''Definition of a Band'' is the third studio album by the R&B band

Mint Condition Mint condition is an expression used to denote the quality of a pre-owned good as displaying virtually no imperfections and being in pristine condition relative to its original production state. Originally, the phrase related to the way collect ...

. It was released on September 24, 1996, on Perspective Records. ''Definition of a Band'' was Mint Condition's most successful recording to date, yielding two hit singles and a Gold certification from the RIAA.

Background

Before the release of the album, the band were faced with label troubles. Their mentors and label heads

Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis James Samuel "Jimmy Jam" Harris III (born June 6, 1959) and Terry Steven Lewis (born November 24, 1956) are an American R&B/pop songwriting and record production team. They have enjoyed great success since the 1980s with various artists, most ...

severed ties with Perspective Records. As a result, Mint Condition were moved to its parent company

A&M Records A&M Records was an American record label founded as an independent company by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss in 1962. Due to the success of the discography A&M released, the label garnered interest and was acquired by PolyGram in 1989 and began distr ...

, though the company kept the Perspective name for the release of ''Definition of a Band''. This would be their final studio album released under Perspective Records. Another album released under the label was their greatest hits anthology ''The Collection (1991-1998)''- an album that contained their hits alongside 12 inch versions, B-sides and remixes. They would move to

Elektra Entertainment Elektra Records (or Elektra Entertainment) is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, founded in 1950 by Jac Holzman and Paul Rickolt. It played an important role in the development of contemporary folk and rock music between the 1 ...

for their next album '' Life's Aquarium''.

Commercial performance

The album charted at number 76 on the Billboard 200 and number 13 on the R&B/Hip-Hop albums chart. Two singles were released from ''Definition of a Band''. The first single, "What Kind of Man Would I Be", charted at number 17 on the Billboard Hot 100 and 2 on R&B/Hip-Hop Singles and Tracks. It sold 600,000 copies domestically and was

certified gold Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

by the RIAA. Its video was directed by art director

Frank Kozik Frank Kozik (born January 9, 1962 in Madrid) is an American graphic artist best known for his posters for alternative rock bands. History Kozik has worked with Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Stone Temple Pilots, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Me ...

. The second single, "You Don't Have To Hurt No More", charted at number 32 on the Billboard Hot 100 and 10 on R&B/Hip-Hop Singles and Tracks. Its video was directed by Devo frontman

Gerald Casale Gerald Vincent "Jerry" Casale ( ) ( ''né'' Pizzute; born July 28, 1948) is an American musician. He came to prominence in the late 1970s as co-founder, co-lead vocalist, and bass player of the new wave band Devo, which released a top 20 hit i ...

. This album is their third studio album to be mastered by

Brian Gardner Brian Knapp Gardner, also known as Brian "Big Bass" Gardner, is an American mastering engineer. He has worked on a number of recordings since the mid-1960s, including classic rock, funk, disco, alternative rock, R&B, hip hop, pop punk and dance- ...

- who also worked on their previous album, 1993's '' From the Mint Factory'' as well as their 1991 debut '' Meant to Be Mint.

Track listing

Personnel

* Stokley Williams - vocals, drums, percussion, guitar, bass, keyboards, producer, composer * Homer O'Dell - vocals, guitar, drums, percussion, producer, composer * Ricky Kinchen - vocals, bass, keyboards, guitar, producer, composer * Keri Lewis - vocals, keyboards, organ, piano, drums, guitar, producer, composer * Jeff Allen - saxophone, vocals, keyboards * Larry Waddell - keyboards, vocals, piano * Chris Dave - drums, percussion * Lil' Roger Lynch -

vocoder A vocoder (, a portmanteau of ''voice'' and ''encoder'') is a category of speech coding that analyzes and synthesizes the human voice signal for audio data compression, multiplexing, voice encryption or voice transformation. The vocoder was ...

* Mint Condition - record engineering * Ira Ferguson - record engineering * Jeff Taylor - record engineering * Dave Rideau - record engineering * Steve Hodge - mixing * Dave Rideau - mixing * Rich Travali - mixing * Keith Lewis - mixing * David Green - mixing * Mint Condition - executive production * Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis - executive production * Brian Gardner - mastering * Lisa Pearson -

photography Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employe ...

* Tom Tavee - photography * Greg Ross - art direction & design

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{Authority control 1996 albums Mint Condition (band) albums Perspective Records albums