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Four Minute Mile

 
Album Review: Four Minute Mile

  • Artist: The Get Up Kids
  • Rating: StarStarStarStar
  • Release Date: September 30, 1997
  • Type: Lyrics are included with the album
  • Genre: Rock

Review

The album that put this Kansas City, MO, band on the map as everyone's favorite emo-pop rockers, with catchy lyrics, fairly unique and powerful pop/rock composition, and an overall sense of energy. Their lyrical content is centered around remembering painful relationships, regret of past mistakes, and longing for that special someone. Favorite tracks on this one would be "Coming Clean," "Stay Gold, Ponyboy," and "Fall Semester." If you don't have this and you enjoy poppy, catchy emo, you'd love it. ~ Blake Butler, All Music Guide

Tracks

Track TitleComposersPerformersTime
Coming Clean (Lyrics) The Get Up Kids (2:07)
Don't Hate Me The Get Up Kids (2:54)
Fall Semester The Get Up Kids (3:21)
Stay Gold, Ponyboy (Lyrics) The Get Up Kids (2:54)
Lowercase West Thomas The Get Up Kids (1:58)
Washington Square Park The Get Up Kids (3:08)
Last Place You Look (Lyrics) The Get Up Kids (2:30)
Better Half (Lyrics) The Get Up Kids (3:24)
No Love (Lyrics) The Get Up Kids (3:04)
Shorty (Lyrics) The Get Up Kids (3:22)
Michelle With One "L" (Lyrics) The Get Up Kids (6:01)

Credits

Robert Pope (?), Scott Ritcher (Cover Art), Bob Weston (Producer), Matthew Pryor (?), Ryan Pope (?), Robert A.A. Lowe (Vocals), Jim Suptic (?)
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Wikipedia: Four Minute Mile
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Four Minute Mile
Studio album by The Get Up Kids
Released September 30, 1997
Recorded April 1997
Chicago Recording Co.
Genre Emo
Indie Rock
Pop Punk
Length 34:49
Label Doghouse
Producer Bob Weston
Professional reviews
The Get Up Kids chronology
Split with Braid
(1997)
Four Minute Mile
(1997)
Red Letter Day EP
(1999)
Alternate covers
Alternate cover for the remastered edition re-released in 2001
Cover for the 2008 vinyl re-pressing

Four Minute Mile is the first full-length album released by Kansas City, Missouri emo band The Get Up Kids.

Contents

Recording

The album was recorded in April 1997 on a budget of $4,000.[1] It was produced by Shellac bassist Bob Weston in Chicago over the course of two and a half days.[2] It was released by Doghouse Records on September 30, 1997. The album was released on CD and vinyl. The vinyl release consisted of six pressings on black and colored vinyl, including blue, gold, red and clear.[3] The release brought a great deal of attention to the band, leading to offers from larger labels.

However, the band didn't last long on Mojo Records, as they were dropped when the label merged with Universal Records in 1996. They were then signed to the then-unknown Vagrant Records.

Legacy

The album was well-received, if not a major commercial success. The album helped the band develop a national fanbase, as well as garnering a bidding war over the band from several major labels, including Geffen Records, Sub Pop Records and Mojo Records. The band ended up signing with Mojo, but was quickly disappointed with their choice when the label asked the band to re-record the song "Don't Hate Me", feeling that the label was under-estimating their potential.

The album also had a lasting impact on other musicians. In a 2005 interview with AP Magazine, Pete Wentz of the Chicago pop-punk group Fall Out Boy remarked that the album had a major influence on the band as a whole. "The first time I heard [The Get Up Kids] was around Four Minute Mile. I was in high school. There was an honesty and sincerity [to the album]. It seemed more about the fact that this music was "emotional," than an actual sound than labeled them". In the same interview, he remarked that "Fall Out Boy would not be a band if it were not for The Get Up Kids".

Re-releases

A remastered version of the album was released by Doghouse records on Compact Disc in 2001. This was largely a way of capitalizing on the recent success of the band's second album, 1999's Something to Write Home About, which rocketed the band to international stardom.

In 2008, Doghouse records announced that it would be re-releasing the album on colored vinyl; One opaque blue, and one opaque pink. The release will be a re-release of the original version of the album and not the 2001 remastered edition.[4][5] The vinyl was re-pressed and released on December 12, 2008.

Track listing

All songs written and composed by The Get Up Kids

# Title Length
1. "Coming Clean"   2:07
2. "Don't Hate Me"   2:54
3. "Fall Semester"   3:21
4. "Stay Gold, Ponyboy"   2:55
5. "Lowercase West Thomas"   1:59
6. "Washington Square Park"   3:08
7. "Last Place You Look"   2:31
8. "Better Half"   3:25
9. "No Love"   3:05
10. "Shorty"   3:22
11. "Michele With One "L""   6:02

Personnel

Band

Additional Musicians

  • Robert A.A. Lowe - Vocals

Production

Design

References

  1. ^ Grubbs, Eric (2008). Post: A Look at the Influence of Post-Hardcore-1985-2007. iUniverse. pp. 224-266. ISBN 0595518354. 
  2. ^ Alternative Press Issue 204 "Say Goodnight, Mean Goodbye: The Oral History of The Get Up Kids"
  3. ^ http://www.deadformat.net/press/58 Pressing information
  4. ^ http://www.doghouserecords.com/v11/link_front.php
  5. ^ http://new.merchnow.com/catalogs/the-get-up-kids

External links


 
 

 

Copyrights:

Album Review. Copyright © 2009 All Media Guide, LLC. Content provided by All Music Guide ®, a trademark of All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Four Minute Mile" Read more