Artwork by The Used Album Info
Artwork is the fourth studio album by American alternative rock band The Used, released through Reprise Records in the United States and the UK on August 31, 2009. The Used began writing for Artwork in early 2008, and originally hoped to enter the studio shortly after Kevin Lyman's 2008 "Get a Life Tour" with Weezer front-man Rivers Cuomo as producer of the album. The Used expressed their interest in the raw sound found on Weezer's 1996 album Pinkerton, and hoped to create a similar sound by working with Cuomo. The band ended up working with producer Matt Squire (Panic! at the Disco, Boys Like Girls, The Receiving End of Sirens) and did not enter the studio until the end of 2008. The Used experienced several changes upon making Artwork. The band changed management within their label Reprise Records. This was the first album with new drummer Dan Whitesides; also the first studio album that was not produced by Goldfinger's frontman John Feldmann. Feldmann had been working with The Used since lead singer Bert McCracken threw a demo on stage during a Goldfinger concert in 2001. Commenting on the band's state prior to these changes, guitarist Quinn Allman felt that, "we were kept in a space with our resources that was creating an essence for our band that wasn't who we truly were." These changes allowed The Used to take their music in a new direction with Artwork. Feeling that the band's previous albums had a similar sound, The Used hoped to make a brand new genre they refer to as "gross pop" with Artwork. In Alternative Press magazine, McCracken described the new genre, "In the past, we've always kind of brought pop sensibility into heavy rock, but this is going to be all that much more tantalizing and brutal. Our songs are 10 times messier and noisier than they've ever been." The themes of the record include "coming to grips with how much you really hate yourself" and the concept of mortality. McCracken, who had previously lived a "reckless life," recently came to terms with how easy it is to accidentally die after the tragic death of actor Heath Ledger. The song "Meant to Die" is loosely based on the death of Ledger and not being able to say "sorry," or "I never meant to die" after an accidental death. At shows prior to the release of Artwork, The Used performed the new track "Blood on My Hands". This song was the first single from the album, and was released on June 30, 2009 as a vinyl picture disc and digital download. The song began airing on radio stations starting July 14, 2009. Artwork was released in a special CD/DVD version. This version contained an expanded 20-page liner note booklet and a DVD with "behind the scenes footage" of The Used. Leading up to the album's release, The Used released guitar tabs for one song from Artwork each week on their official website. Fans were encouraged to record themselves playing each song and post it online. The album opened at #10 on the Billboard 200 with 35,000 copies sold. The song "Something Safe" was made available on iTunes for download on November 23, 2009. The Used released a music video for their song, Empty With You, on December 9th which can be viewed on TheUsed.net and YouTube. Focus on the artwork, as The Used are telling you via the title of their fourth album. It's an ugly beast of a picture of a man shoving a syringe labeled "ART" into an arm bearing "WORK" scrawled in blood on it. What it all means is unclear -- is art being injected into work, is art the drug -- but what is evident is that the Used still take all this emotional bloodletting very, very seriously indeed. Four albums in, they're also taking the business of being in a band very seriously too, demonstrating a greater command of dynamics and a certain measure of professional panache, something adolescent, an adenoidal rush of their early screamo. This, of course, isn't quite the same thing as a considerable uptick in songcraft, but hooks never mattered to The Used anyway, so having a higher grade of execution helps underscore The Used's point. The Limited Edition includes a bonus DVD which contains exclusive interviews and behind-the-scene footage.
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