Welcome to the New South" by Jeff Soto
• "The Ghosts of Me And You" by Steve Vance
• "Look What Happened" by Wendy Ann Garbner
• "The Science of Selling Yourself Short" by Chip Wass]
• "Short Fuse Burning" by Florenzio Zavala
• "Motown Never Sounded So Good" by Kurt Halsey Fredericksen
• "The Upwards War and the Down Turned Cycle" by Shepard Fairey
• "Escape From the A-Bomb House" by David Choe
• "Best Wishes to Your Black Lung" by Alison Zawacki
• "She's Gonna Break Soon" by Mitch O'Connell
• "That's Why They Call It a Union" by Peter Wonsowski
• "Plastic Cup Politics" by Scott Sinclair
• "The Brightest Bulb Has Burned Out" by Camille Rose Garcia
• "Screws Fall Out" by Speed Scott Hall

Additional Artwork

• Jason Miracle
• Shawn Hall

Personnel

• Chris Demakes - guitar, vocals
• Roger Manganelli - bass guitar, guitar, vocals
• Vinnie Fiorello - drums, lyrics
• Buddy Schaub - trombone
• Peter "JR" Wasilewski - saxophone

• Luis Conte - additional percussion
• Jamie Muhoberac - additional keyboards
• Heather Tabor - backup vocals ("Look What Happened")

Reception

This article is in a list format that may be better presented using prose. You can help by converting this article to prose, if appropriate. Editing help is available. (January 2009)

• Anthem is, commercially, the band's most successful to date; the album debuted at #45 on the Billboard 200 (the band's highest to date), spent 12 weeks on the Billboard 200 (currently 9 longer than any other), and debuted at #7 for Top Internet Albums (the band's highest to date)
• "The Science of Selling Yourself Short" was a last-minute idea for the record, and turned out to be the band's most successful song to date (#36 Billboard Modern Rock Chart)

Allusions

• The guitar riff to "Short Fuse Burning" is a tribute to AC/DC's "Thunderstuck"
• "Best Wishes To Your Black Lung" is written about Pete Anna, who left the band to go back to Chicago after Borders & Boundaries to become a firefighter
• "The Brightest Bulb Has Burned Out" was written about Carter Graham, as was "Is This Thing On?"
• A version of "The Brightest Bulb Has Burned Out" which features Billy Bragg singing the second verse appears on the compilation album Rock Against Bush, Vol. 1.
• The band covers Cheap Trick's "Surrender" on the album.

In popular culture

• The song "That's Why They Call it a Union" was featured on the soundtrack for the video game Tony Hawk's Underground 2.
• "Look What Happened" was featured on Linkin Park's 2004 Projekt Revolution tour sampler CD.
• "The Ghosts of Me And You" was featured in an episode of "What's New, Scooby Doo?"
• The song "Short Fuse Burning" was featured on the soundtrack for the video game Gran Turismo 4.

References