Price For Popularity

### *It's not all it's cracked up to be.*

*Price For Popularity* is the fourth studio album by *The Dropouts,* released on November 19th, 1997. The Album is primarily about the experience Nick Barnett had dating another famous musician during a time where she was growing very popular and his band was struggling. Unlike the previous album, Nick Barnett returned to the role of main writer, writing almost every single song on the album. The album experiments more with new sounds, starting to move away from the ska sound that was featured heavily in the last 3 albums, and leaning more towards alternative rock. They also add in some heavier rock songs, most notably *Pop Song*, which features some screaming vocals by Nick Barnett, very different from what had usually been expected of the singer.

## Planning Stages

Due to the amount of free time that followed the release of *I H8 U 2,* not having a tour to keep themselves busy - Nick Barnett began writing their next album while the rest of the band was on vacation. Struggling to figure out what went wrong with his previous relationship, many of the lyrics revolve around the situation of watching his ex girlfriend grow big while he struggled to stay relevant - the most obvious example of this being the song *She's Famous Now.*

 Since Nick didn't have many people to work with during the off season, he contacted Jeremy Hunter, the producer for their last 3 albums to help figure it out. The original name for the album was *Celebrity Deathmatch,* but it was eventually changed to make the album seem less mean spirited. The plan was for the plot to focus on the effects of fame on a relationship.

## Production

*Price For Popularity* at the time had the longest production stage of any of their albums, due to the time gap between when Nick started working and when he was able to have his bandmates come and give their input. The album started production shortly after the Christmas of 1996.

Again, this album has the original line up returning, Nick Barnett, Scott Wilson, Nikki Brown, Jimmy Rodriguez, Nathan Taylor, and Jeremy Hunter as the producer. Due to how quickly Nick had started working, he had written all but 2 of the songs that made it onto the final tracklist of the album.

Nick Barnett wrote *Down In Flames, She's Famous Now, Pop Song, What's My Age Again?, The Good Life, Punisher,* and, *Really?,* as well as bringing back a song from *Cheer Up!* that he had originally written with Scott Wilson, *Where Have You Been?* but rewriting it a bit to better reflect their new sound.

The band generally trusted Nick with songwriting, Nikki, Jimmy, and Nathan all had respected his work from *Cheer Up!* and Scott had always trusted Nick with songs, so they were more than happy to let him take the reigns for this project. Nick felt like he had completed the story he was trying to tell, but didn't have enough to fill an entire album, so turned to his bandmates to help with the last two songs.

*King Of The World* was written by Scott Wilson and Nathan Taylor - using it as an introductory song to the story Nick was telling, showing what it was like before things went bad in the relationship.

*Unity* was added as a collaborative effort with the band *Zebrahead*, and is somewhat out of the narrative of the album. Nick wishes the song wasn't on the album, but doesn't hate it. He likes the song, but thinks it feels out of place in the tracklist. They were originally going to take it off, but kept it due to pressure from *Griffin Records,* who wanted to promote two of their bands in a collaboration project. *Zebrahead* had the song *Why Generation* featured on their album in collaboration with *The Dropouts* in return for *Unity.*

The plan to lean away from the ska sound they were known for came from Nick himself, who felt like the story didn't lend itself way to the goofy and upbeat sound, pointing out how *Where Have You Been?* purposely left that sound in the musical *Cheer Up!* for the same reason. The songs that keep the ska sound are purposely kept in the genre when it feels like the subject matter of the song was more petty than serious. This can be seen in songs like *She's Famous Now,* and *Punisher.*

## The Road to *Price For Popularity*

Using the same 3 single structure, the first single to come out for their fourth album was *She's Famous Now,* very quickly introducing people to what the album would be about. Due to the public nature of their lives, many people knew who the song was about - to the point that Nick had to come out and say that there was no mean spirit intended in the song, but it was rather a played up version of the feelings he went through with the break up. The girl the album is about even came out and said not to get mad about it, she enjoyed the song herself. The song was debuted on the Talkie McTalkerson Show on April 8th, 1997. The single had mediocre responses, the drama that came with the confusion between Nick and the singer who he song was about causing a bit of a review bomb. The fans of the band however loved the song, along with many critics who called the song a "true window into the life of a celebrity".

The second single released for *Price For Popularity* was *Unity*, featuring the band *Zebrahead.* The band was pushing against this being released as a single, due to the fact that it didn't really fit in the album, and didn't represent it well. But *Griffin Records* pushed back for it to be released, to promote *Zebrahead,* who was their newest contract. *The Dropouts* eventually gave in after meeting the new band and becoming friends. The single was released on July 28th, 1997, performed live at a special *Griffin Records* music show. Due to the nature of the single, the band waited to announce anymore information about the album, surprising fans since information usually came with the second single. The song also received a music video, but it was just a cut together video of the performance from the music show, but with the studio version of the song edited over it. The song was well recieved, many people liking the sounds of both bands together. The message of the song was also very well liked, with many critics praising the band for making a statement like that in their music. *Zebrahead's* first album sold very well, with lots of it's promotion coming from this song.

The final single from the album was *What's My Age Again?*, released on August 5th, 1997. The song was debuted live back on the Talkie McTalkerson show, this time finally announcing the name and album cover for *Price For Popularity.* The single was received very well, many liking the new sound the band had for the song. While not exactly the same ska punk sound they were known for, it kept the fun and bouncy spirit, with personal lyrics that had a goofy side to them, like you were thinking back on a story that seemed serious at some point, but now you can just laugh at. The song ended up in the top 40 songs of the month, and landed in many people's Top Summer Songs. Even with the special conditions the single was under, they kept the tradition and gave the single it's own full music video, which included the band going through smooth transitions as they acted out the lyrics to the song, with the main character (played by Nick Barnett) continuously stumbling into the band singing the chorus, forced to sing along as he tried to figure out what was happening.

## Reception

*Price For Popularity* was released on November 11th, 1997 to poor reviews from critics. Many claimed it was just more of the same that the band was pushing, expecting another album like *One Hit Wonderful.* While singles like *She's Famous Now, What's My Age Again?,* and *Unity* all gave the album some help, the album was considered a financial failure. Fans of the band praised the more personal story, but were put off by new sounds like the songs *Pop Song,* and *Really?* which leaned heavily into punk rock with raw and louder vocals performed by Nick Barnett.

Due to the low amount of sales, the band wasn't able to afford another tour, instead going for a small amount of shows like they had done with their previous album *I H8 U 2.* Also due to this, *The Dropouts* were eventually dropped by *Griffin Records* early in 1998. The band, now with little money and less motivation soon figured that they wouldn't be able to keep continuing as they had if they all wanted to keep their personal lives. This lead to the decision to break up, deciding on one last album - this time produced by Nathan Taylor himself, as he had been working on getting his own record company up and running.

During this time, many of the band members had been working on their own solo music, most notably Scott Wilson and Nikki Brown, both of them gaining quick traction and becoming very popular, prompting them to follow those careers instead of staying with the band, also adding to the decision to break up.

## The Legacy of *Price For Popularity*

Later on in the band's career, as fans went back and revisited *Price For Popularity,* it's now looked back on in a much more positive light, with the new sound the band had found later on in their career matching more with what they were trying to do on this album.

The songs *Down In Flames, She's Famous Now, Pop Song,* and *Really?* have all become fan favorites, being played often at shows where the setlist picks from the band's discography. While the album isn't considered the same bad one it was in 1997, many still don't consider it the band's best.

## Tracklist

1. *King Of The World -* Written by Scott Wilson and Nathan Taylor
2. *Down In Flames -* Written by Nick Barnett
3. *She's Famous Now -* Written by Nick Barnett
4. *Pop Song -* Written by Nick Barnett
5. *What's My Age Again? -* Written by Nick Barnett
6. *The Good Life -* Written by Nick Barnett
7. *Where Have You Been? -* Written by Nick Barnett and Scott Wilson
8. *Punisher -* Written by Nick Barnett
9. *Unity -* Written by Nick Barnett, Jeremy Hunter, and Ali Zehbra
10. *Really? -* Written by Nick Barnett

## Fun Facts

- Ali Zehbra, lead singer of *Zebrahead* feels bad about the failure of *Price For Popularity,* even to this day because of the help the band had in the success of his own band. He wishes he could've done more to help them, but was too busy dealing with his own problems at the time.

- Nick and the singer the album revolves around made up and became friends again shortly after the release of *Price For Popularity.*

- Later on in their career after fans started appreciating the album more, a 'making of' documentary of *Price For Popularity* was released, using footage that was filmed during the production of the album, cutting between that and interviews with the band members. This also included a new video for the song *Really?*, which included the entire band performing the song in the studio, all together for the first time.

- Scott Wilson's favorite song on the album is *Really?* as he enjoyed the new sound and felt like it fit the band's personality going forward. He also enjoys rocking out on guitar with Nick and Nathan during the solos on stage.

- *Where Have You Been?* is the first song from *Cheer Up!* to be featured on an album since *Party Down!.*

- The album cover features a famous photo of the subject matter of the album getting swarmed by paparazzi. The photo was lightened to hide who was in it. The name of the album was messed up when printing copies, and left to save money. It also reportedly made Nick Barnett laugh, so he kept it.