Get Hurt (album)

''Get Hurt'' is the fifth studio album by American rock band the Gaslight Anthem. It was released on August 8, 2014, by Island Records. It marks their first album on Island Records, which absorbed the band and its previous label, Mercury Records.

Produced by Mike Crossey and inspired by vocalist and guitarist Brian Fallon's divorce from his wife of ten years, the band was influenced by artists whose albums represented "career shifts".

Writing

The band announced on July 4, 2013, via their Tumblr site, that they were "working on new songs for a new Gaslight Anthem album in 2014".

Fallon cited Pearl Jam's ''No Code'' album as an influence and inspiration for the album.

In an interview with ''Rolling Stone'' published May 23, 2014, Fallon described the album as "completely different than anything we had ever done before. Instead of going that extra step of just adding some organ or some background vocals, this time we actually really changed up a lot of the sounds."

A post on the band's official website advised fans to "Get ready for some things you've never heard this band do!"

"That record is always going to puzzle me," Fallon reflected in 2018. "It was such a confusing time in general. We tried to do something specific and then didn't go all the way with it. We sort of pulled back. I'm not embarrassed by it, but I wouldn't make it again."

Recording

On March 10, 2014, the band entered Blackbird Studios in Nashville, Tennessee, to record their fifth studio album. The band stated on April 14 that they had arrived at the "last week in the studio" of recording the album.

Release and promotion

On June 16, 2014, the band announced the title of the album and released a teaser video with a snippet of a new song (later revealed to be the album's opener "Stay Vicious"). On August 5, the entire album was made available to stream via iTunes Radio. ''Get Hurt'' was released in the United Kingdom on August 11, 2014, by Virgin EMI Records, and in the United States on August 12, 2014, by Island Records. The album was originally scheduled to be released one week later than its eventual release date.

The band performed "Get Hurt" on ''Late Show with David Letterman'' on August 18. In support of the album, the band toured North America and Europe during the summer and fall of 2014. Dates included Jimmy Eat World, Against Me!, Bayside, and Deer Tick, as well as festival stops at Austin City Limits Music Festival and the Ottawa Folk Festival.

Singles

The lead single from the album, "Rollin' and Tumblin'", was released on July 1, 2014. The second single, "Get Hurt", was released on July 8, 2014. The third and final single, "Stay Vicious", was released on July 28, 2014.

Critical reception

''Get Hurt'' received mixed reviews from music critics. Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average of ratings from mainstream critics, gave it a score of a 62, based on 29 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews."

In ''Absolute Punk'', Craig Manning wrote, "It's disheartening that the album isn't the game-changing record Fallon promised, and it's too bad that it doesn't have the thesis-statement cohesion of albums like ''The 59 Sound'' and ''American Slang''. But the songs are still great, the production is still excellent, and the performances of the band members have rarely been in finer form." '' Clash'' magazine's Mischa Pearlman rated the album seven out of ten, calling it "rock 'n' roll of the purest kind." Tim Jonze of ''The Guardian'' gave the album two stars out of five, saying "Get Hurt is nothing but the same old overblown rock sound with every dial turned up several digits past 11." Gregory Heaney of AllMusic rated the album four stars out of five, writing, "''Get Hurt'' shows that so long as they're passionate about their music, it doesn't matter where the band are getting their inspiration from, because genuinely caring about something is always compelling."

Commercial performance

''Get Hurt'' debuted at number four on the ''Billboard'' 200, selling 33,000 copies in its first week. The album also debuted at number one on the Alternative Albums and Tastemaker Albums charts, at number two on the Top Rock Albums chart, and at number four on the Digital Albums chart.

Track listing

Personnel

Credits adapted from AllMusic:

The Gaslight Anthem
*Alex Rosamilia – guitar, keyboard, vocals
*Brian Fallon – guitar, vocals
*Benny Horowitz – drums, percussion, vocals
*Alex Levine – bass, vocals

Additional musicians
*Sharon Jones – vocals (background)
*Ian Perkins – guitar, vocals
*Natalie Prass – vocals (background)

Production
*Mike Crossey – producer, mixing
*Mike Spink – engineer
*Jonathan Gilmore – assistant engineer
*Robin Schmidt – mastering
*John Van Hamersveld – design, photography

Charts

Release history

References

{{Authority control

2014 albums
The Gaslight Anthem albums
Island Records albums