The Gift of Game
| The Gift of Game | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by Crazy Town | ||||
| Released | November 9, 1999 (U.S.) | |||
| Recorded | 1999 at Westlake Audio, Los Angeles | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 45:17 | |||
| Label | Columbia | |||
| Producer | Josh Abraham | |||
| Crazy Town chronology | ||||
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| Singles from The Gift of Game | ||||
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The Gift of Game is the first album by Los Angeles band Crazy Town. It was released on November 9, 1999 in the U.S. by Columbia Records. The album yielded the band its biggest hit to date with "Butterfly" which reached number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100[5] on March 24, 2001.
Worldwide the album sold more than 2.5 million units,[6] with more than 1.5 million in the US alone.[7]
The girl licking the lollipop on the cover of the album is a fictional character created by Crazy Town, known as "Little Lolita". Both the album title and the picture of Little Lolita are based on lyrics from the song "Lollipop Porn". The album cover was designed by co-lead singer Shifty Shellshock's father and uncle.[8] A song titled "Lolita" later appeared on Shellshock's solo album Happy Love Sick and her image reappears on Crazytown's third album The Brimstone Sluggers.
Reception
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [3] |
| NME | [2] |
| Panorama | [9] |
Steve Huey at AllMusic described the album as "similar to many other rap-inflected alternative metal albums in that it concentrates on sound over structure, creating macho, aggressive grooves with grinding, noisily textured guitars and the underlying feel of squared-off hip-hop beats. While Huey argued that the shows signs of Limp Bizkit's "juvenile humor", it shows "promise".[3] April Long of NME criticized the album for its generic guitar riffs, and containing "some of the most Neanderthal lyrics ever written"[2]
Track listing
(Tracks 15 to 31 are silence)
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Intro" | Shifty Shellshock, Doug Miller | 0:25 |
| 2. | "Toxic" | Shellshock, Miller, Bret Mazur | 2:48 |
| 3. | "Think Fast" (featuring Dirty Unit) | Shellshock, Mazur, Miller, Rust Epique, Torshawn Roland, Percy Washington | 3:52 |
| 4. | "Darkside" | Shellshock, Mazur | 3:52 |
| 5. | "Black Cloud" (featuring Jay Gordon of Orgy) | Shellshock, Mazur, Miller, Epique, Gordon, Bernard Williams | 5:02 |
| 6. | "Butterfly" (sampled Red Hot Chili Peppers) | Shellshock, Mazur, Anthony Kiedis, Flea, Chad Smith, John Frusciante | 3:36 |
| 7. | "Only When I'm Drunk" (Tha Alkaholiks Cover) | Tash, J-Ro, E-Swift | 2:47 |
| 8. | "Hollywood Babylon" (featuring Mad Lion) | Shellshock, Mazur, Mad Lion | 4:23 |
| 9. | "Face the Music" | Shellshock, Mazur | 3:24 |
| 10. | "Lollipop Porn" | Shellshock, Mazur, Nicole Lorenzo | 3:54 |
| 11. | "Revolving Door" (sampled Siouxsie and the Banshees) | Shellshock, Mazur | 3:40 |
| 12. | "Players (Only Love You When They're Playing)" (featuring Jenny Sipprelle) | Shellshock, Mazur, Williams, Anthony Valli | 4:13 |
| 13. | "B-Boy 2000" (featuring KRS-One) | Shellshock, Mazur, KRS-One, Williams, Valli, Miller, Epique | 4:27 |
| 14. | "Outro" | 1:19 | |
| 15. | "The Gift of Game" | ||
| 32. | Untitled (Hidden track) | 0:55 |
Certifications
| Country | Certification | Date | Sales |
|---|---|---|---|
| Australia | Gold[10] | 2001 | 35,000+ |
| Canada | Platinum[11] | July 11, 2001 | 100,000+ |
| Finland | Gold[12] | 2001 | 20,933 |
| U.K. | Gold[13] | June 6, 2014 | 100,000+ |
| U.S. | Platinum[14] | February 6, 2001 | 1,500,000+[7] |
Singles
| Year | Single | Peak chart positions | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US [15] |
US Alt. [15] |
US Main. [15] |
AUS [16] |
NLD [17] |
NZL [18] |
FIN [19] |
GER [20] |
SWI [21] |
UK [22] |
SWE [23] |
NOR [24] | |||
| 1999 | "Toxic" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| 2000 | "Darkside" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| "Butterfly" | 1 | 1 | 21 | 4 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | ||
| 2001 | "Revolving Door" | — | — | — | 76[25] | 71 | — | 19 | 26 | 43 | 23 | 46 | — | |
| "—" denotes a single that didn't chart | ||||||||||||||
Personnel
- Crazy Town
- Bret Mazur – vocals, keyboards
- Shifty Shellshock – vocals
- DJ AM – turntables
- James Bradley Jr. – drums
- Rust Epique – guitars
- Anthony Valli – guitars
- Doug Miller – bass
- Additional personnel
- Troy Van Leeuwen – guitars on "Darkside"
- Jay Gordon – keyboards on "Darkside", refrain in "Black Cloud"
- Stephen Costantino – guitars on "Revolving Door" and "Hollywood Babylon"
References
- ↑ "Winging It: a profile on the band Crazy Town". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved July 5, 2015.
- 1 2 3 Long, April (April 13, 2001). "Crazy Town : The Gift Of Game". NME. Retrieved May 29, 2014.
- 1 2 3 The Gift of Game at AllMusic. Retrieved April 13, 2013.
- ↑ "Guitar World Presents Nu-metal". Guitar World. Retrieved July 5, 2015.
- ↑ "Crazy Town - Bio". MTV. Retrieved May 29, 2014.
- ↑ "Crazytown - Darkhorse". Melodic (magazine). Retrieved May 29, 2014.
- 1 2 Jeckell, Barry (January 10, 2002). "News on Crazy Town, Nelly, NY Metropolis Fest". Billboard (magazine). Retrieved May 28, 2014.
- ↑ Edwards, Gavin (March 15, 2001). "Q&A: Shifty Shellshock of Crazy Town". Rolling Stone. No. 864. p. 35.
- ↑ "The Gift of Game – Limp Bizkit: Se Opp!". panorama.no. Retrieved May 29, 2014.
- ↑ ARIA album chart – 2001
- ↑ Canada certifications (Retrieved April 26, 2009)
- ↑ Finland certifications (Retrieved September 21, 2010)
- ↑ UK Charts Search ' Crazy TOWN'
- ↑ U.S. certifications riaa.com (Retrieved April 26, 2009)
- 1 2 3 "Artist Chart History – singles". Billboard charts. Retrieved 2008-04-01.
- ↑ Australian Singles Charting
- ↑ Dutch Singles Charting
- ↑ New Zealand Singles Charting
- ↑ Finnish Singles Charting
- ↑ German Singles Charting
- ↑ Swiss Singles Charting
- ↑ UK Charting Search for: "Crazy Town"
- ↑ Swedish Charts – Crazy Town
- ↑ Norway Charts – Crazy Town
- ↑ "ARIA Report Issue 597 – Week commencing 6th August 2001" (PDF). Pandora Archive. Retrieved April 13, 2013.