''Diet for a New America'' is the only record of American band 58, the group featuring

Nikki Sixx Nikki Sixx (born Frank Carlton Serafino Feranna Jr.; December 11, 1958) is an American musician, best known as the co-founder, bassist, and primary songwriter of the heavy metal band Mötley Crüe. Prior to forming Mötley Crüe, Sixx was a me ...

. It was released on Sixx's Americoma Records on June 20, 2000.

Conception and production

Nikki Sixx described in an interview the origins of the album, beginning with a jam session with guitarist Dave Darling of the band Boxing Gandhis: "One day we were sitting around; he had this hip-hop loop up, and I was playing this glamrock riff; and he goes, 'Wow, that's really fucked up. You hear how that sounds together?' I said, 'Yeah, it's horrible, huh?' So we started to roll tape."Duff, S. L. (July 2000). "Nikki Sixx: Tails, you lose", ''

Bass Player A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), synthbass, keyboard bass or a low br ...

'' 11 (7): 24. He and Darling continued the casual approach—or what Sixx described as "complete reckless abandon"—to making the album, for example flipping a coin to see who would play instruments on which track or who would write lyrics. "Then we got to the point where we didn't even write lyrics—we just made them up on the spot. To this day I don't know any of them." Sixx expected the casual approach might be part of the album's appeal: "If people like it, they can like it for the music, not because it's being shoved down their throats by a record company." Various musicians contributed, in a haphazard way. Said Sixx, "A bunch of musicians just came by and played. I don't even know who half of them are." A friend of Darling played

upright bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox additions such as the octobass). Similar ...

on the track "Queer". Sixx wanted a 1970s song to cover, and his first choice, " One" by Three Dog Night, had recently been covered by

Aimee Mann Aimee Elizabeth Mann (born September 8, 1960) is an American singer-songwriter. Over the course of four decades, she has released more than a dozen albums as a solo artist and with other musicians. She is noted for her sardonic and literate lyr ...

for the movie ''

Magnolia ''Magnolia'' is a large genus of about 210 to 340The number of species in the genus ''Magnolia'' depends on the taxonomic view that one takes up. Recent molecular and morphological research shows that former genera ''Talauma'', ''Dugandiodendro ...

''. Sixx searched the Internet for #1 songs of the 1970s and came up with "

Alone Again (Naturally) "Alone Again (Naturally)" is a song by Irish singer-songwriter Gilbert O'Sullivan. It was recorded in 1972 at the same time as his album '' Back to Front'' and was a worldwide hit. The single spent six non-consecutive weeks at number one on ''B ...

". Darling said of the selection, "The tune was so bizarre to begin with that the idea of making that fit onto our record was a bit of a challenge." "Song to Slit Your Wrists By" was previously released by Sixx's other band, Mötley Crüe, as the Japanese bonus track for Generation Swine. It is the same recording as the album version.

Critical reception

Reviews were mixed. David Glessner of the '' San Antonio Express-News'' wrote, "It's catchy, memorable, sleazy and worth checking out." In contrast, Sonia Murray of ''

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution ''The Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the only major daily newspaper in the metropolitan area of Atlanta, Georgia. It is the flagship publication of Cox Enterprises. The ''Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the result of the merger between ...

'' wrote, "58 attempts too many styles and proves a master at none, and features Sixx's typically addlebrained lyrics."Murray, Sonia. "Rock: 'Diet for a New America': 58", ''

''. Reprinted in '' Times Union'', August 3, 2000, p. 43.

Track listing

All songs written by Nikki Sixx and Dave Darling, except "Alone Again (Naturally)" written by

Gilbert O'Sullivan Raymond Edward "Gilbert" O'Sullivan (born 1 December 1946) is an Irish singer-songwriter who achieved his most significant success during the early 1970s with hits including "Alone Again (Naturally)", " Clair", and "Get Down". O'Sullivan's so ...

and "Who We Are" written by Nikki Sixx, Dave Darling and

Steve Gibb Stephen Thadeus Crompton Gibb (born 1 December 1973) is a British-American guitarist. He has been a member of numerous hard rock and metal bands including 58, Black Label Society, Crowbar, Kingdom of Sorrow, The Underbellys, SkilletHead, and ...

. # "Don't Laugh (You Might Be Next)" – 3:30 # "El Paso" – 4:44 # "Piece of Candy" – 5:23 # "Shopping Cart Jesus" – 4:12 # "Queer" – 4:39 # "Song to Slit Your Wrists By" – 3:07 # "Stormy" – 3:38 # "Killing Joke" – 4:04 # "All My Heroes Are Dead" – 5:03 # "

" – 4:09 # "Who We Are" – 1:52

References

{{Authority control 2000 debut albums