¡Viva La Cobra!
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''¡Viva la Cobra!'' is the second studio album by American
dance-rock Dance-rock is a dance- infused genre of rock music. It is a post-disco genre connected with pop rock and post-punk with fewer rhythm and blues influences. It originated in the early 1980s, following the decline in popularity of both punk and dis ...
band Cobra Starship. The album was released on October 23, 2007. It was produced by
Fall Out Boy Fall Out Boy is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Wilmette, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, in 2001. The band consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Patrick Stump, bassist Pete Wentz, lead guitarist Joe Trohman, and drummer A ...
's
Patrick Stump Patrick Martin Stumph (born April 27, 1984), known professionally as Patrick Vaughn Stump, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. He is the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the Rock music, rock band Fall Out Boy ...
, whose vocals also feature throughout the album. The album peaked at No. 80 on ''Billboard'' 200.


Background

Cobra Starship was formed in 2005 after Midtown bassist Gabe Saporta took a trip to the deserts of
Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...
. During this time, Saporta went on a "vision quest", spending time with Native American tribes and smoking peyote. He began to create his vision for a new band, a melodic style of music heavily influenced by
synthpop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a music genre that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s ...
and
hip-hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hi ...
. Upon returning home, Saporta rented a house in the
Catskill Mountains The Catskill Mountains, also known as the Catskills, are a physiographic province and subrange of the larger Appalachian Mountains, located in southeastern New York. As a cultural and geographic region, the Catskills are generally defined a ...
and began writing what would become the band's debut album, '' While the City Sleeps, We Rule the Streets''. He posted a parody response to
Gwen Stefani Gwen Renée Stefani Shelton ( ; born October 3, 1969) is an American singer-songwriter and fashion designer. Stefani rose to fame as a member and lead vocalist of the band No Doubt, whose hit singles include " Just a Girl", " Spiderwebs", an ...
's " Hollaback Girl" titled "Hollaback Boy" on Myspace. The song gained Saporta notoriety on the internet and he eventually signed to
Fall Out Boy Fall Out Boy is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Wilmette, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, in 2001. The band consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Patrick Stump, bassist Pete Wentz, lead guitarist Joe Trohman, and drummer A ...
bassist Pete Wentz's label, Decaydance Records. Midtown's management company soon set Saporta up with an opportunity to record a song for the soundtrack to the 2006 '' Snakes on a Plane''. Along with members of The Academy Is...,
Gym Class Heroes Gym Class Heroes was an American rap rock band from Geneva, New York. The group formed in 1997 when Travie McCoy met drummer Matt McGinley during their high school gym class. The band's music displays a wide variety of influences, including h ...
, and The Sounds, Saporta recorded "Snakes on a Plane (Bring It)", which became a minor hit. During the recording of ''While the City Sleeps, We Rule the Streets'', Saporta began recruiting new members to complete the group's lineup. He first enlisted drummer Nate Navarro, whom he met on tour while Navarro sold merchandise for fellow touring act Hidden In Plain View. After seeing Saporta in ''
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'', guitarist Ryland Blackinton and bassist Alex Suarez, who lived in the same apartment building as Midtown drummer Rob Hitt, emailed Saporta asking to join the group.
Keytar A keytar (a portmanteau of ''keyboard'' and ''guitar'') is a keyboard instrument similar to a synthesizer or MIDI controller that is supported by a strap around the neck and shoulders, similar to the way a guitar is held. Overview Though the ...
ist Elisa Schwartz was replaced by Victoria Asher in December 2006, after Saporta had had enough of Schwartz bringing random people onto the tour bus and hosting dance parties while playing Britney Spears music. Saporta also mentioned that Schwartz was suspected of stealing bassist Alex Suarez's iPod.


Recording and production

While on the 2007 Honda Civic Tour, the group began writing music together. The members recorded their individual parts on their laptops in the band's bus. By the time Cobra Starship entered the studio to work on a new album, much of the material was already written. The album was recorded in twenty days at Mission Sound Studios in
Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...
, New York. It was produced by
Patrick Stump Patrick Martin Stumph (born April 27, 1984), known professionally as Patrick Vaughn Stump, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. He is the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the Rock music, rock band Fall Out Boy ...
of
Fall Out Boy Fall Out Boy is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Wilmette, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, in 2001. The band consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Patrick Stump, bassist Pete Wentz, lead guitarist Joe Trohman, and drummer A ...
.


Composition


Music

The album has been described as "11 tracks of unabashed party jams, full of big hooky
electropop Electropop is a popular music fusion genre combining elements of the electronic and pop styles. It has been described as a variant of synth-pop with emphasis on a hard electronic sound. The genre was developed in the 1980s and saw a rev ...
, super-produced guitar crunch and the occasional
T-Pain Faheem Rashad Najm (born September 30, 1984), known professionally as T-Pain, is an American singer and rapper. He is known for popularizing creative use of Auto-Tune pitch correction, often used with extreme parameter settings to create electro ...
-style vocoder thrown in for good measure." "Smile for the Paparazzi" contains
Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
influences, and "introduces a touch of Spanish heat to a thoroughly Americanized album".
Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
-based gay
hip-hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hi ...
trio V.I.P appears on "Damn You Look Good and I'm Drunk (Scandalous)". Blackinton commented on the collaboration, stating, "V.I.P. are the best. Seriously. They're these dudes from Philly...and they write hard-core gay rap songs. And we had 'Scandalous,' and we thought it would be a good idea to have them come in and just offer their vocal talents. It was probably the most awesome thing we've ever done."


Lyrics

The majority of the lyrics on ''¡Viva la Cobra!'' are inspired by Cobra Starship's rise to fame. Saporta explained "All of us played in punk-rock bands growing up, and we could never have dreamed of having this level of celebrity...On one hand, it's awesome because you're hanging out with all your friends, you're getting the VIP treatment. But then you also see how it's just like this big latteryconvention. And the record is sort of about that contradiction, where on one hand you wanna have fun and party, but at the same time, it's a critique of that whole lifestyle." "Damn You Look Good and I'm Drunk (Scandalous)", which was originally titled "Fake Boobs and Rollerblades", discusses trashy women who the band often met at parties.


Title

Through the Fueled by Ramen street team, the band allowed members of the street team to choose between two possible song titles for five different songs on the record. The album was originally going to be called ''If the World Is Ending, We're Throwing the Party''; however, singer Gabe Saporta stated that:


Release

"Guilty Pleasure" was released on October 26, 2007, as the lead single from the album. A home video was released prior on the Fueled by Ramen channel. A music video for "The City Is at War" was released on December 31, 2007. It was released as the album's second single on May 9, 2008. The official music video for "Guilty Pleasure" premiered on May 6, 2008, and features a cameo appearance by Patrick Stump. The third and final single, "Kiss My Sass" was released on September 29, 2008. The music video for the song premiered on December 5, 2008, via '' FNMTV''.


Critical reception

Critical response to ''¡Viva la Cobra!'' was generally mixed to positive. Luke O'Neil of ''
Alternative Press Alternative press may refer to: Individual publications * ''Alternative Press'' (magazine), an American music magazine Alternative journalism * Alternative media ** Alternative media (U.S. political left) ** Alternative media (U.S. political r ...
'' enjoyed the disc's "party-at-the-end-of-the-world" style, and stated that "Contemporary emo-pop sensibilities meet ’80s party abandon on this record, and neither have sounded so enjoyable in years." Mikael Wood of ''
Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...
'' gave the album a "B" grade, and concluded that the album improved upon its predecessor with "catchier hooks and harder-rocking beats". Jon Young of '' Spin'' praised ''Viva la Cobras catchy nature, but felt that the album suffered from over-production, explaining "Sadly, the glitzy overkill production by Fall Out Boy's Patrick Stump nearly obliterates any potential dance-rock charm. Despite killer hooks, 'Guilty Pleasure' and 'The City Is at War' leave an artificial aftertaste." Andrew Leahey of
Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...
opined that the album was overly repetitive, commenting "There's enough melody here to satisfy most lingering fans...But even Stump can't give the band another sure-fire hit, as all the dance-pop numbers end up repeating the same steps in an attempt to perfect the one routine Cobra Starship knows how to do."


Track listing


Charts


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Viva La Cobra! 2007 albums Cobra Starship albums Fueled by Ramen albums Decaydance Records albums Albums produced by Patrick Stump