''Rockin' the Suburbs'' is the debut studio album by American

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from mainstream or commerci ...

singer-songwriter Ben Folds. His first solo album after leaving his band Ben Folds Five, ''Rockin' the Suburbs'' was recorded in

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

, Australia, where Folds was living at the time and was released on the same day as the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...

. "Rockin' the Suburbs" is Folds' only single to make '' Billboards Modern Rock Tracks chart, peaking there at number 28. The album peaked at number 42 on the ''Billboard'' 200 chart, and at number 11 on the Top Internet Albums chart. A remake of the title track featuring

William Shatner William Shatner (born March 22, 1931) is a Canadian actor. In a career spanning seven decades, he is best known for his portrayal of James T. Kirk in the ''Star Trek'' franchise, from his 1965 debut as the captain of the starship ''Enterpris ...

appeared in the

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack ...

for the 2006 film ''

Over the Hedge ''Over the Hedge'' is an American syndicated comic strip, written by Michael Fry, and drawn by T. Lewis. It tells the story of a raccoon, a turtle, a squirrel, and their friends, who come to terms with their woodlands being taken over, by su ...

'', which stars Shatner as an opossum named Ozzie.

Track listing

Track notes

According to Folds, "Not the Same" is based on a true story of a person he knew who, under the influence of

LSD Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), also known colloquially as acid, is a potent psychedelic drug. Effects typically include intensified thoughts, emotions, and sensory perception. At sufficiently high dosages LSD manifests primarily mental, vi ...

, climbed a tree at a party hosted by

Darren Jessee Darren Michael Jessee is an American drummer and singer-songwriter best known as a member of the alternative rock trio Ben Folds Five. Jessee has also worked as an instrumentalist for Sharon Van Etten and Hiss Golden Messenger and released two ...

(not

Robert Sledge Robert Sledge (born March 9, 1968) is an American musician, best known for his work with Ben Folds Five. Biography Robert Sledge began playing bass guitar at the age of eleven. His brother was playing guitar at his house so he also learned how ...

, as the song states), stayed in the tree overnight, and when he came down the next morning was a born-again Christian. Folds used Sledge's name instead of Jessee's in the lyrics because he thought "it sounded better". Folds performed "Gone" with Street Corner Symphony on the finale of Season 2 of ''

The Sing-Off ''The Sing-Off'' was an American television singing competition featuring a cappella groups. It debuted on NBC on December 14, 2009, and was produced by Sony Pictures Television and Outlaw Productions, with Mark Burnett's One Three Media (for a ...

'' and performed "Not the Same" with the Dartmouth Aires on the finale of Season 3.

Personnel

Credits adapted from album’s liner notes. * Ben Folds –

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

, keyboards, guitars,

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

, drums *

Richard Fortus Richard Fortus (born November 17, 1966) is an American guitarist. He has been a member of the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he has recorded one studio album, since 2001. Fortus has also collaborated extensively with The Psychedelic Fur ...

– additional guitar (tracks 3, 10) * Larry Corbett –

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G ...

(track 5) *

DJ Swamp Ronald K. Keys Jr. aka DJ Swamp is an American hip hop DJ, turntablist, producer and vocalist. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. He currently resides in Los Angeles, United States. In 1996, he won the title of US DMC Champion, his ...

– additional beats (track 10) * Frally Hynes – additional vocals (track 4) * John McCrea – additional vocals (track 5) *

John Mark Painter John Mark Painter (born c. 1967) is an American multi-instrumental musician, composer and arranger. He is best known for his role, with his wife, singer Fleming McWilliams, in the rock duo, Fleming and John. Painter grew up in Miami, and beg ...

– strings conductor and arranger

Production

* Producers: Ben Folds,

Ben Grosse Ben Grosse is an American record producer and mixer, known for his signature sound involving metal and hard rock music. Grosse has mixed and produced numerous albums for popular artists such as Dream Theater, Marilyn Manson, Sevendust, Disturbe ...

* Recording: Ben Grosse, Andrew R. Wallace * Mixing: Ben Grosse * Additional Engineers: Blumpy, Cameron Webb * Assistant Engineers: Rick Behrens, Aaron Lepley, Chuck Bailey, Justin Pynes, Uly Noriega, Dale Lawtone * Programming: Ben Grosse, Andrew R. Wallace, Blumpy, Cameron Webb, John Vitale * Programming Engineer: Andrew R. Wallace * Mastering:

Ted Jensen Ted Jensen (born September 19, 1954) is an American mastering engineer, known for having mastered many recordings, including the Eagles' ''Hotel California'', Green Day's '' American Idiot'' and Norah Jones' ''Come Away with Me''. Biography T ...

Charts

Album

Singles

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rockin' The Suburbs Ben Folds albums 2001 debut albums Epic Records albums Albums produced by Ben Folds