''Foolish'' is the fourth studio album by American
indie rock
Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...
band
Superchunk. It was recorded November 30 through December 2, 1993, at Pachyderm Studios, by
Brian Paulson and mixed by the band and Paulson at
Steve Albini
Steve Albini (pronounced ; born July 22, 1962) is an American musician, record producer, audio engineer and music journalist. He was a member of Big Black, Rapeman and Flour, and is a member of Shellac. He is the founder, owner and principal en ...
's home studio.
The album was released by
Merge Records in 1994.
The cover art is credited to the band's bassist,
Laura Ballance. Ballance has stated that although the painting has generated much speculation into its deeper meaning, it was simply an "unpracticed" attempt to hark back to an
American Music Club album cover. She was the only model available to her, and the dead rabbit was added after she had watched the
Michael Moore
Michael Francis Moore (born April 23, 1954) is an American filmmaker, author and left-wing activist. His works frequently address the topics of globalization and capitalism.
Moore won the 2002 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature for ...
film ''Pets or Meat''.
''Foolish'' was completed shortly after Ballance and the band's guitarist and lead singer,
Mac McCaughan, had broken up. While Ballance rates the album as her third favorite in the band's catalog, she stated that, "....touring for ''Foolish'' was so hard. Listening to those words every night and feeling so mute. I didn't get to say anything, and here he was saying everything. I would be up there jumping up and down with tears streaming down my face.
This is the second consecutive Superchunk album where the band recorded a song of the same name, but didn't put it on the album. The US vinyl edition of the album included "Foolish" on a bonus 7" single.
The song eventually appeared on the band's ''Incidental Music'' compilation.
The video for "Driveway to Driveway" is a takeoff on the classic film ''
The Philadelphia Story''. In the video, drummer Jon Wurster plays a rich buffoon and singer Mac McCaughan plays a scrappy lower-class guy both competing for the affections of Ballance's character. Guitarist Jim Wilbur plays a butler. The four members also portray musicians.
Track listing
# "Like a Fool" – 4:42
# "The First Part" – 4:47
# "Water Wings" – 4:03
# "Driveway to Driveway" – 4:41
# "Saving my Ticket" – 3:25
# "Kicked In" – 4:22
# "Why Do You Have to Put a Date on Everything" – 4:33
# "Without Blinking" – 3:10
# "Keeping Track" – 4:42
# "Revelations" – 3:38
# "Stretched Out" – 4:13
# "In a Stage Whisper" – 3:59
References
1994 albums
Superchunk albums
Merge Records albums
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