| Nothing Is Sound | |||||
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| Studio album by Switchfoot | |||||
| Released | September 13 2005 | ||||
| Recorded | 2004/2005 | ||||
| Genre | Alternative Rock Hard Rock |
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| Length | 50:54 | ||||
| Label | Columbia/Sony BMG | ||||
| Producer | John Fields Switchfoot |
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| Switchfoot chronology | |||||
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Nothing Is Sound is the fifth studio album by the band Switchfoot. It was released on September 13, 2005, and debuted at #3 on Billboard 200[1] and #1 on Billboard Top Internet Albums. The double platinum-selling alternative rockers penned the songs during downtime on a headlining tour of North America. The first single from this album was "Stars," which was the #1 most added song on Modern Rock Radio, and received much airplay on alternative rock stations upon release. A second single "We Are One Tonight" was released in early 2006, but without much success on the Billboard charts. There was some controversy over the inclusion of XCP copy protection on the disc, which led to a posting by Switchfoot bassist Tim Foreman on their website about ways to get around it (which Columbia Records promptly removed). This in turn led to the CD being recalled to remove the protection. The DualDisc version of this album has also been released, at the same time, which did not contain the XCP software. This version of the album also contained a behind the scenes look at the making of the album.
Contents |
Track listing
- "Lonely Nation" – 3:44
- "Stars" – 4:20
- "Happy Is a Yuppie Word" – 4:49
- "The Shadow Proves the Sunshine" – 5:04
- "Easier Than Love" – 4:28
- "The Blues" – 5:15
- "The Setting Sun" – 4:24
- "Politicians" – 3:26
- "Golden" – 3:35
- "The Fatal Wound" – 2:44
- "We Are One Tonight" – 4:39
- "Daisy" – 4:20
Success
In October, just over a month after its original release date, Nothing Is Sound was certified gold by the RIAA, meaning that it had shipped at least 500,000 copies. The incredible pacing tapered off significantly, following the revelation of Sony's rootkit on the disks. The November 1st, 2006 edition of Billboard magazine reported that Nothing Is Sound had sold 549,000 units. Despite the obstacles to continued sales, its debut position on the Billboard 200 at number three is the highest that any Switchfoot album has ever placed. "Stars" was the best charting single of the album, reaching as high as 16 on the modern rock chart, and number 68 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Copy protection controversy
In November 2005, it was revealed that Sony was distributing albums with Extended Copy Protection, a controversial feature that automatically installed rootkit software on any Microsoft Windows machine upon insertion of the disc. In addition to preventing the CDs contents from being copied, it was also revealed that the software reported the users' listening habits back to Sony and also exposed the computer to malicious attacks that exploited insecure features of the rootkit software. Though Sony refused to release a list of the affected CDs, the Electronic Frontier Foundation identified Nothing Is Sound as one of the discs with the invasive software. Bassist Tim Foreman posted a way around the protection on the bands message boards[2]. The original post was soon deleted, which caused some people to speculate that Sony would sue the band over this issue.[3] However no legal action has been taken. Jon Foreman would later say that he felt the album was "tainted" by this[4]. An additional copy protection problem was found on some of the disks that were produced by EMI. These disks contained Cactus Data Shield copy protection. Ironically, some copies of that version were also recalled due to incorrect copy protection settings; they were exchanged for other copy-protected copies with the correct settings.[5]
Lyrical themes
Nothing Is Sound is characterized as being a much "darker" album compared to Switchfoot's other releases. Lead song writer Jon Foreman even hinted that the album could be viewed as "a dark chapter revealing even more mysteries to be solved"[6]. Lyrically the songs explore topics ranging from loneliness, the end of the world, anti-entropy, and the commercialization of sex[6]. The band has always viewed the album as being more hopeful than anything, pointing to songs like "The Shadow Proves the Sunshine" as how a seemingly dark theme, can actually be positive. Jon says that "I may write about how everything is meaningless, but it’s a very hopeful thing for me to be proven wrong.”[7]
Music videos
Switchfoot's first music video from this album is "Stars", which was filmed almost entirely underwater. Switchfoot has since released a live video version of "Stars", and another two videos for the album's second single "We Are One Tonight". The band also filmed a video for the song Happy Is a Yuppie Word in anticipation of it being released as the first single. However, it was never released to the mainstream and can now be found on the DVD Switchfootage 2. Switchfootage 2 showed brief glimpses of an unreleased "Lonely Nation" video, and also, the band mentioned shooting an unreleased "Politicians" video.
- Stars
- We Are One Tonight
- The Blues (On Switchfootage 2)
- Happy Is A Yuppie Word (On Switchfootage 2)[1]
Extra songs
In addition to the mainstay tracks listed above, the album was released with extra material at different stores.
- Albums purchased at Target stores contained an extra track called "Goodnight Punk". The song is merely vocals and a piano and was recorded in one take. The track was originally considered for the The Beautiful Letdown album but was cut from the final selection.
- Albums purchased at Wal-Mart contained a Christmas song called "Old Borego" as a bonus track, which Jon Foreman had penned earlier for a charity album released locally in the band's hometown of San Diego.
- In Japan the album was released with an alternative version of "Dare You to Move" which is featured during a montage in the band's DVD "Switchfootage", along with the unreleased track "Monday Comes Around."
- iTunes has an acoustic version of "Stars" available with purchase of the album.
Charts
| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Billboard 200 | #3 |
| 2005 | Top Internet albums | #1 |
| 2005 | Top Christian albums | #1 |
References
- ^ Artist Chart History - Switchfoot - Billboard (retrieved February 9, 2007)
- ^ Foreman, Tim (2005-09-14). ilikeswitchfoot.homestead.com. Retrieved on 2006-08-13.
- ^ "Artist Suggesting Ways Around Copy Protection", Slashdot, 2005-09-19. Retrieved on 2006-08-13.
- ^ Newman, Melinda. "Switchfoot switches plans, back in studio", Reuters, 2006-06-26. Retrieved on 2006-08-13.
- ^ Recall of Switchfoot, "Nothing is Sound," Discs - EMI (retrieved February 9, 2007)
- ^ a b Foreman, Jon (2005-09-12). 12 days of Switchfoot. Retrieved on 2007-06-27.
- ^ Switchfoot, nothing is sound (2005-08-26). Retrieved on 2007-06-27.
External links
- Switchfoot - Nothing Is Sound lyrics
- Switchfoot - Nothing Is Sound song stories
- Switchfoot - Nothing Is Sound press release
- Are You Affected By Sony-BMG's Rootkit? (November 9, 2005) from Electronic Frontier Foundation
| Switchfoot |
|---|
| Jon Foreman – Tim Foreman – Chad Butler – Jerome Fontamillas – Drew Shirley |
| Discography |
| Albums: The Legend of Chin – New Way to Be Human – Learning to Breathe – The Beautiful Letdown – Nothing Is Sound – Oh! Gravity. |
| EPs: Oh! EP. |
| Singles: Meant to Live – Dare You to Move – This Is Your Life – Stars – We Are One Tonight – Oh! Gravity. – Awakening - Head Over Heels (In This Life) |
