''Kings of Pop'' is the third and final album by the

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

band

Home Grown Home Grown is an American ska punk/pop punk band formed in 1994 in Orange County, California. They released three full-length albums and several Extended play, EPs before disbanding in 2005. Their music is often characterized as pop punk, lyr ...

, released in 2002 by

Drive-Thru Records Drive-Thru Records was a California-based independent record label owned by siblings Richard and Stefanie Reines. The label was partially responsible for popularizing the pop-punk/emo merger sound of the early to mid-2000s. After facing financi ...

. It was the band's first release with the drummer Darren Reynolds and its only release as a trio, having lost the second guitarist in 2000.

Background and production

Home Grown released their second studio album '' Act Your Age'' in June 1998 through Outpost Recordings. Following this, the label folded and drummer Bob Herco had sustained a

brain tumor A brain tumor (sometimes referred to as brain cancer) occurs when a group of cells within the Human brain, brain turn cancerous and grow out of control, creating a mass. There are two main types of tumors: malignant (cancerous) tumors and benign ...

; their line-up shifted a few times in the process. On June 13, 2001, the band signed to

. Following this, the band supported

Reel Big Fish Reel Big Fish is an American ska punk band from Huntington Beach, California. The band gained mainstream recognition in the mid-to-late 1990s during the third wave of ska with the release of the gold-certified album '' Turn the Radio Off''. So ...

and Goldfinger on their co-headlining US tour in July and August 2001. ''Kings of Pop'' was recorded at Big Fish Studios in

Encinitas, California Encinitas ( Spanish for "Small Oaks") is a beach city in the North County area of San Diego County, California, United States. Located in Southern California, it is approximately north of San Diego, between Solana Beach and Carlsbad, and a ...

, and Sonik Wire Studios in

Irvine, California Irvine () is a Planned community, planned city in central Orange County, California, United States, in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. It was named in 1888 for the landowner James Irvine. The Irvine Company started developing the area in the ...

with producer and engineer

Steve Evetts Steve Evetts is an American record producer who has produced music for Alesana, Poison the Well, A Static Lullaby, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Sepultura, Symphony X, Saves the Day, Lifetime, Kid Dynamite, Hightower, Story of the Year, E ...

. He mixed the recordings at Jake's Place in

Studio City, California Studio City is a neighborhood in Los Angeles, California, United States, in the southeast San Fernando Valley, just west of the Cahuenga Pass. It is named after the studio lot that was established in the area by film producer Mack Sennett in 1 ...

. Steven Marcussen mastered the album at Marcussen Mastering in

Hollywood, California Hollywood, sometimes informally called Tinseltown, is a List of districts and neighborhoods in Los Angeles, neighborhood and district in the Central Los Angeles, central region of Los Angeles County, California, within the city of Los Angeles. ...

Release

On April 4, 2002, ''Kings of Pop'' was announced for release in two months' time and the album's track listing was revealed. Later in the month, the band performed at the Skate & Surf Festival. ''Kings of Pop'' was released on June 25, 2002, through Drive-Thru Records. Shortly after its release, however, Dan Hammond joined the band as its new second guitarist. Drummer Darren Reynolds said he was brought in to realize the songs in a live setting. He appears with the rest of the band in the

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

s for the singles "You're Not Alone" and "Kiss Me, Diss Me". Between late June and mid-August, the band played on the

Warped Tour The Warped Tour is a Concert tour, touring Rock music, rock music festival that toured the United States and Canada each summer from 1995 until 2019, and returned in 2025 for its 30th anniversary. By 2015, Warped was the largest traveling music ...

, appearing on the Drive-Thru stage among their labelmates. Between September and November 2002, the band toured across the US with

Mest Mest is an American Rock music, rock band originally formed by lead vocalist and guitarist Tony Lovato, bassist Matt Lovato, drummer Nick Gigler, and guitarist Jeremiah Rangel. They broke up in 2006 after eleven years, but temporarily reformed ...

and Catch 22. In April 2003, the band appeared at Skate and Surf Fest and played a handful of shows with

and Los City Angels. Between late August and October 2003, the group performed on the Drive-Thru Records 2003 Invasion Tour. In January 2004, the band went on a tour of the UK, with

Allister Allister is an American pop-punk band from Chicago, Illinois. The four-piece formed in 1994 as Phineas Gage when the original band members were still in high school. In 1998, Allister became one of the first bands to sign to Drive-Thru Records ...

the Early November The Early November is an American rock band from New Jersey. The group formed in 2001 and signed with Drive-Thru Records in 2002. , they have released two EPs '' For All of This'' (2002) and '' The Acoustic EP'' (2002) and seven full-length a ...

and

Hidden in Plain View Hidden in Plain View is an American emo and post-hardcore band from northern New Jersey. They formed in 2000 and originally disbanded in 2007. During this seven-year run, the group released records with four record labels (most notably the ind ...

. In March 2004, the band performed at the ExtremeThing festival. The band supported the album with several other tours. However, it proved to be their final album as the band went on "indefinite hiatus" in 2005 after releasing the EP ''

When it All Comes Down ''When It All Comes Down'' is an EP by the rock band Home Grown, released in 2004 by Drive-Thru Records. It was the band's final release, as they went on "indefinite hiatus" the following year. The EP found the band moving away from the humor ...

''. The album contains three hidden tracks which appear after "Disaster" at 7:30 into track 12. They are a 9-second "techno song", a short rap about "Asian flavor" and a short acoustic "song for Steve". There was also a single released for "You're Not Alone" which contained the tracks "Break Me Down" and "Hope Sinks", which were B-sides from the album. ''Kings of Pop'' was released on clear vinyl by

, and was reissued in 2015 by Mutant League Records after being out of print for over a decade.

Reception

It was the band's most successful release, reaching number 189 on the ''Billboard'' 200 chart.

Track listing

Track listing per booklet.

Personnel

Personnel per booklet. Home Grown * Adam Lohrbach – bass guitar, vocals * John "J. Trash" Tran – guitar, vocals * Darren Reynolds – drums Production and design *

– producer, mixing, engineer * Steven Marcussen – mastering * Joshua M. Ortega – art direction, design * Justin Stephens – photography

Chart positions

References

{{Authority control 2002 albums Home Grown albums Drive-Thru Records albums Albums produced by Steve Evetts