''My Favourite Headache'' (also published as ''My Favorite Headache'', especially in the United States) is the debut solo album by

Geddy Lee Geddy Lee Weinrib (; born Gary Lee Weinrib, July 29, 1953) is a Canadian musician, best known as the lead vocalist, bassist, and keyboardist for the Rock music, rock band Rush (band), Rush. Lee joined the band in September 1968 at the request o ...

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

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 Rush. The album was released on November 14, 2000, by Anthem Records in Canada and

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...

outside of Canada. Both the title track and "Grace to Grace" received play on mainstream rock radio.

Background

Although Lee wrote the majority of the album on bass, he was not just writing melody lines; he was also playing chords. In some cases, he multi-tracked basses into different layers of the arrangements. Lee said of the album: "I think I backed into this project. I've never had a great desire to make an individual statement, and I certainly didn't want any more attention. I satisfy so much of my musical self in the context of Rush, so I don't have any great frustrations from that point of view. But once in a while, you'd wonder, 'What's it like out there? What's it like to work with other people?'". Lee explaining how he wrote the lyrics for ''My Favourite Headache'': "Most people are like this: They think of stuff during the day. The mind goes to certain places, they remember things, and they try to figure things out. To remind yourself to write that stuff down is a great benefit. Then you come back to it and you analyze it days later, and lyrically shape what you felt when you wrote it down. For me, how I feel about what I wrote down turns into a song."

Commercial performance

''My Favourite Headache'' peaked at No. 52 on the ''Billboard'' 200. The album also reached No. 10 on Canada's Metal Albums chart.

Track listing

All lyrics by

, all music by Lee and

Ben Mink Benjamin Mink (born January 22, 1951) is a Canadian songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer best known as a longtime collaborator of Canadian singer k.d. lang. He plays several string instruments, notably the guitar, violin, and the ma ...

Personnel

Personnel per booklet.

Musicians

- bass guitar, vocals, guitar, piano, programming, percussion, string arrangements, producer, engineer *

- guitars, violins and violas, programming, string arrangements, producer, engineer *

Matt Cameron Matthew David Cameron (born November 28, 1962) is an American musician who is the drummer for the rock band Pearl Jam. He first gained fame as the drummer for Seattle-based rock band Soundgarden, which he joined in 1986, appearing on each of the ...

- drums *

Jeremy Taggart Jeremy Ronald John Taggart (born April 7, 1975) is a Canadian drummer, radio host, and author, best known for playing with Our Lady Peace from 1993 until 2014. Early life Taggart was born in Toronto, Ontario, later growing up in Mansfield, Ont ...

- drums on "Home on the Strange" *John Friesen - cellos on "Working at Perfekt" *Ed Wilson - additional programming *Chris Stringer - additional percussion *Waylon Wall - steel guitar on "Window to the World" *Pappy Rosen - backing vocals on "Slipping"

Production

* David Leonard - producer, engineer, mixing at

Metalworks Studios Metalworks Studios is a music recording studio in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. It was established in 1978 by Gil Moore of the Canadian rock group, Triumph (band), Triumph. Since 1978, Metalworks Studios has expanded into a six studio facility ...

*Adam Kasper, Dennis Tougas - engineers *Sam Hofstedt, Sheldon Zaharko, Chris Stringer, Tom Heron, Jeff Elliot, Joel Kazmi, Ian Bodzasi - assistant engineers *Daniel Séguin - computer technical assistance *

Howie Weinberg Howie Weinberg is an American audio mastering engineer. Over the course of his career, he has received over 2,257 mastering credits, three TEC Awards, 21 Grammy Awards, two Juno Awards, and one Mercury Prize. Career Weinberg mastered Herbie Ha ...

- mastering at

Masterdisk Masterdisk is an American multimedia company in New York, located at 8 John Walsh Boulevard in Peekskill. They provide production services such as audio mastering, vinyl cutting and enhanced CD and DVD production. Their clients include such n ...

, New York

References

{{Authority control 2000 debut albums Geddy Lee albums Atlantic Records albums Albums produced by David Leonard (record producer) Anthem Records albums