''Zipper Down'' is the fourth
studio album
An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...
from American rock band
Eagles of Death Metal
Eagles of Death Metal is an American rock band from Palm Desert, California, formed in 1998. Founded by Jesse Hughes (vocals, guitar) and Josh Homme (drums), the band also includes a wide range of other musicians who perform both on the band's ...
. It was released on October 2, 2015. The first single, "Complexity", was made available for streaming on
Pitchfork Media
''Pitchfork'' (formerly ''Pitchfork Media'') is an American online music publication (currently owned by Condé Nast) that was launched in 1995 by writer Ryan Schreiber as an independent music blog.
Schreiber started Pitchfork while working ...
's website in June 2015. The entire album was made available to stream in an exclusive by
NPR
National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...
on their website, on September 23, 2015. "Oh Girl", "I Love You All The Time" and "Complexity" were previously on
Boots Electric
Jesse Everett Hughes (born September 24, 1972) is an American singer and musician. He is best known as the frontman of the rock band Eagles of Death Metal, with whom he has recorded four studio albums and a live album. Hughes is also known for ...
's first album ''
Honkey Kong'' and were remade for ''Zipper Down''.
Songs
The album includes a cover of "
Save a Prayer" by
Duran Duran
Duran Duran () are an English Rock music, rock band formed in Birmingham in 1978 by singer and bassist Stephen Duffy, keyboardist Nick Rhodes and guitarist/bassist John Taylor (bass guitarist), John Taylor. With the addition of drummer Roger ...
. The two bands played the song together on ''
TFI Friday
''TFI Friday'' is an entertainment show that was broadcast on Channel 4 television in the United Kingdom. It was produced by Ginger Productions, written by Danny Baker, and hosted by Chris Evans, for the first five series. The sixth series ...
''. Following the
November 2015 Paris attacks
The November 2015 Paris attacks () were a series of coordinated Islamist terrorist attacks that took place on Friday, 13 November 2015 in Paris, France, and the city's northern suburb, Saint-Denis. Beginning at 9:15p.m., three suicide bombers ...
, a
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...
campaign was launched to get the cover of "Save a Prayer" to no. 1. Duran Duran stated that they would donate all of their royalties from the cover to charity.
The song ultimately peaked at number 53 for the chart dated the week after the attack.
Following Duran Duran's lead, Eagles of Death Metal announced that they would donate any publishing and mastering fees for covers of their song "I Love You All the Time" to charity, with Homme stating, "If you're a country artist, a DJ, death metal, it doesn't matter, cover that song and we'll donate the publishing." They challenged distribution platforms, including
Amazon
Amazon most often refers to:
* Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology
* Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin
* Amazon River, in South America
* Amazon (company), an American multinational technology c ...
,
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 ...
, and
Spotify
Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...
, to donate any of their revenues from covers of the song to charity as well. To date, the artists who have covered the song in response include
Florence and the Machine
Florence and the Machine (stylised as Florence + the Machine) are an English indie rock band that formed in London in 2007, consisting of lead vocalist Florence Welch, keyboardist Isabella Summers, guitarist Rob Ackroyd, harpist Tom Monger, and ...
,
Imagine Dragons
Imagine Dragons is an American pop rock band from Las Vegas, Nevada, consisting of lead singer Dan Reynolds, guitarist Wayne Sermon, bassist Ben McKee and drummer Daniel Platzman. The band first gained exposure with the release of their sing ...
,
Jimmy Eat World
Jimmy Eat World is an American rock band formed in 1993 in Mesa, Arizona. The band is composed of lead vocalist and lead guitarist Jim Adkins, rhythm guitarist and backing vocalist Tom Linton, bassist Rick Burch, and drummer Zach Lind. They h ...
,
Kings of Leon
Kings of Leon is an American rock band formed in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1999. The band is composed of brothers Caleb, Nathan and Jared Followill, and their cousin Matthew Followill.
The band's early music was a blend of Southern rock and gar ...
,
My Morning Jacket
My Morning Jacket is an American rock band formed in Louisville, Kentucky in 1998. The band consists of vocalist/guitarist Jim James, bassist Tom Blankenship, drummer Patrick Hallahan, guitarist Carl Broemel, and keyboardist Bo Koster. The ...
, and Matt Cameron of
Pearl Jam
Pearl Jam is an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1990. The band's lineup consists of founding members Jeff Ament (bass guitar), Stone Gossard (rhythm guitar), Mike McCready (lead guitar), and Eddie Vedder (lead vocals, guita ...
.
Critical reception
''Zipper Down'' received generally positive reviews from music critics. At
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 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 73, which indicates "generally favorable reviews", based on 14 reviews.
Track listing
Personnel
;Eagles of Death Metal
*
Jesse Hughes ("Boots Electric") – guitar, vocals, baritone guitar, bass, talk box
*
Joshua Homme
Joshua Michael Homme ( ; born May 17, 1973) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known as the founder, primary songwriter, and only continuous member of the rock band Queens of the Stone Age, which he for ...
("Baby Duck") – vocals, baritone guitar, drums, bass, guitar, duduk, knee slaps, organ, percussion, piano, slapstick, slides, talk box, trumpet
;Technical personnel
*
Joshua Homme
Joshua Michael Homme ( ; born May 17, 1973) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known as the founder, primary songwriter, and only continuous member of the rock band Queens of the Stone Age, which he for ...
– production, engineering
*
Mark Rankin – mixing (at Pink Duck Studios)
*
Gavin Lurssen
Gavin Lurssen is an American mastering engineer. He owns Lurssen Mastering in Hollywood, California. – recording ("Silverlake"), engineering
* Justin Smith – additional engineering
* Pete Martinez – additional engineering
* Eden Galindo – studio tech
;Additional musicians
* Tuesday Cross – additional vocals
*
Matt Sweeney
Matt Sweeney (born July 2, 1969) is an American musician and record producer best known as a guitarist of Skunk, Chavez, and supergroup Zwan.
Early life and education
Sweeney was born in New Jersey. His father was John D. Sweeney, a professo ...
– additional guitar
;Additional personnel
* Chapman Baehler – photography
* Danielle Beverage – design, layout
* Keef Patrick – artwork, design, illustrations
* Marc Pollack – management
* Brian Tomasini – management
Charts
References
{{Authority control
2015 albums
Eagles of Death Metal albums
Albums produced by Josh Homme