Fear and Whiskey

Fear and Whiskey is the fourth studio album by English rock band The Mekons. It was released in 1985 and marked a dramatic shift in their sound following a short hiatus. It is universally viewed as their masterpiece by fans. It is credited as being the first alternative country album, as it blends the band's previously-established punk rock style with a country music sound. The album was initially released by Sin Records to significant critical praise and commercial success. However, due to Sin's small capacity for production and distribution, the album then remained largely unavailable until it was rereleased in 2002 by Quarterstick Records, a subsidiary of Touch and Go Records.

Fear and Whiskey
Studio album by The Mekons
Released	1985
Recorded	1984–1985
Genre	Alternative rock, alternative country
Length	35:13
Label	Sin
Producer	Mekons
The Mekons chronology
The Mekons Story (1983) Fear and Whiskey (1985) The Edge of the World (1986)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
Christgau's Record Guide	A+[2]
Pitchfork	9.7/10[3]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[4]
Spin Alternative Record Guide	10/10[5]
Uncut	[6]

The musical style represents a sharp break with the group's previous work, as fiddle, steel guitar, and harmonica are included, but the instrumentation of punk music is also present, particularly on the energetic "Hard to be Human Again". Tom Greenhalgh, one of the primary creative forces in the Mekons, commented that as he listened to a great deal of country music in the early 1980s and "pretty soon the difference between the three chords of country and the three chords of punk became blurred."[7] The album closes with a cover of Leon Payne's "Lost Highway".

The album's lyrics describe a dark scenario of a community struggling to retain its capacity for joy and humanity through a devastating war. Rock critic Robert Christgau described it as "a sort of concept album sort of about life during wartime".[2]