Worry. (album)

WORRY. is the second solo album by American rock musician Jeff Rosenstock, released on October 14, 2016 by SideOneDummy Records. Released over a year after his debut solo album We Cool?, Worry. was recorded in April and May 2016 at a house in Stinson Beach, California.[1] Much of the album was written shortly after Rosenstock's band's gear was stolen while on tour in 2015.[2] Worry. saw the former Bomb the Music Industry! and The Arrogant Sons of Bitches frontman achieve his greatest critical success, with numerous placements on year-end lists and previously unseen media exposure. The album addresses themes including urban gentrification, economic inequality and police brutality in the United States.[3][4]

WORRY.
Studio album by
Jeff Rosenstock
ReleasedOctober 14, 2016 (2016-10-14)
Recorded2016
GenrePunk rock, indie rock, power pop
Length37:42
LabelSideOneDummy, Quote Unquote
ProducerJack Shirley
Jeff Rosenstock chronology
We Cool?
(2015)		 WORRY.
(2016)		 POST-
(2018)
Singles from Worry.
  1. "Festival Song"
    Released: July 14, 2016
  2. "Wave Goodnight to Me"
    Released: September 7, 2016

The album was promoted with two singles: "Festival Song", released on July 14, 2016, and "Wave Goodnight to Me", released on September 7, 2016.[5][6] Rosenstock toured the album with Hard Girls, Katie Ellen of Chumped and local acts picked in each city.[7]

The album cover is a photograph taken at Rosenstock's wedding in 2015.[3]

Background

After ska punk band Bomb the Music Industry! announced their breakup in 2014, frontman Rosenstock quickly released his first solo album We Cool? in 2015. On July 14, 2016, Rosenstock released a new song, "Festival Song", off a yet-to-be-titled new album out later in the year.[5] On August 16, 2016, Rosenstock announced a tour with Hard Girls and Katie Ellen, with SideOneDummy Records hinting "Maybe that means a new album is coming soon? He did release a new song called 'Festival Song' recently. I don't know anything."[8]

On September 7, 2016, Rosenstock announced the title and release date of the album along with the release of the album's second single, "Wave Goodnight to Me", which was given a music video filmed at Comet Ping Pong in Washington, D.C. and directed by Ben Epstein and David Combs of The Max Levine Ensemble.[6]

Composition

Clocking in at 37 minutes and containing 17 tracks, Worry. has been described as pop punk and "anti-capitalist power pop".[3][9] The final eight songs of the album segue into each other in a manner described as similar to The Beatles' Abbey Road and the compilation Short Music for Short People.[3][10] The medley comprises various musical styles and genres, with the punk rock "Bang on the Door" flowing into the ska "Rainbow" into the hardcore punk "Planet Luxury".[3] Rosenstock has named The Clash, Neutral Milk Hotel's On Avery Island, The Beach Boys' Smile and Less Than Jake as influences on Worry., specifically citing The Clash's double album London Calling as an inspiration for the short song structures on Worry.'s second half.[10]

Lyrical content

Worry. explores political lyrical themes. Lead single "Festival Song" was written as a criticism of corporate-sponsored music festivals after Rosenstock witnessed a band at a festival condemn surveillance culture and corporations while surrounded by the same institutions.[5][10] "I’m not trying to call anybody a sellout," Rosenstock said of the song. "I just feel like people, at this point, don’t think that you can do it another way anymore. It’s just so accepted. It’s like, ‘Oh yeah, we got to do this thing this way. There’s going to be corporate sponsors on this thing.’" "The Fuzz" discusses police brutality, while "Wave Goodnight to Me" was written about the gentrification of Brooklyn pushing out longtime residents.[4] "To Be a Ghost..." contains lyrics about the negative effects of internet and meme culture.[3]

Rosenstock also discusses personal topics on Worry. Album opener "We Begged 2 Explode" discusses his feelings about whether or not being a musician was the right life choice for him; the album was written as Rosenstock was turning 34 years old.[10] "Pash Rash" and "Blast Damage Days" reference the complications of technology and its effect on modern romance, with lyrics such as "These are the Amazon days / We are the binge-watching age / And we’ll be stuck in a screen until our phones fall asleep."[3] "I Did Something Weird Last Night" references 'irrational, giddy emotion' about falling in love, which Rosenstock wrote about his now-wife as the two were beginning their relationship.[11]

Worry. was Rosenstock's first release on SideOneDummy Records, which inspired him to specifically write more politically conscious lyrics due to the wider audience he knew the album would have on a bigger label. "I wanted these lyrics to be punk as fuck, to reflect that same feeling that reading the lyrics of Operation Ivy gave me when I was a teenager,” Rosenstock said.[9]

Reception
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic80/100[12]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[13]
Consequence of SoundB+[14]
Exclaim!8/10[15]
Pitchfork Media8.0/10[16]
Punknews.org[17]
Sputnikmusic[18]
Substream Magazine[19]

Worry. received critical acclaim from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has an average score of 80 based on 6 reviews. USA Today proclaimed it the best album of 2016, declaring that "In 17 songs, Rosenstock tells his story, one that is also our story, about regrets and hopes and more regrets, about what it’s like trying to maintain your humanity in a digital age, when you can sign on Facebook and find yourself 'amongst apologists who love ignoring the reality / of unarmed civilians executed publicly.'”[20] Ian Cohen of Pitchfork stated that although "Rosenstock didn’t really need a magnum opus to solidify his reputation as one of the most important figures in modern punk music", the potency of the album's political lyrical content was amplified following the election of Donald Trump less than a month after its release.[11] Consequence of Sound wrote "WORRY. feels like the true start of Rosenstock’s solo career, with a backing band that is finally locked in, a record label 100 percent behind him, and a tower of critical accolades growing taller each day."[3] Timothy Monger of AllMusic said that "At times wistful and contemplative, frequently explosive, and pleasantly damaged, Worry. holds true to its creator's D.I.Y. aesthetic and pop-punk/ska roots while continuing to emphasize his new power pop direction".[21]

In 2019, Entertainment Weekly named Worry. the ninth-best overlooked album of the decade, stating that it "was released less than a month before Donald Trump was elected, but it still feels like the most accurate depiction of how things have felt since he took office. The punk veteran was singing about gentrification, all-encompassing corporatization, and how our internet-induced anhedonia has made the bad things feel even worse."[22]

Track listing
No.TitleLength
1."We Begged 2 Explode"3:44
2."Pash Rash"1:43
3."Festival Song"2:54
4."Staring Out the Window At Your Old Apartment"3:22
5."Wave Goodnight to Me"3:00
6."To Be a Ghost..."4:02
7."Pietro, 60 Years Old"0:38
8."I Did Something Weird Last Night"3:11
9."Blast Damage Days"2:55
10."Bang on the Door"1:03
11."Rainbow"1:31
12."Planet Luxury"0:30
13."Hellllhoooole"1:46
14."June 21st"1:04
15."The Fuzz"1:59
16."...While You're Alive"1:54
17."Perfect Sound Whatever"2:36
Total length:37:42

Personnel

Band

  • Jeff Rosenstock - vocals, guitar, keyboards, saxophone, etc.
  • John DeDomenici - bass
  • Mike Huguenor - guitar, backing vocals
  • Kevin Higuchi - drums, percussion, backing vocals

Production

  • Jack Shirley - recording, engineering, production, mixing, mastering

References
  1. Jeff Rosenstock — NEW RECORD “WORRY.” OUT OCTOBER 14TH
  2. Dan Ozzi. What, Jeff Rosenstock Worry? A bright night in Mexico during a dark year in America. Noisey Oct 26 2016.
  3. Jeff Rosenstock – WORRY. | Album Reviews | Consequence of Sound
  4. REVIEW: Jeff Rosenstock delivers punk rock’s 'Abbey Road' with ‘WORRY.'
  5. "Jeff Rosenstock – "Festival Song"". Stereogum. 2016-07-14. Retrieved 2020-05-16.
  6. Andrew Sacher. "Jeff Rosenstock announces new album 'WORRY.,' shares "Wave Goodnight To Me"". BrooklynVegan. Retrieved 2020-05-16.
  7. A Q&A with Jeff Rosenstock, song stream, and a chance to win tix to Market Hotel
  8. Andrew Sacher. "Jeff Rosenstock touring with Hard Girls & Katie Ellen, hinting at new album". BrooklynVegan. Retrieved 2020-05-16.
  9. Fair, Meg. "Jeff Rosenstock is just a normal guy making anti-capitalist power pop". Pittsburgh City Paper. Retrieved 2020-05-16.
  10. HydenTwitter, Steven (2016-10-07). "DIY Punk God Jeff Rosenstock On Maturity, Sell Outs, Defending Ska, And His Great New LP 'Worry'". UPROXX. Retrieved 2020-05-16.
  11. "Jeff Rosenstock: WORRY". Pitchfork. Retrieved 2020-05-16.
  12. "WORRY. by Jeff Rosenstock". Metacritic. Retrieved 12 January 2018.
  13. Monger, Timothy. "Worry. - Jeff Rosenstock". AllMusic. Retrieved 7 December 2016.
  14. Heisel, Scott. "Jeff Rosenstock - WORRY. Album Reviews". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved 17 November 2016.
  15. Feibel, Adam. "Jeff Rosenstock WORRY". Exclaim!. Retrieved 17 November 2016.
  16. Cohen, Ian (November 23, 2016). "Jeff Rosenstock: WORRY". Pitchfork Media.
  17. RENALDO69 (14 October 2016). "Jeff Rosenstock: Worry (2016)". Punknews.org. Retrieved 12 January 2018.
  18. Thurler, Depreston. "Jeff Rosenstock - Worry. (album review)". Sputnikmusic. Retrieved 17 November 2016.
  19. Bazley, John. "REVIEW: Jeff Rosenstock delivers punk rock's 'Abbey Road' with 'WORRY.'". Substream Magazine. Retrieved 17 November 2016.
  20. Scott, Nate (6 December 2016). "The 50 best albums of 2016". USA Today. Retrieved 10 December 2016.
  21. Worry. - Jeff Rosenstock | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic, retrieved 2020-05-16
  22. "The most overlooked albums of the 2010s". EW.com. Retrieved 2020-05-16.
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