''What Are Rock Stars Doing Today'' is the third studio album by Australian rock band,
Magic Dirt
Magic Dirt are an Australian rock band, which formed in 1991 in Geelong, Victoria, with Daniel Herring on guitar, Adam Robertson on drums, Adalita Srsen on vocals and guitar, and Dean Turner (musician), Dean Turner on bass guitar. Initially for ...
. It was their first on
East West Records
East West Records (stylized as east''west'') is a record label formed in 1955, distributed and owned by Warner Music Group, headquartered in London, England.
History
Upon its creation in 1955 by Atlantic Records, the label had one hit with th ...
label, released in October 2000, it peaked at number 35 on the ARIA Charts.
At the
ARIA Music Awards of 2001
The 15th Annual Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (generally known as ARIA Music Awards) were held on 30 October 2001 at the Capitol Theatre. Rock band Powderfinger won the most awards with six from eight nominations. Lea ...
the album was nominated for
ARIA Award for Best Adult Alternative Album
The ARIA Music Award for Best Adult Alternative Album is an award presented at the annual ARIA Music Awards. The ARIA Awards recognise "the many achievements of Aussie artists across all music genres", and have been given by the Australian Reco ...
, losing out to ''Wires'' by
Art of Fighting
is a fighting video game trilogy that were released for the Neo Geo platform in the early 1990s. It was the second fighting game franchise created by SNK, following the ''Fatal Fury'' series and is set in the same fictional universe as a pr ...
.
Background
In the 1990s, Magic Dirt had a number of loud, alternative rock releases and they had toured endlessly. But, with the decline of grunge and the rise in popularity of hip hop and electronica-based acts by the end of the decade, Magic Dirt had lost their manager and label, and feeling burnt out, the band also found themselves asking each other, should we continue. Lead singer Adalita was sure of one thing, that the previous decade was one in which she dealt with a lot of angst and emotionally raw issues and that she was now in a different headspace. She told
Double J "I just wanted to write happy stuff and poppier, upbeat stuff.". The band went into the studio and recorded ''What Are Rock Stars Doing Today'', with an emphasis on the melodic pop side of their songwriting. Adalita reflected saying "It was totally our second phase as a band, our second rising. We were mid career, we still had a lot of steam, a lot of energy, a lot of writing to do."
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