So Long and Thanks for All the Shoes

So Long and Thanks for All the Shoes
Studio album by NOFX
Released November 11, 1997
Recorded August 1997 at Motor Studios in San Francisco
Genre Punk rock, skate punk, ska punk
Length 33:16
Label Epitaph
Producer Ryan Greene, Fat Mike
NOFX chronology
Fuck the Kids
(1996)		 So Long and Thanks for All the Shoes
(1997)		 Timmy the Turtle
(1999)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[1]

So Long and Thanks for All the Shoes is the seventh studio album by the American punk rock band NOFX. It was released on November 11, 1997 through Epitaph Records.

Overview

The band often find themselves bombarded by footwear while performing live, as it is common practice of punk rock fans to throw shoes lost by crowd surfers on stage. From this, and the title of the fourth book of Douglas Adams's The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series, So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish, comes the record's title.[2]

The album was recorded at San Francisco's Motor Studios in August 1997 and was produced by Fat Mike and regular Fat Wreck Chords producer Ryan Greene. The liner notes for the album claim it is 'arguably their third best album' (up to that point) although Fat Mike has referred to it as his favourite one on several occasions. Also therein the standard practice of including a photograph of each band member has been mocked, with members of other punk bands standing in for the four NOFX members:

Track 9, "Champs Elysées", is a cover version of the track "Les Champs-Elysées" by Joe Dassin.[3]

The "Kill Rock Stars" song is written about musician Kathleen Hanna, referencing her by name: "Kill the rockstars? How ironic, Kathleen. You've been crowned the newest queen." The song's title is a reference to riot grrrl record label Kill Rock Stars. In response Hanna wrote "Deceptacon", included on Le Tigre's first album, which referred to the NOFX song "Linoleum": "Your lyrics are dumb like a linoleum floor, I'll walk on it, I'll walk all over you".[4]

The final track, "Falling in Love", is reportedly a love song about a friend of Fat Mike and his friend's wife together in a plane in rapid descent, destined to crash. The track has a 'hidden ending' that starts at timecode 4:15. It is a recording of a segment from Howard Stern's radio show in which the host's DJ begins to play the track "Drugs Are Good", from the band's HOFX EP. He clearly dislikes the track and stops it after 36 seconds, effectively labelling it as disco before going on to rename the band 'No Talent'. The first pressing of the cd contains an extended bonus track: 8 min instrumental immediately after this radio show segment, that ends with a 10-second song "Congratulations, you made it through the song, I bet you never thought anyone could play something so wrong".

On the CD it bears the Warning "Unlawful Duplication May be Hazardous to your Health!". This warning might be a parody of Bad Religion albums because some Bad Religion albums (e.g., Suffer, No Control) carry this warning.

Track listing

All tracks written by Fat Mike except where noted..

No.TitleLength
1."It's My Job to Keep Punk Rock Elite"  1:20
2."Kids of the K-Hole"  2:16
3."Murder the Government"  0:46
4."Monosyllabic Girl"  0:54
5."180 Degrees"  2:10
6."All His Suits Are Torn"  2:19
7."All Outta Angst"  1:53
8."I'm Telling Tim"  1:17
9."Champs Elysées" (Wilsh, Deighan, P Delanoë)2:02
10."Dad's Bad News"  2:02
11."Kill Rock Stars"  1:33
12."Eat the Meek"  3:32
13."The Desperation's Gone"  2:24
14."Flossing a Dead Horse"  1:46
15."Quart in Session"  1:38
16."Falling in Love"  5:13

Contains a hidden track: see Overview, above.

Personnel

References

  1. ↑ Allmusic review
  2. ↑ "So Long and Thanks for All The Shoes | Albums | NOFX". Nofxofficialwebsite.com. Retrieved 2012-01-07.
  3. ↑ "Ενότητα 2 - Les Champs Elysees". Xenios.cti.gr. Retrieved 2012-01-07.
  4. ↑ Laslow, Benjamin (September 27, 2006). "Le Tigre - Le Tigre (album review)". Sputnikmusic.
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