Weight (album)

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Weight
Studio album by
Rollins Band
ReleasedApril 12, 1994
RecordedDecember 1993
StudioEcho Creek Ranch (Meyers, California)
GenreAlternative metal[1]
Length53:26
LabelImago
ProducerTheo Van Rock
Rollins Band chronology
The End of Silence
(1992) 		Weight
(1994) 		Come In and Burn
(1997)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
Christgau's Consumer Guide(dud)[3]
Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal8/10[4]
Entertainment WeeklyA−[5]
Los Angeles Times[6]
MusicHound Rock[7]
Rolling Stone[8]
Spin Alternative Record Guide7/10[9]

Weight is the fourth studio album by American rock band Rollins Band, released on April 12, 1994. It featured the band's biggest hits, "Liar" and "Disconnect". The band recorded the album during a snowy December 1993 in Echo Creek Ranch, in Meyers, California.

Musical style[edit]

In May 1994, Spin described the album as a mix of rap, punk, funk, metal and jazz, also calling it a "far cry" from Rollins' previous band Black Flag.[10]

Touring and promotion[edit]

In support of Weight, Rollins Band went on a 24-date American tour with Helmet and the Les Claypool project Sausage.[11] The tour with Helmet and Sausage lasted between July and August 1994, with all of the shows being recorded.[12]

The video for the single "Liar" was directed by Anton Corbijn and was heavily featured on the MTV programs 120 Minutes and Headbangers Ball.[13] It gained further popularity after appearing on a 1994 Beavis and Butt-Head episode titled "Liar! Liar!".[14] Another video from the album, "Disconnect", appeared twice on the series, first in the 1995 episode "Top o' the Mountain", then as part of the episode "Shortcuts" in March 1997 (coincidentally the same month the band's follow-up Come In and Burn was released). The song "Civilized" was also used as the closing theme for Dennis Miller Live from 1994–2002 on HBO.

Reception[edit]

The album received positive reviews from critics, and had sold 423,000 units in the United States as of 1996, making it their most commercially successful release.[15] Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic gave it a four out of five star rating, saying "on Weight, the Rollins Band is able to mix the musicians' love for jazz with a blindingly direct hard rock assault, making a twisted form of metal-jazz."[2] Richard Cromelin The Los Angeles Times awarded it a three out of four rating in April 1994, saying "[Rollins] is like a martial-arts hero of the psychic terrain, and his war with hypocrisy and repression is played out on a scale that’s both intimate and larger than life — his feelings are too intense and colossal to be conveyed in conventional terms, so his bellow is super human, and his band plays its deliberate sludge-metal riffs with crushing power."[6] Deborah Frost of Entertainment Weekly gave it an A− rating, saying "the guitarist’s heavy-metal cliches never quite rise to frontman Rollins’ or new bassist Melvin Gibbs’ Richter-scale rumbling. Still, [it's] a near masterpiece."[5]

The Michigan Daily also praised the addition of bassist Melvin Gibbs, writing "jazz bassist Melvin Gibbs is the perfect complement behind Rollins' savagely honest lyrics."[16] In an August 1994 review of a Rollins Band concert with Helmet and Sausage, Jeff Vice of the Deseret News wrote "heavy metal just keeps getting weirder and weirder", adding that "alternative metal act Rollins Band [plays] near jazz/metal."[17] Tony Bassett of the Toledo Blade wrote, "this album — the band's seventh — is packed with sledgehammer metal, punctuated by Henry Rollins' boisterous, roaring vocals", adding that the band is also "as intensely funky as it is heavy."[18] In October 1994, the Manila Standard's review stated, "for Weight, Rollins Band's second recording, Rollins and cohorts carry on with their traditional mettle of diverse-paced yet always heavy, non-traditional metal, supported by lyrics that realize Rollins' apparent thematic objective: to inject some self-assuring sense into the listener, those who may be attracted to the noise as a source of escape from self-demeaning reality."[19] The Beaver County Times labelled it the band's "most proactive album" in May 1994, saying "poet, author and rock icon Henry Rollins — whose band laid the groundwork for the current 'message metal' — has some advice for the angst-ridden: Stop whining about systemic oppression; change is up to the individual."[20] In his 1998 book, Turned on :A Biography of Henry Rollins author James Parker reflected, "Rollins Band's Weight, released the month of Cobain's death, sounded like a retort to grunge, a slapdown — its grooves had the weight, not of collapse, but of a muscled certainty."[21]

Legacy[edit]

In 2016, Metal Hammer included it on their "10 essential alt-metal albums" list.[1] Louder Sound ranked it as the best Rollins Band album in 2022.[22]

Accolades[edit]

Year Publication Country Accolade Rank
1994 Metal Hammer United Kingdom "Albums of the Year" 7 [23]
1994 Melody Maker United Kingdom "Albums of the Year" 34 [24]
1994 Sounds Germany "Albums of the Year" 47 [25]
1995 RAW United Kingdom "90 Essential Albums for the 90s" * [26]
"*" denotes an unordered list.

Track listing[edit]

All songs are credited to the Rollins Band.

  1. "Disconnect" – 4:57
  2. "Fool" – 4:26
  3. "Icon" – 3:41
  4. "Civilized" – 3:54
  5. "Divine" – 4:01
  6. "Liar" – 6:34
  7. "Step Back" – 3:58
  8. "Wrong Man" – 4:19
  9. "Volume 4" – 4:39
  10. "Tired" – 3:46
  11. "Alien Blueprint" – 3:45
  12. "Shine" – 5:26


Personnel[edit]

Rollins Band[edit]

Production[edit]

  • Theo Van Rock – production
  • David Bianco – mixing
  • John Jackson – mixing
  • Peter Rave – recording
  • Brant Scott – recording
  • Rob Sieffert – recording
  • Howie Weinberg – mastering

Charts[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Hill, Stephen (December 15, 2016). "10 essential alt-metal albums". Metal Hammer. Retrieved September 27, 2021.
  2. ^ a b Thomas Erlewine, Stephen. "Rollins Band - Weight". AllMusic. Retrieved January 10, 2010.
  3. ^ Christgau, Robert. "Robert Christgau: CG: Artist 2102". robertchristgau.com. Retrieved February 19, 2024.
  4. ^ Popoff, Martin (2007). The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 3: The Nineties. Burlington, Ontario, Canada: Collector's Guide Publishing. p. 369. ISBN 978-1-894959-62-9.
  5. ^ a b Frost, Deborah (April 22, 1994). "Weight". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on November 18, 2015. Retrieved February 19, 2024.
  6. ^ a b Cromelin, Richard (April 10, 1994). "Rollins Finds a New Voice in 'Weight'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved February 19, 2024.
  7. ^ Holtje, Steve (1999). "Henry Rollins/Rollins Band". MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide. Visible Ink Press. p. 952–953. ISBN 1-57859-061-2 – via Internet Archive.
  8. ^ Welchman, Geoffrey (April 21, 1994). "Recordings". Rolling Stone. No. 680. pp. 83–84.
  9. ^ Hannaham, James (1995). "Henry Rollins". In Weisbard, Eric; Marks, Craig (eds.). Spin Alternative Record Guide. Vintage Books. pp. 335–336. ISBN 0-679-75574-8.
  10. ^ https://books.google.com.au/books?id=fT3PkoU5ylcC&pg=PA96&dq=%22rollins+band%22+%22weight%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwittvaBt_eFAxWeZmwGHTl0DwYQ6AF6BAhQEAI#v=onepage&q=%22rollins%20band%22%20%22weight%22%20%22gibbs%22&f=false
  11. ^ Kirkwood, Hector (2013). "Metallipromo: Helmet". metallipromo.com. Retrieved September 21, 2022.
  12. ^ "Page Hamilton Revs Back up with Gandhi". Billboard.
  13. ^ "1994.05.15 MTV 120 Minutes (guest Host Henry Rollins)" – via Internet Archive.
  14. ^ Beavis & Butthead - Liar by Rollins Band, retrieved September 18, 2022 - on YouTube
  15. ^ Inc, Nielsen Business Media (June 22, 1996). "Billboard". Nielsen Business Media, Inc. – via Google Books. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  16. ^ "The Michigan Daily". The Michigan Daily – via Google Books.
  17. ^ "The Deseret News". The Deseret News – via Google Books.
  18. ^ "Toledo Blade". Toledo Blade – via Google Books.
  19. ^ "Manila Standard". Manila Standard – via Google Books.
  20. ^ "Beaver Country Times". Beaver County Times – via Google Books.
  21. ^ Parker, James (1998). Turned on: A Biography of Henry Rollins. Cooper Square Press. Retrieved May 5, 2024.
  22. ^ Simon Young (May 18, 2022). "Every Rollins Band album ranked from worst to best". loudersound.
  23. ^ "Metal Hammer - Albums of the Year". Metal Hammer. Retrieved April 16, 2008.
  24. ^ "Melody Maker - Albums of the Year". Melody Maker. Retrieved January 18, 2010.
  25. ^ "Sounds - Albums of the Year". Sounds. Archived from the original on December 30, 2008. Retrieved January 18, 2010.
  26. ^ "RAW's 90 Essential Albums For The 90s". rocklistmusic.co.uk. Retrieved January 18, 2010.
  27. ^ "Australiancharts.com – Rollins Band – Weight". Hung Medien. Retrieved September 12, 2022.
  28. ^ "Dutchcharts.nl – Rollins Band – Weight" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved September 12, 2022.
  29. ^ "Offiziellecharts.de – Rollins Band – Weight" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved September 12, 2022.
  30. ^ "Charts.nz – Rollins Band – Weight". Hung Medien. Retrieved September 12, 2022.
  31. ^ "Swedishcharts.com – Rollins Band – Weight". Hung Medien. Retrieved September 12, 2022.
  32. ^ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved September 12, 2022.
  33. ^ "Weight charts [albums]". allmusic.com. Retrieved January 17, 2010.
  34. ^ Ryan, Gavin (2011). Australia's Music Charts 1988–2010 (PDF ed.). Mt Martha, Victoria, Australia: Moonlight Publishing. p. 238.
  35. ^ "Rollins Band - "Liar"". dutchcharts.nl. Retrieved January 17, 2010.
  36. ^ "UK charts page for "Liar" by Rollins Band". Official Charts Company. Retrieved September 12, 2022.


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