''Good Health'' is the first studio album by

Pretty Girls Make Graves Pretty Girls Make Graves is a post-hardcore band formed in Seattle in 2001, named after The Smiths' song of the same name (which itself was named after a quote from Jack Kerouac's ''The Dharma Bums''). Andrea Zollo and Derek Fudesco had played ...

. Originally released in 2002 by

Lookout Records Lookout Records (stylized as Lookout! Records) was an independent record label, initially based in Laytonville, California, and later in Berkeley, focusing on punk rock. Established in 1987, the label is best known for having released Operatio ...

, it was re-released by

Matador Records Matador Records is an independent record label, with a roster of mainly indie rock, but also punk rock, experimental rock, alternative rock, and electronic acts. History Matador was created in 1989 by Chris Lombardi in his New York City ap ...

with an additional 4 songs made up of the band's first self-titled EP. This album is often mistakenly referred to as ''Is It Broken, Doctor?'' on some internet

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and

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services due to the inclusion of that phrase on the cover of the album, on which the actual title is not present.

Composition

Musically, ''Good Health'' has been aligned with

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

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 ...

emo Emo () is a genre of rock music characterized by emotional, often confessional lyrics. It emerged as a style of hardcore punk and from the Washington, D.C., hardcore scene, where it was known as emotional hardcore or emocore. The bands ...

, and "twitchy"

post-hardcore Post-hardcore is a punk rock music genre that maintains the aggression and intensity of hardcore punk but emphasizes a greater degree of creative expression. Like the term " post-punk", the term "post-hardcore" has been applied to a broad conste ...

akin to The Nation of Ulysses.

Critical reception and legacy

In a 20th anniversary review, ''

Stereogum ''Stereogum'' is a daily Internet publication that focuses on music news, reviews, interviews, and commentary. The site was created in January 2002 by Scott Lapatine. ''Stereogum'' was one of the first MP3 blogs and has received several awar ...

''s Tom Breihan dubbed ''Health'' "28 delirious minutes hat areenough to leave you breathless and stirred." He positively called its sound "fast and urgent and adrenaline-charged", as well as "rich and dynamic." In a 2022 retrospective list by ''

BrooklynVegan ''BrooklynVegan'' is an American online music magazine founded in 2004 by David Levine. The company is headquartered in Brooklyn, New York, and originally focused on vegan food and the music community in and around New York City, before broadeni ...

'', it placed #33 out of 35 of 2002's best emo & post-hardcore albums. The site's Andrew Sacher wrote that the group "came out of the gate swinging" on the record and that, 20 years on, its tracks "still pack a refreshing punch."

Track listing

Personnel

* Andrea Zollo –

Vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

* Nick Dewitt –

Drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

, Vocals, Samples, Keyboards * Derek Fudesco –

Bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

, Vocals * J. Clark –

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 ...

, Vocals, Programming, Keyboards * Nathan Thelen –

, Vocals

References

{{Authority control 2002 debut albums Pretty Girls Make Graves albums Lookout! Records albums Matador Records albums Albums produced by Phil Ek Albums recorded at Robert Lang Studios