39/Smooth

39/Smooth is the debut studio album by the American rock band Green Day, released on April 13, 1990, by Lookout Records. It was the band's only album to feature drummer John Kiffmeyer. Jesse Michaels of Operation Ivy contributed the artwork on the album. The inner sleeve shows handwritten lyrics by Billie Joe Armstrong and letters by drummer John Kiffmeyer and Lookout owner Larry Livermore to I.R.S. Records, rejecting a fake offer to sign to the label and declaring its loyalty to Lookout (however, the band would later leave the label and move to major label Reprise Records). There were no official singles released from the album, although "Going to Pasalacqua" was released as a mock-up single in a Green Day singles box set entitled Green Day: Ultimate Collectors.

39/Smooth
Studio album by
Green Day
ReleasedApril 13, 1990 (1990-04-13)[1]
RecordedDecember 29, 1989 – January 2, 1990
StudioArt of Ears, San Francisco, California
Genre
Length31:12
LabelLookout
Producer
Green Day chronology
1,000 Hours
(1989)		 39/Smooth
(1990)		 Slappy
(1990)

39/Smooth was later re-released, along with the band's two previous extended plays 1,000 Hours and Slappy, and the song "I Want to Be Alone" (from The Big One, a compilation album released by Flipside Records in 1990) on the 1991 compilation 1,039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours, which also used the same cover sleeve as 39/Smooth.

Release

39/Smooth was released in 1990 and the first few releases were black vinyl. It was later released in green vinyl and only around 800 exist in green. The old pressings of the LP have the old Lookout Laytonville address on the back. Following a move from Laytonville to Berkeley in 1992, a change was made to the address listed on the jacket.

The album was only modestly successful when initially released, selling just short of 3,000 copies for Lookout Records in its first year.[2] While an insignificant sales count for a major label, this represented a healthy and profitable tally for the fledgling underground label.[2] In the spring of 1994, following the release of Dookie, Green Day's first major label offering, Lookout's sales of the title reached the 55,000 mark.[3]

A CD version of the album has not been made, but the LP's contents were later featured on the compilation album 1,039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours, which was released in 1991. The compilation was re-released in a remastered form in 2004.[4] It was re-released on CD on January 9, 2007, by Reprise Records, the label Green Day has been signed to since leaving Lookout!. Note that in Europe, the album was already re-released by Epitaph Europe, and has remained in print. It was reissued on vinyl on March 24, 2009, by Reprise in a package containing the original 10-song 39/Smooth LP along with reissues of the 1,000 Hours and Slappy EPs.

No official singles were released from the album, but "Going to Pasalacqua" was released in a Green Day singles box set entitled Green Day: Ultimate Collectors.

“Disappearing Boy” was used as the backing track for the “Contests, Demos, Skate Parks” part in Plan B’s 1992 Questionable video at the height of Plan B’s success.

Composition

Musically, the album has been labeled as punk rock,[5][6][7] skate punk,[8] and pop-punk by critics.[9]

Reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[9]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music[10]
NME7/10[11]

AllMusic rated the album 3 out of 5, commenting that "39/Smooth isn't a truly great album in the first place. It's not bad, by any means, and quite arguably just about everything on it could be transposed with a slight aural tweak here and there to Kerplunk, Dookie, Insomniac or Nimrod without anyone batting an eye."[9] Pitchfork said that "It's raw stuff, but even at this point Green Day's records were at least halfway decently recorded, unlike most of their peers' tin-can-and-twine set-ups, and songs like 'At the Library' and 'Don't Leave Me' were downright hummable."[12]

Track listing

All lyrics are written by Billie Joe Armstrong, except "I Was There" by John Kiffmeyer; all music is composed by Green Day (Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt, and John Kiffmeyer)

No.TitleLength
1."At the Library With Waba Sé Wasca"2:28
2."Don't Leave Me"2:39
3."I Was There"3:36
4."Disappearing Boy"2:52
5."Green Day"3:29
6."Going to Pasalacqua"3:30
7."16"3:24
8."Road to Acceptance"3:35
9."Rest"3:05
10."The Judge's Daughter"2:34
Total length:31:12
Notes
1. ^ "On the original release of the album the song was listed as "At the Library With Waba Sé Wasca" although on 1039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours and streaming it is listed as "At The Library".

Personnel

Green Day

Production

References
  1. ""They could be the next Beatles": The story of Green Day's debut album, 39/Smooth". Kerrang. 2021-04-13. Retrieved 2021-12-19.
  2. Larry Livermore, "Life with Larry," Punk Planet, whole no. 13 (June–July 1996), pg. 19.
  3. Larry Livermore, "Life with Larry," Maximum Rocknroll, whole no. 133 (June 1994), pg. 29.
  4. "Lookout! downsizes, scales back plans for the future". Punknews.org. Archived from the original on 26 May 2011. Retrieved 29 April 2011.
  5. Staff (April 13, 2020). "How Green Day "Accidentally" Launched A Legendary Career With 1990's Unassuming Punk Rock Primer, 39/Smooth". Discogs. Retrieved May 28, 2022.
  6. Bedder, Bryan (October 28, 2016). "Ranking Green Day's 12 Albums". Paste. Retrieved May 28, 2022.
  7. Myers, Ben (May 26, 2005). Green Day - American Idiots & The New Punk Explosion. John Blake. ISBN 9781784189433. Retrieved April 28, 2022.
  8. "Green Day: Worst to Best". IGN. 12 May 2009. Retrieved 21 May 2022. Naturally, this is Green Day at its least refined, and therein lies its charm and primary appeal. 39/Smooth is honest skateboard punk.
  9. "39/Smooth - Overview". AllMusic. Retrieved 29 April 2011.
  10. Larkin, Colin (2011). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th concise ed.). Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-0-85712-595-8.
  11. Williams, Simon (7 December 1991). "Long Play". New Musical Express. p. 29.
  12. "1,039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours Review". Pitchfork Media. Archived from the original on March 3, 2009. Retrieved 29 April 2011.
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