Frogstomp

Frogstomp is the debut studio album by Australian alternative rock band Silverchair. It was released on 27 March 1995, when the band members were only 15 years of age, by record label Murmur.

Frogstomp
Studio album by
Silverchair
Released27 March 1995
Recorded27 December 1994 – 17 January 1995
StudioFestival Studios, Pyrmont, New South Wales, Australia
Genre
Length44:49
Label
ProducerKevin "Caveman" Shirley
Silverchair chronology
Tomorrow
(1994)		 Frogstomp
(1995)		 Freak Show
(1997)
Singles from Frogstomp
  1. "Tomorrow"
    Released: 16 September 1994
  2. "Pure Massacre"
    Released: 16 January 1995
  3. "Israel's Son"
    Released: 1995
  4. "Shade"
    Released: 29 May 1995
  5. "Findaway"
    Released: 1995

Background and recording

Silverchair's singer and guitarist Daniel Johns, has said that the band were only around 13 or 14 when a significant amount of the songs from the album were written.[1]

Frogstomp was recorded in 9 days.[2]

When asked if the record was made live in the studio, Johns said:

Yeah, that's the thing that I do really like about that album — it sounds exactly like we sounded. There was no big American producer calling the shots behind the desk and telling us to do this, this and this. It was literally this guy, Kevin Shirley, who was a great producer, just saying, "I want it to sound like you guys, but I want it to sound really f—ing loud and I want the guitars really f—ing loud." So to me, I was like, f—ing yeah! The songwriting might not be genius, but I think sonically, the performances are really good. It's really honest; it's just three Australian kids thrashing it out in the studio and that's exactly how it sounds.[3]

Title

When asked why the album's name is Frogstomp, Johns said:

I was at a guy from our record company's house one night and I was looking through his CDs because he's got a really good collection. I found this '60s pop collection record and I was just going (laughs), "Why do you have this?" I looked at the back and there was this song that some guy did called frogstomp and I said, "That's a pretty good name." (laughs) I just rang up Ben and Chris and we just thought it was really funny so we used it for the album.[2]

Release

Frogstomp was released on 27 March 1995 by record label Murmur.

It reached number 1 on Australian ARIA Albums Chart. On 20 June 1995, Frogstomp was released by Epic in the United States. It has since been certified double platinum by the RIAA.

The LP version of the album is sold in a green vinyl with "Blind" as a bonus track limited to 3,000 copies worldwide. There is also a limited cassette edition of the album.

On 27 March 2015, a remastered edition of Frogstomp was released as a two-CD/DVD set to mark the twentieth anniversary of its release.[4]

Reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[5]
Bucket List8.5/10[6]
Entertainment WeeklyB–[7]
Kill Your Stereo[8]
Mystic Sons[9]
Renowned for Sound[10]
Rolling Stonemildly favourable[11]
Soundscape Magazine[12]
Soundsphere[13]
The Village VoiceC[14]

Robert Christgau of The Village Voice wrote: "every once in a while in this business you catch yourself thinking that teenagers don't know dick. These Aussie adolescents admire Nirvana and Pearl Jam, which is cute, and sound like Pearl Jam, which is natural – almost exactly like Pearl Jam except no good, which is useless."[14] Chuck Eddy of Entertainment Weekly wrote: "the songs on Frogstomp almost all start out like dreary Metallica ballads and build toward gloomy, by-the-numbers grunge."[7] David Fricke of Rolling Stone, on the other hand, wrote: "Truly shameless wanna-be's [sic] like Bush should be so lucky to have the hard smarts that Silverchair – particularly the band's main writers, singer-guitarist Daniel Johns and drummer Ben Gillies – show on such Frogstomp-ers as 'Pure Massacre' and 'Israel's Son'. When these guys turn 18, they'll really be dangerous."[11]

Legacy

In 2015, James Rose of the Daily Review wrote of the album, "As an album in its own right, it's pretty good. As a debut by three 15 year olds, it's about as good as it gets. There are still kids out there today listening to Frogstomp and shitting themselves. And so they should."[15]

The album was ranked #25 on Double J's list of Top 50 Australian Albums of the '90s.[16]

The Amity Affliction member Ahren Stringer said of the album: "I was obsessed with Frogstomp as a 12 year-old boy. I wanted to be Daniel Johns."[17]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Daniel Johns and Ben Gillies, except as noted.

No.TitleLength
1."Israel's Son" (Johns)5:19
2."Tomorrow"4:26
3."Faultline"4:19
4."Pure Massacre"4:59
5."Shade"4:02
6."Leave Me Out"3:03
7."Suicidal Dream" (Johns)3:13
8."Madman" (Johns)2:43
9."Undecided"4:37
10."Cicada"5:10
11."Findaway" (Johns)2:58
Total length:44:49
Vinyl bonus track
No.TitleLength
12."Blind"4:50
Total length:49:39
2015 20th anniversary remastered edition "Rarities" bonus CD
No.TitleLength
1."Tomorrow" (from Tomorrow EP)4:27
2."Acid Rain[a]" (from Tomorrow EP)2:48
3."Blind (live)[b]" (from Tomorrow EP)3:32
4."Stoned[c]" (from Tomorrow EP)4:56
5."Madman" (vocal version)2:44
6."Madman" (live at the Cambridge)3:46
7."Blind" (live at the Cambridge)5:33
8."Tomorrow" (live at the Cambridge)4:44
9."Faultline" (live at the Cambridge)4:17
10."Pure Massacre" (live at the Cambridge)7:25
Total length:1:29:01

2015 20th anniversary remastered deluxe edition bonus DVD
  1. "Madman" (live at the Cambridge)
  2. "Blind" (live at the Cambridge)
  3. "Tomorrow" (live at the Cambridge)
  4. "Faultline" (live at the Cambridge)
  5. "Pure Massacre" (live at the Cambridge)
  6. "Israel's Son" (live from the Easter show, 1995)
  7. "Tomorrow" (music video, US version)
  8. "Pure Massacre" (music video)
  9. "Israel's Son" (music video)

Personnel

Silverchair

Charts

Weekly charts
Chart (1995) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[18] 1
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[19] 81
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[20] 2
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[21] 30
UK Albums (OCC)[22] 49
US Billboard 200[23] 9

Year-end charts
Chart (1995) Position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[24] 7
Chart (1996) Position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[25] 36

Certifications
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[26] 4× Platinum 280,000

^shipments figures based on certification alone

Appearances

Notes

[a] The song "Stoned" is incorrectly listed as "Acid Rain" on the album's track listing.

[b] The song "Acid Rain" is incorrectly listed as "Blind (live)" on the album's track listing.

[c] The song "Blind" is incorrectly listed as "Stoned" on the album's track listing.

References
  1. "Off the Record".
  2. "Silverchair - Press - Here Today, Here Tomorrow: Interview with Daniel Johns". www.chairpage.com.
  3. "Daniel Johns Reflects on Silverchair's Debut, 'Frogstomp'". Diffuser.fm.
  4. "Silverchair – News Archive – Silverchair Frogstomp Turns 20 Today". chairpage.com. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
  5. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Frogstomp – Silverchair". AllMusic. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
  6. Brunette, Richard. "Rearviewmirror: Remembering the 90s – Silverchair – Frogstomp". bucketlistmusicreviews.com. Retrieved 16 February 2019.
  7. Eddy, Chuck (14 July 1995). "Music". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
  8. Sievers, Alex. "Silverchair – Frogstomp (20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition)". Kill Your Stereo. Retrieved 3 December 2018.
  9. Bound, Chris. "Silverchair: Frogstomp". Mystic Sons. Retrieved 3 December 2018.
  10. Morris, Meggie. "Silverchair – Frogstomp (20th Anniversary Remastered Edition)". Renowned for Sound. Retrieved 3 December 2018.
  11. Fricke, David (2 February 1998). "[Frogstomp review]". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
  12. Browne, Colm. "Silverchair – 20th Anniversary of Frogstomp Review". Soundscape Magazine. Retrieved 3 December 2018.
  13. Fortunato, Francesca. "Frogstomp [Rerelease]". Soundspheremag. Retrieved 3 December 2018.
  14. Christgau, Robert (28 November 1995). "Turkey Shoot". The Village Voice. New York. Retrieved 11 September 2014.
  15. "20 years since: Silverchair's Frogstomp". Dailyreview.com.au. Retrieved 6 November 2018.
  16. "Double J Have Ranked The 50 Best Australian Albums Of The '90s, And It's A Smidge Controversial". Junkee. 14 September 2018.
  17. Newstead, Al (13 November 2017). "First Spin: The Amity Affliction cover Silverchair's 'Tomorrow'". triple j.
  18. "Australiancharts.com – Silverchair – Frogstomp". Hung Medien. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
  19. "Offiziellecharts.de – Silverchair – Frogstomp" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 13 June 2019.
  20. "Charts.nz – Silverchair – Frogstomp". Hung Medien. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
  21. "Norwegiancharts.com – Silverchair – Frogstomp". Hung Medien. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
  22. "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 13 June 2019.
  23. "Silverchair Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
  24. "1995 ARIA Albums Charts". Retrieved 24 March 2020.
  25. "1996 ARIA Albums Charts". Retrieved 24 March 2020.
  26. Ryan, Gavin (2011). Australia's Music Charts 1988–2010. Mt. Martha, VIC, Australia: Moonlight Publishing.
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