Rockin' the Suburbs

Rockin' the Suburbs is the debut studio album by American alternative rock singer-songwriter Ben Folds. His first solo album after leaving his band Ben Folds Five, Rockin' the Suburbs was recorded in Adelaide, Australia, where Folds was living at the time.

Rockin' the Suburbs
Studio album by Ben Folds
Released	September 11, 2001
Genre	Alternative rock
Length	48:42
Label	Epic
Producer	Ben Folds, Ben Grosse
Ben Folds chronology
Rockin' the Suburbs (2001) Ben Folds Live (2002)

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	75/100[1]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[2]
Alternative Press	8/10[3]
Entertainment Weekly	A−[4]
The Guardian	[5]
Los Angeles Times	[6]
Pitchfork	6.3/10[7]
Q	[8]
Rolling Stone	[9]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[10]
Spin	7/10[11]

"Rockin' the Suburbs" is Folds' only single to make Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks chart, peaking there at number 28. The album peaked at number 42 on the Billboard 200 chart, and at number 11 on the Top Internet Albums chart. A remake of the title track featuring William Shatner appeared in the soundtrack for the 2006 film Over the Hedge, which stars Shatner as an opossum named Ozzie.

Track listing

All tracks are written by Ben Folds, except where noted.

No.	Title	Lyrics	Length
1.	"Annie Waits"		4:17
2.	"Zak and Sara"		3:11
3.	"Still Fighting It"		4:25
4.	"Gone"		3:22
5.	"Fred Jones Part 2"		3:45
6.	"The Ascent of Stan"		4:14
7.	"Losing Lisa"	Folds, Frally Hynes	4:10
8.	"Carrying Cathy"		3:49
9.	"Not the Same"		4:17
10.	"Rockin' the Suburbs"		5:00
11.	"Fired"		3:49
12.	"The Luckiest"		4:24
13.	"Hiro's Song" (Bonus track on Japanese CD and US vinyl releases.)		4:23

Track notes

According to Folds, "Not the Same" is based on a true story of a person he knew who, under the influence of LSD, climbed a tree at a party hosted by Darren Jessee (not Robert Sledge, as the song states), stayed in the tree overnight, and when he came down the next morning was a born-again Christian. Folds used Sledge's name instead of Jessee's in the lyrics because he thought "it sounded better".[12]

Folds performed "Gone" with Street Corner Symphony on the finale of Season 2 of The Sing-Off and performed "Not the Same" with the Dartmouth Aires on the finale of Season 3.

Personnel

Credits adapted from album’s liner notes.[13]

• Ben Folds – piano, vocals, keyboards, guitars, bass guitar, drums
• Richard Fortus – additional guitar (tracks 3, 10)
• Larry Corbett – cello (track 5)
• DJ Swamp – additional beats (track 10)
• Frally Hynes – additional vocals (track 4)
• John McCrea – additional vocals (track 5)
• John Mark Painter – strings conductor and arranger

Production

• Producers: Ben Folds, Ben Grosse
• Recording: Ben Grosse, Andrew R. Wallace
• Mixing: Ben Grosse
• Additional Engineers: Blumpy, Cameron Webb
• Assistant Engineers: Rick Behrens, Aaron Lepley, Chuck Bailey, Justin Pynes, Uly Noriega, Dale Lawtone
• Programming: Ben Grosse, Andrew R. Wallace, Blumpy, Cameron Webb, John Vitale
• Programming Engineer: Andrew R. Wallace
• Mastering: Ted Jensen

Charts

Album

Year	Chart	Position
2001	The Billboard 200	42
2001	Top Internet Albums	11

Singles

Year	Single	Chart	Position
2001	"Rockin' the Suburbs"	Modern Rock Tracks	28

References

1. "Reviews for Rockin' The Suburbs by Ben Folds". Metacritic. Retrieved April 5, 2013.
2. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Rockin' the Suburbs – Ben Folds". AllMusic. Retrieved April 5, 2013.
3. "Ben Folds: Rockin' the Suburbs". Alternative Press (159): 79. October 2001.
4. Weingarten, Marc (September 14, 2001). "Rockin' the Suburbs". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved April 5, 2013.
5. Clarke, Betty (September 7, 2001). "Ben Folds: Rockin' the Suburbs (EMI)". The Guardian. Retrieved May 3, 2016.
6. Appleford, Steve (September 16, 2001). "Ben Folds 'Rockin' the Suburbs' Epic". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on November 12, 2013. Retrieved April 5, 2013.
7. Tangari, Joe (September 16, 2001). "Ben Folds Five: Rockin' the Suburbs". Pitchfork. Retrieved March 7, 2012.
8. "Ben Folds: Rockin' the Suburbs". Q (182): 119. October 2001.
9. Kot, Greg (September 4, 2001). "Ben Folds: Rockin' The Suburbs". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on November 15, 2007. Retrieved April 5, 2013.
10. Sarig, Roni (2004). "Ben Folds Five". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. pp. 61–62. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
11. Berrett, Jesse (September 2001). "Ben Folds: Rockin' the Suburbs". Spin. 17 (9): 160–62. Retrieved May 3, 2016.
12. R. Pally (2003). "The Ben Folds Interview". Fufkin.com. Archived from the original on October 28, 2004. Retrieved October 16, 2004.
13. Rockin' the Suburbs (booklet). Epic. 2001.

External links

• Rockin' the Suburbs at Metacritic