''Thank You Happy Birthday'' is the second studio album by American

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band

Cage the Elephant Cage the Elephant is an American rock band formed in 2006 in Bowling Green, Kentucky. They moved to England, U.K. and settled in London in 2008, shortly before their self-titled first album was released. The band currently consists of Matt Shul ...

. It was released on January 11, 2011 to positive critical reception. The album was produced by

Jay Joyce John Joseph "Jay" Joyce is an American record producer, songwriter and session musician. In the 1990s, Joyce, with Chris Feinstein and Brad Pemberton, recorded and toured as Iodine and began working as a record producer, working with artists suc ...

, who worked in the same capacity on the band's eponymous debut album.

Recording and production

The album was originally announced in July 2009 when the band had stated that they would release it in early 2010 with the title ''Computer Says Move''. The group had recorded over eighty songs but shelved all of them when they realized that "nobody was really into" any of the ideas. The group then took ideas that they had saved for "side projects" and decided to use those songs for the album, which was then given the current title. The band once again worked with Jay Joyce, who had helped them record their first album. The band had trouble recording the songs, with lead singer

Matt Shultz Matthew Ray Shultz (born October 23, 1983) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician best known as the lead singer and occasional guitarist for the American rock band Cage the Elephant. Early life Matthew Ray Shultz was born on 23 Octobe ...

in particular having trouble finding the inspiration to write the lyrics for songs such as "Flow." The group was able to work out twelve songs for the album, stating: "We want each of our songs to sound like it's been written by a different band."

Track listing

B sides

Singles

The first single, titled "

Shake Me Down "Shake Me Down" is the first single and fourth track on Cage the Elephant's second album ''Thank You, Happy Birthday''. A music video for the single was released on January 11, 2011. Both the song and the video gained much critical acclaim, and ...

", was released on November 22, 2010, and was announced by the band via their Twitter account as being played on radio stations from November 17 onward. Also on November 17, they released an unofficial video for the song. On January 11, 2011, the official video was released. For the week of February 25 through March 5, 2011, the single was number 1 on ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Rock Songs Hot Rock & Alternative Songs (formerly known as Rock Songs and Hot Rock Songs) is a record chart published by ''Billboard'' magazine. From its debut on June 20, 2009, through October 13, 2012, the chart ranked the airplay of songs across alternati ...

chart. In the week of January 11 the band was named the

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

PUSH artist of the week. On the November 18, 2010, "2024" was made a free download on ''Filter'' magazine's website. On December 27, 2010, " Around My Head" was released as the free song of the week on iTunes. The song was later released as an official single on 4 May 2011. In the week of 6 July 2011, the single charted at number 18 on ''

Alternative Songs Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks (1988–2009) and Alternative Songs (2009–2020)) is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in ''Billboard'' magazine since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-played ...

. The second track on the album, "

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

" was released as a single on September 15, 2011.

Release

The album was released on January 11, 2011, and on its first day debuted at number 1 on the

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...

Top Downloads chart. That same night, the group appeared on the ''

Late Show with David Letterman The ''Late Show with David Letterman'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on CBS, the first iteration of the The Late Show (franchise), ''Late Show'' franchise. The show debuted on August 30, 1993, and was produced by ...

''. During its first week of release, the album sold over 39,000 copies in the US, debuting at number 2 on the ''Billboard'' 200. On 27 January 2011 the band promoted the album even further, performing "

" and "

" on ''

Jimmy Kimmel Live! ''Jimmy Kimmel Live!'' is an American late-night talk show, created and hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, broadcast on American Broadcasting Company, ABC. The nightly hour-long show debuted on January 26, 2003, at Hollywood Masonic Temple in Hollywood, Los ...

'' for the ''Jimmy Kimmel Live!'' Concert Series on

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

. Shortly after this, the group performed "Shake Me Down" on

Fuel TV Fox Sports 2 (FS2) is an American sports-oriented pay television channel owned by the Fox Sports Media Group, a unit of Fox Corporation. The channel is based at the Fox Sports division's headquarters on the Fox Studio Lot in the Century Ci ...

program ''The Daily Habit''. The album was released in the UK on March 21, 2011. A vinyl version of the album was released, included in the package was a 7-inch single of the acoustic version of "Right Before My Eyes", simply titled "Shiver", due to the original working title being "Timber Me Shivers".

Reception

The reception for the album has been generally positive.

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100, currently gives it a score of 76/100 based on twenty-two critics' reviews. ''

Alternative Press Alternative press may refer to: Individual publications * ''Alternative Press'' (magazine), an American music magazine Alternative journalism * Alternative media ** Alternative media (U.S. political left) ** Alternative media (U.S. political ri ...

'' stated that the record was "an alarmingly good album." Jon Pareles of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' added that "the new album is more abrasive, rowdier, more unstable and pushier in the right ways," going on to say that when the album is " ayed quietly, like a

Beatles The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developme ...

ballad, it's brave enough to set bravado aside." Jody Rosen of ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' said of lead singer

: "Shultz coos, 'All I got is nothing but a little bit of love.' He's got another thing, actually: one of rock's best young bands."

Legacy

Matt Shultz would later look back on the album five years after the release of "Shake Me Down", in an interview with Alternative Nation. He said, "There are definitely some times where I look back and wish I had let more of myself into the album. Earlier in my life, I had so much stock in the persona, and believed too much in 'the character' in the realm of pop and rock music, whatever pedal you want to put on it. The modern… whatever. It’s part of the story, and it is what it was."

Certifications

References

{{Authority control 2011 albums Cage the Elephant albums RCA Records albums Albums produced by Jay Joyce