''Everything Is Wrong'' is the third studio album by American electronica musician

Moby Richard Melville Hall (born September 11, 1965), known professionally as Moby, is an American musician, songwriter, singer, producer, and animal rights activist. He has sold 20 million records worldwide. AllMusic considers him to be "among the ...

, released on March 14, 1995 by record labels

Mute Muteness is a speech disorder in which a person lacks the ability to speak. Mute or the Mute may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Mute'' (2005 film), a short film by Melissa Joan Hart * ''Mute'' (2018 film), a scien ...

in the United Kingdom and Elektra in the United States. It was released with a limited-edition bonus disc of ambient music titled ''Underwater''.

Background

Following the release of two albums, ''

'' and '' Ambient'', on Instinct, Moby signed to

and Elektra and began work on what he felt was his first "legitimate" album, seeking to create a record that encompassed his various musical influences. Moby has described ''Everything Is Wrong'' as "a record that almost served as a lifeboat for the songs I cared the most about", noting that he attempted to cover as many musical styles as possible not "out of trying to be eclectic, but just because I was in love with all of these genres and I felt like this may be my only chance to make a record." Moby recorded and mixed the album himself in his apartment on

Mott Street Mott Street () is a narrow but busy thoroughfare that runs in a north–south direction in the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is regarded as Chinatown's unofficial " Main Street". Mott Street runs from Bleecker Street in the north to ...

in Manhattan, New York, using inexpensive recording equipment. ''Everything Is Wrong'' features guest vocal contributions from Rozz Morehead, whom Moby had met while performing on the British television program ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show. For most of ...

'', and

Mimi Goese Mimi Goese (last name rhymes with ''hazy'') is an American professional musician. Career Goese was the vocalist for dream pop band Hugo Largo. Solo Under the mononym "Mimi", she released a solo album, ''Soak'', on the Luaka Bop label, with contri ...

, whose work with the band Hugo Largo he admired, and who he later found out lived just a block away from him.

Content

Moby titled the album ''Everything Is Wrong'' and wrote its extensive accompanying liner notes as a means of expressing some ideas that he felt were important to him, later reflecting, "At the time, I was — and am still — a

vegan Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal product—particularly in diet—and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. An individual who follows the diet or philosophy is known as a vegan. ...

and an

animal rights Animal rights is the philosophy according to which many or all sentient animals have moral worth that is independent of their utility for humans, and that their most basic interests—such as avoiding suffering—should be afforded the sam ...

activist, really militant in all my beliefs. So I would wake up really angry every day, and sleep angry every night because I thought the world was in terrible shape, and I thought, 'What small thing can I do to express my beliefs that the world is in such terrible shape?' And that’s where the title of the album came from." Inside the album's booklet, Moby provides two personal essays, quotes from notable figures (from

Albert Einstein Albert Einstein ( ; ; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theory ...

St. Francis of Assisi Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone, better known as Saint Francis of Assisi ( it, Francesco d'Assisi; – 3 October 1226), was a mystic Italian Catholic friar, founder of the Franciscans, and one of the most venerated figures in Christianit ...

), and facts that he has collected regarding subjects such as

vegetarianism Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slaughter. Vegetarianism m ...

, environmentalism, and

animal experiments Animal testing, also known as animal experimentation, animal research, and ''in vivo'' testing, is the use of non-human animals in experiments that seek to control the variables that affect the behavior or biological system under study. This ...

Critical reception

''Everything Is Wrong'' was released to positive reviews from music critics. ''

Spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thread by twisting fibers together, traditionally by hand spinning * Spin, the rotation of an object around a central axis * Spin (propaganda), an intentionally b ...

''s Barry Walters praised its diverse range of musical styles compared to most other "one-dimensional" electronic albums and dubbed it "a hugely passionate album held together by its intensity".

Greg Kot Greg Kot (born March 3, 1957) is an American music journalist and author. From 1990 until 2020, Kot was the rock music critic at the '' Chicago Tribune'', where he covered popular music and reported on music-related social, political and busine ...

of the '' Chicago Tribune'' felt that Moby "explodes the boundaries of the genre" with an album "as moving as it is adventurous", while

Lorraine Ali Lorraine Ali is an American journalist and pundit who is a member of the George Foster Peabody Awards board of jurors. Based in Los Angeles, California, she is a television critic at the ''Los Angeles Times,'' where she was previously a senior wri ...

of the '' Los Angeles Times'' wrote that ''Everything Is Wrong'' "swoops from agony to ecstasy, leaping from the glittery heights of

disco Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the 1970s from the United States' urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric pi ...

divadom to the rampaging ugliness of speed-metal to the refined feel of classical—while always remaining consistently Moby." In '' The Village Voice'', Robert Christgau remarked: "Where in concert he subsumes rockist guitar and classical pretensions in grand, joyous rhythmic release, on album his distant dreams remain tangents." ''Everything Is Wrong'' was voted the third best album of 1995 in ''The Village Voice''s year-end Pazz & Jop critics' poll. By 2002, the album had sold over 180,000 copies in the United States.

In popular culture

"God Moving Over the Face of the Waters" is featured in the closing moments of the 1995 film '' Heat''. "First Cool Hive" is featured in the final scene of the 1996 film '' Scream''. "When It's Cold I'd Like to Die" is featured in ''

The Sopranos ''The Sopranos'' is an American crime drama television series created by David Chase. The story revolves around Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), a New Jersey-based Italian-American mobster, portraying his difficulties as he tries to balance ...

'', at the end of the episode "

Join the Club "Join the Club" is the 67th episode overall and the second episode of the sixth season of the HBO television drama series ''The Sopranos''. Written by series creator/executive producer David Chase and directed by David Nutter, it premiered on Mar ...

". Additionally, the song was featured in season 1 and 4 of '' Stranger Things''. An instrumental version features at the end of the 2006 documentary film '' Deliver Us From Evil''.

Track listing

Personnel

Credits for ''Everything Is Wrong'' adapted from album liner notes. * Moby – engineering,

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stat ...

, programming, writing * Kochie Banton – vocals on "Feeling So Real" and "Everytime You Touch Me" *

– lyrics and vocals on "Into the Blue" and "When It's Cold I'd Like to Die" * Rozz Morehead – vocals on "Feeling So Real" and "Everytime You Touch Me" * Myim Rose – vocals on "Feeling So Real" * Saundra Williams – vocals on "Bring Back My Happiness" * Nicole Zaray – vocals on "Feeling So Real" ;Artwork and design * Barbie –

art direction Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and unify the visi ...

* Jill Greenberg – photography * Slim Smith – layout

Charts

Certifications

Remix album

A two-disc remix album entitled ''Everything Is Wrong: Non-Stop DJ Mix by Evil Ninja Moby'' or ''Everything Is Wrong: Mixed! Remixed!'' was released in January 1996 by Mute. The album was mixed by Moby from various remixes that were commissioned by the label.

Track listing

Charts

Certifications

References

External links

* * {{authority control Moby albums 1995 albums Mute Records albums Techno albums by American artists Ambient albums by American artists Elektra Records albums Albums produced by Moby