''Bring It On'' is the debut album by English

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term was originally used to describe rock music released through independent reco ...

band Gomez, released on 13 April 1998 by

Hut Records VC Recordings trading as Hut Records was a British record label brand which was started in 1990 as a wholly owned subsidiary of Virgin Records. Despite being wholly owned by a major label, it was classed as an independent label for the purposes ...

. Recording sessions for the album began in late 1997, during which time Gomez also toured the United Kingdom with Embrace. The first single, "78 Stone Wobble", was released in March 1998, while " Get Myself Arrested" and "Whippin' Piccadilly" were later released as singles. ''Bring It On'' experienced a boost in popularity when it won the 1998

Mercury Music Prize The Mercury Prize, formerly called the Mercury Music Prize, is an annual Music award, music prize awarded for the best album released by a musical act from the Music of the United Kingdom, United Kingdom or Music of Ireland, Ireland. It was cre ...

, beating favourites such as

Massive Attack Massive Attack are an English trip hop collective formed in 1988 in Bristol, England, by Robert Del Naja, Robert "3D" Del Naja, Daddy G, Grant "Daddy G" Marshall, Tricky (musician), Adrian "Tricky" Thaws and Andrew Vowles, Andrew "Mushroom" ...

's ''

Mezzanine A mezzanine (; or in Italian, a ''mezzanino'') is an intermediate floor in a building which is partly open to the double-height ceilinged floor below, or which does not extend over the whole floorspace of the building, a loft with non-sloped ...

'' and

The Verve The Verve were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Wigan in 1990 by lead vocalist Richard Ashcroft, guitarist Nick McCabe, bass guitarist Simon Jones (musician), Simon Jones and drummer Peter Salisbury. Guitarist and keyboard player Sim ...

's ''

Urban Hymns ''Urban Hymns'' is the third studio album by English Rock music, rock band the Verve, released on 29 September 1997 on Hut Records. The group had broken up while promoting ''A Northern Soul'' in August 1995, though they reformed two weeks later ...

''. Gomez later toured the United States as the support artist for

Eagle-Eye Cherry Eagle-Eye Lanoo Cherry (born 7 May 1968) is a Swedish singer and stage performer. His 1997 single "Save Tonight" achieved commercial success in Ireland, the United States and the United Kingdom, and was voted song of the year in New Zealand. Cher ...

. A 10th anniversary 2-CD edition of ''Bring It On'' was released in 2008. As of September 2020, the album has sold 502,000 copies in the UK. "Bring It On" is also the name of a song on Gomez's following album, ''

Liquid Skin ''Liquid Skin'' is the second album by English rock group Gomez, released on 13 September 1999 by Hut Records. Following the release of their debut studio album '' Bring It On'' (1998), the band began recording their follow-up between August 199 ...

''.

Critical reception

''Bring It On'' was released to critical acclaim. Contemporary critics praised Gomez's ability to "play the

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

as though they were from the

Deep South The Deep South or the Lower South is a cultural and geographic subregion of the Southern United States. The term is used to describe the states which were most economically dependent on Plantation complexes in the Southern United States, plant ...

" despite the band members' young ages and English origins, according to ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

''s John O'Reilly, with the band being compared to numerous American artists. ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

'' critic Steve Sutherland described it as "one of the most assured, poised, hilarious, out-there, plain don't-give-a-fuck enjoyable debut albums in living memory". ''Bring It On'' was awarded the 1998

, beating out bookmakers' favourites

. The album likewise drew praise from American publications.

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

's Greg Prato was impressed by the band's ability to "cover a lot of ground convincingly" on a debut album, concluding that "the praise treceived is definitely not hype". David Stubbs of ''

Spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spin (physics) or particle spin, a fundamental property of elementary particles * Spin quantum number, a number which defines the value of a particle's spin * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thr ...

'' wrote that it transcends

pastiche A pastiche () is a work of visual art, literature, theatre, music, or architecture that imitates the style or character of the work of one or more other artists. Unlike parody, pastiche pays homage to the work it imitates, rather than mocking ...

to become a successful "product of '90s simultaneism—these days, musics from different eras and places are all equally accessible and therefore all equally contemporary... a damn beautiful record". Critic

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and later became a ...

gave the album a three-star honourable mention rating, naming "Whippin' Piccadilly" and "Love Is Better Than a Warm Trombone" as highlights and quipping, "Really the

roots-rock Roots rock is a genre of rock music that looks back to rock's origins in contemporary folk music, folk, blues, and country music. First emerging in the late 1960s, it is seen as a response to the perceived excesses of the then dominant psychedel ...

—they mean it, man". Neva Chonin of ''

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. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' was more critical, finding that the band "excels in sonic mimicry" but lacks a distinct musical identity. In 2000 it was voted number 372 in

Colin Larkin Colin Larkin (born 1949) is a British music writer. He founded and was the editor-in-chief of ''The Encyclopedia of Popular Music''. Along with the ten-volume encyclopedia, Larkin also wrote the book ''All Time Top 1000 Albums'', and edited th ...

's ''

All Time Top 1000 Albums ''All Time Top 1000 Albums'' is a book by Colin Larkin, creator and editor of the ''Encyclopedia of Popular Music''. The book was first published by Guinness Publishing in 1994. The list presented is the result of over 200,000 votes cast by the ...

''. He stated "For once, clever inventive music got out of the cult box and into the heart and soul of the record buying public".

Track listing

All tracks written by Ball/Blackburn/Gray/Ottewell/Peacock. ;Tenth anniversary CD bonus tracks

Personnel

Gomez *

Ian Ball Ian Thomas Ball (born 19 October 1975) is an English musician, most notable for being part of the indie rock band Gomez, sharing lead vocals and guitars. He has also performed and released two solo albums (as of June 2017). He is also a member ...

– vocals, guitar * Ben Ottewell – vocals, guitar * Paul Blackburn – bass * Tom Gray – vocals, guitar, keyboards * Olly Peacock – drums, synths, computers Additional musicians * Mat Quinton –

tuba The tuba (; ) is the largest and lowest-pitched musical instrument in the brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, the sound is produced by lip vibrationa buzzinto a mouthpiece (brass), mouthpiece. It first appeared in th ...

on "Get Miles" * Ian Bracken –

cello The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...

on "Make No Sound" * Susie Wright –

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to p ...

on "78 Stone Wobble" * Steve Fellows – fuzz

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

on "Love Is Better Than a Warm Trombone"

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

External links

* {{Authority control Gomez (band) albums 1998 debut albums Mercury Prize–winning albums Virgin Records albums Roots rock albums