''Aha Shake Heartbreak'' is the second studio album by American rock band

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 ga ...

. It was first released in Europe on November 1, 2004, then in the United States on February 22, 2005, with alternate cover artwork. It is the only album by Kings of Leon to have a

Parental Advisory Advisory (abbreviated PAL) is a warning label introduced by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in 1985 and adopted by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) in 2011. It is placed on audio recordings in recognition of profan ...

label, because of profanity in "Taper Jean Girl", "Rememo", "Soft", and " Four Kicks". The U.S. album cover is reminiscent of Queen's '' A Night at the Opera''. " The Bucket", "Four Kicks" and " King of the Rodeo" were released as singles in the UK.

Recording

Like its predecessor, ''Aha Shake Heartbreak'' was recorded with producer

Ethan Johns Ethan Thomas Robert Johns (born 1969 in Merton, London, England) is an English record producer, engineer, mixer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. Johns has worked with artists including Ryan Adams, Kings of Leon, Paul McCartney, Ray LaMo ...

at his Three Crows Studio in Los Angeles using

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

' old

Abbey Road ''Abbey Road'' is the eleventh studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. It is the last album the group started recording, although '' Let It Be'' was the last album completed before the band's break-up in April 1970. It was mostly ...

mixing desk.

Title and artwork

The title of the album comes from the third track, "Taper Jean Girl". There were two different covers for the album: the original UK/Ireland version of the album featured a white orchid on a black background, whereas the later US version featured a different kind of orchid on a white background. The releases of the album with a white orchid on the cover contain the bonus track "Where Nobody Knows". On

compact disc The compact disc (CD) is a digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then released in O ...

, both versions of the artwork include a picture of the band as children hidden underneath the plastic tray that holds the disc.

Reception

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that 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 average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, which assigns a

weighted mean The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...

rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has an average score of 74, based on 31 reviews, which indicates it received "generally favorable reviews". ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

'' listed it as the 39th best album of its decade, and it was also included in the book ''

1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die ''1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die'' is a musical reference book first published in 2005 by Universe Publishing. Part of the ''1001 Before You Die'' series, it compiles writings and information on albums chosen by a panel of music critics ...

''. The band's popularity spiked in Australia during the weeks of September 22 and 29, 2008, when all four of their studio albums were in the top 50 on the charts. At that point, ''Aha Shake Heartbreak'' reached at its highest position yet, number 25, and attained

Platinum Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver". Pla ...

sales. It was certified 2× Platinum in Australia on January 12, 2009. The album has sold more than 910,000 copies worldwide.

Track listing

All songs written by

(Caleb Followill, Nathan Followill, Jared Followill, Matthew Followill) unless otherwise noted. *"Slow Night, So Long" contains an unlisted hidden track, titled "Too Good to Tango" (1:14), within the track's total run time.

Singles

* " The Bucket" ** Released: October 25, 2004 ** Chart positions:
#16 (

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

)
#23 ( US Modern Rock)
#32 (

Irish Singles Chart The Irish Singles Chart is the Republic of Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA) and compiled on their behalf by the Official Charts Company. Chart rankings are bas ...

) * " Four Kicks" ** Released: January 10, 2005 ** Chart positions:
#24 (UK Singles Chart)
#28 (Irish Singles Chart) * " King of the Rodeo" ** Released: April 11, 2005 ** Chart positions: #41 (UK Singles Chart)

Personnel

Kings of Leon * Caleb Followill – vocals, rhythm guitar (credited as "pipes") * Nathan Followill – drums (credited as "skins") * Jared Followill – bass (credited as "slaps") * Matthew Followill – lead guitar (credited as "licks") *

– piano ("Slow Night, So Long"), keyboards ("Milk")

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{Authority control 2004 albums Albums produced by Ethan Johns Kings of Leon albums RCA Records albums