''Some Gave All'' is the debut studio album by American singer

Billy Ray Cyrus William Ray Cyrus ( ; born August 25, 1961) is an American singer, songwriter and actor. Having released 16 studio albums and 53 singles since 1992, he is known for his hit single "Achy Breaky Heart", which topped the U.S. Hot Country Songs cha ...

. It was his first album for

Mercury Records Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. Mercury Records released ...

in 1992 and became the best selling album of that year in the United States, selling over 9 million copies in the first 12 months of release. It produced four hit singles on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' country charts. The first of these was Cyrus's breakthrough song "

Achy Breaky Heart "Achy Breaky Heart" is a song written in 1990 by Don Von Tress. First released in 1991 by the Marcy Brothers with the title "Don't Tell My Heart", it was later recorded by American singer and actor Billy Ray Cyrus and released on his debut al ...

", which topped the charts in several countries. In the US it was a five-week number one on the

Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data along with digital sales and streaming. ...

chart, as well as a top 5 hit on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. It became the first single ever to achieve triple Platinum status in Australia and was the best-selling single of 1992 in the same country. Thanks to the video of the song, there was an explosion of

line dancing A line dance is a choreographed dance in which a group of people dance along to a repeating sequence of steps while arranged in one or more lines or rows. These lines usually face all in the same direction, or less commonly face each other.Knight, ...

into the mainstream, becoming a craze. The song earned

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

nominations for Cyrus in the categories

Record of the Year The Grammy Award for Record of the Year is presented by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to "honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without re ...

and Best Country Vocal Performance, Male. That same year, Cyrus also received a Grammy Award nomination for

Best New Artist The Grammy Award for Best New Artist has been awarded since the 2nd Annual Grammy Awards in 1960 (except in 1967) "for a new artist who releases, during the Eligibility Year, the first recording which establishes the public identity of that ar ...

. "Achy Breaky Heart" was originally recorded as "Don't Tell My Heart" by The Marcy Brothers on their 1991 self-titled album. "Could've Been Me", "Wher'm I Gonna Live?" and "She's Not Cryin' Anymore" were also released as singles, peaking at numbers 2, 23, and 6, respectively, on the country charts. The title track also reached number 52 based on unsolicited airplay and Cyrus' cover of "

These Boots Are Made for Walkin' "These Boots Are Made for Walkin' is a hit song written by Lee Hazlewood and recorded by American singer Nancy Sinatra. It charted on January 22, 1966, and reached No.1 in the United States ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and in the UK Singles Chart. ...

" charted only outside the United States.

Critical reception

Reviewing for ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture publication based in Greenwich Village, New York City, known for being the country's first Alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, ...

'' in December 1992,

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 ...

was critical of Cyrus for "oversinging like

Michael Bolton Michael Bolotin (born February 26, 1953), known professionally as Michael Bolton, is an American singer and songwriter. Bolton performed in the hard rock and heavy metal music genres from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s, both on his early solo a ...

at a Perot rally" throughout the album and for celebrating warfare in the title song. However, he offered some approval of Cyrus's "nice macho self-mockery" on "Achy Breaky Heart", "Wher'm I Gonna Live?", and "I'm So Miserable", concluding that with time he may develop into a 21st-century version of

Waylon Jennings Waylon Arnold Jennings (June 15, 1937 – February 13, 2002) was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. He is considered one of the pioneers of the Outlaw country, outlaw movement in country music. Jennings started playing ...

. In 2006, ''Some Gave All'' ranked at number 33 in ''Q'' magazine's list of "The 50 Worst Albums Ever!"

Commercial performance

Overall, the album is his most successful album to date, which has been certified 9× Multi-Platinum in the United States and is the longest time spent by a debut artist at number one on the ''Billboard'' 200 (17 consecutive weeks) and most consecutive chart-topping weeks in the SoundScan era. It is the only album (from any genre) in the SoundScan era to log 17 consecutive weeks at number one and is also the top-ranking debut album by a country artist. It ranked 43 weeks in the top 10, a total topped by only one country album in history, '' Ropin' the Wind'' by

Garth Brooks Troyal Garth Brooks (born February 7, 1962) is an American Country music, country singer and songwriter. His integration of pop and rock elements into the country genre has earned him his immense popularity, particularly in the United States, ...

. ''Some Gave All'' was also the first debut album to enter at the number 1 in the ''Billboard'' Country Albums chart. The album has also sold more than 20 million copies worldwide and is the best-selling debut album of all time for a solo artist and remains one of the biggest selling albums of all time. ''Some Gave All'' was also the best-selling album of 1992 in the US with 4.7 million copies sold. As of April 2019 the album has sold 7.5 million copies in United States according to Nielsen Music.

Track listing

Personnel

Adapted credits from the media notes of ''Some Gave All''. Sly Dog *

– lead vocals, backing vocals * Greg Fletcher – drums, percussion * Corky Holbrook – bass guitar * Terry Shelton – acoustic guitar, electric guitar * Barton Stevens – keyboards, backing vocals Additional musicians * Clyde Carr – backing vocals * Costo Davis – synthesizer * Sonny Garrish –

steel guitar A steel guitar () is any guitar played while moving a steel bar or similar hard object against plucked strings. The bar itself is called a "steel" and is the source of the name "steel guitar". The instrument differs from a conventional guitar i ...

* Keith D. Hinton – acoustic guitar, electric guitar * Joe Scaife – backing vocals Production *Joe Scaife – co-producer, mixing *Jim Cotton – co-producer, mixing *Grahame Snith – assistant engineer *Clyde Carr – assistant engineer *Hank Williams – mastering

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

End-of-decade charts

Singles

Other charted songs

Certifications

References

{{Authority control 1992 debut albums Billy Ray Cyrus albums Mercury Nashville albums Canadian Country Music Association Top Selling Album albums