"Big Isn't Beautiful" is the second single by British glam rock band King Adora. The single was released on 31 July 2000 on Superior Quality Recordings and reached number 94 on the UK Singles Chart. The song courted some controversy because of its lyrical content and would be remixed and partially re-recorded for the band's 2001 debut album, ''

Vibrate You ''Vibrate You'' is the debut studio album by King Adora. It was released on 21 May 2001 on Superior Quality Recordings and reached number 30 on the UK Albums Chart. Produced by John Cornfield at Sawmills Studios in Cornwall, the album received mi ...

''.

Background

Writing and recording

''Big Isn't Beautiful'' was recorded at Great Linford Manor in Great Linford, Buckinghamshire in the first half of 2000 and was produced and mixed by Chris Sheldon. The song featured the first use of piano by King Adora and also included drum machine samples, which were credited on the single's sleeve to "

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Themes

''Big Isn't Beautiful'' is written from the point of view of an anorexic male, the band stating it was about "self-obsession and self-loathing at its most destructive". Singer Matt Browne responded to criticism of the song, saying "just because you’re not singing about something safe, people say, ‘you can’t do that’. People just misunderstood the perspective I was writing from. The title supposed to be tongue in cheek. It’s just a song". He went on to say ''Big Isn't Beautiful'' "just deals with that obsessive compulsive sort of personality, it's not meant to be offensive in the slightest, it's very heartfelt and sincere as far as I'm concerned and I'm very very proud of what I wrote".

B-sides

Two

b-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

s were released on the single, ''Scream And Shout'' and ''Comfortable''. Both songs were recorded at Woodbine Street Recording Studios in

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and produced by the band. John Rivers engineered the recordings. ''Scream And Shout'' was regularly played at the band's live shows and was included as a bonus track on the

Enhanced CD Enhanced CD is a certification mark of the Recording Industry Association of America for various technologies that combine audio and computer data for use in both Compact Disc and CD-ROM players. Formats that fall under the "enhanced CD" ca ...

version of the band's debut album, ''

''.

Video

The ''Big Isn't Beautiful'' release was accompanied by King Adora's first music video, directed by Moritz. Part of the video was shot in the window of a branch of

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, across Tottenham Court Road from the Astoria in London, the venue at which the band would perform the biggest headlining gig of their career in 2001.

Reception

The NME gave the song a mixed review, saying "after a couple of minutes of these standard-issue, pirouetting

grunge Grunge (sometimes referred to as the Seattle sound) is an alternative rock genre and subculture that emerged during the in the American Pacific Northwest state of Washington, particularly in Seattle and nearby towns. Grunge fuses elements of p ...

chords, Browne's self-dramatising vocals, only the most soft-hearted wouldn't feel the urge to shove a pork pie in his mouth". The Tip Sheet named it their record of the week, commenting "we're not sure how offensive it is, but it's certainly more interesting than average and anyway, we can't really bring ourselves to worry about it because we like the tune so much".

Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. It was founded in 1926, largely as a magazine for dance band musicians, by Leicester-born ...

were positive ("a-Pop-lectic fuzz-fest, a delicious velvet-wrapped parcel of punkish ambiguity") but elected to give the single only 2/5.

Track listing

CD

# "Big Isn't Beautiful" # "Scream And Shout" # "Comfortable"

7"

# "Big Isn't Beautiful" # "Scream And Shout"

Personnel

* Matt Browne – vocals, rhythm guitar *

Martyn Nelson King Adora was a rock group formed in Birmingham, England in 1998. The band released debut album '' Vibrate You'' in May 2001 (charting at No. 30 on the UK Albums Chart) and follow-up '' Who Do You Love?'' in March 2004. The band was notable ...

– lead guitar * Robbie Grimmit – bass *

Dan Dabrowski King Adora was a rock group formed in Birmingham, England in 1998. The band released debut album ''Vibrate You'' in May 2001 (charting at No. 30 on the UK Albums Chart) and follow-up '' Who Do You Love?'' in March 2004. The band was notable ...

– drums

Production

* ''Big Isn't Beautiful'' – Produced and mixed by Chris Sheldon * ''Scream And Shout'', ''Comfortable'' – Produced by King Adora, engineered by John Rivers

References

{{authority control 2000 singles King Adora songs 2000 songs