Stoosh

Stoosh is the second studio album by British rock band Skunk Anansie, released on 7 October 1996.

Stoosh
Studio album by
Skunk Anansie
Released7 October 1996
Recorded1996
StudioGreat Linford Manor (Milton Keynes, England)
Genre
Length47:33
LabelOne Little Indian, Epic
ProducerGGGarth
Skunk Anansie chronology
Paranoid & Sunburnt
(1995)		 Stoosh
(1996)		 Post Orgasmic Chill
(1999)
Singles from Stoosh
  1. "All I Want"
    Released: September 1996
  2. "Twisted (Everyday Hurts)"
    Released: November 1996
  3. "Hedonism (Just Because You Feel Good)"
    Released: 13 January 1997[3]
  4. "Brazen (Weep)"
    Released: 2 June 1997[4]

Critical reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
Entertainment WeeklyB[5]
Music Week[6]
Robert Christgau(neither)[7]
Rock Hard9.5/10[8]
Sputnik Music3/5[9]

AllMusic's Tom Demalon retrospectively stated: "Skunk Anansie's full-frontal charge can be wearing at times, but for a good dose of aggressive, hard rock with better-than-average lyrics, Stoosh succeeds more than it fails."[1] Tom Sinclair of Entertainment Weekly wrote that the record "finds Skunk Anansie trading their debut's polite Pat Benatar-ish rock for a bigger, more confrontational sound that flirts with metallic overkill even as it embraces folk and pop", adding that "they've toughened up with Stoosh."[5]

In 2005, Stoosh was ranked number 367 in Rock Hard magazine's book The 500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time.[10] In 2020, PopMatters's Enio Chiola featured the record on its list for "15 Overlooked and Underrated Albums of the 1990s."[2]

Track listing
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Yes It's Fucking Political"Skin, Cass, Ace3:51
2."All I Want"Skin, Cass, Ace3:52
3."She's My Heroine"Skin, Len Arran5:03
4."Infidelity (Only You)"Skin, Cass, Ace6:00
5."Hedonism (Just Because You Feel Good)"Skin, Len Arran3:29
6."Twisted (Everyday Hurts)"Skin, Len Arran4:13
7."We Love Your Apathy"Skin, Cass, Ace5:11
8."Brazen (Weep)"Skin, Len Arran4:38
9."Pickin' on Me"Skin, Len Arran3:18
10."Milk Is My Sugar"Skin, Cass, Ace3:48
11."Glorious Pop Song"Skin, Cass, Ace4:18

Skin gave a track-by-track guide to Select:

  1. Yes It's Fucking Political "The main criticism we have had is that you can't mix politics and music, which seems like quite a fascist idea from music journalists. This song is about how everything is fucking political, and we'll always have that element to our music."
  2. All I Want "We wrote this song in America. We just kept bumping into these people whose only religion was money. It's a song about greed. It's not typical of Americans – just people who like hanging around bands."
  3. She's My Heroine "There's quite a few melancholic songs on this album, like this one. This is a song about how some things that you think are really good for you can also really fuck you up. I discovered this with someone I used to go out with."
  4. Infidelity (Only You) "The title is what it is about. We have a string quartet on a few songs on this album, which was arranged by Michael McKeegan, who works with Therapy?. He also plays cello and he's fantastic."
  5. Hedonism (Just Because It Feels Good) "This is one of my favourite lyrics on the album, just because it is so simple but says so much. As a band, you are forced into so many situations where you are pushed to just have a good time all the time, and you sometimes have to take a step back and see what success is doing to you."
  6. Twisted (Everyday Hurts) "I'm really not sure what this song is about! I wrote it while I was in a bad situation and, now I'm out of it, the song means something different. The lyrics are quite depressive, which goes against the whole happy groove of the music. It's a bit of an oxymoron."
  7. We Love Your Apathy "This song is about how we keep voting in the same piece-of-shit government, and how the Labour Party are condoning this apathy. I always vote, though. I like to have a voice, even if it is a tactical vote."
  8. Brazen (Weep) "This opens with quite a demonic laugh, which fits in with the dark, violent mood of the song. Like 'Twisted', this is about the extremely sad situation I was in."
  9. Pickin' on Me "We have never done a song with just guitar and vocals before, but it works well on this song. It was inspired by someone I knew at school who really wound me up and was always up the teacher's arse. You just knew he was going to grow up to be a policeman, and he did. It's about how racism really starts in the classroom."
  10. Milk Is My Sugar "This is a fucking disgusting song about sex. My mum asked me what it's about and I said breakfast and she believed me. I bet some squirmy little bastard will show her a copy of Select now!"
  11. Glorious Pop Song "This song was originally called 'You're Still A Strange One'. It was so poppy that we got worried that the record company would release it and that we would become known for it, like Extreme did with 'More Than Words'. When we recorded it, we covered it with swear words, so it will never be a single."[11]

Hidden tracks

The album contains a number of hidden tracks and surprises for the listener. The first is hidden before the start of track 1, it is an instrumental mix of the song "100 ways to be a good girl" taken from the first album. After track 3, 7 and 9 there is a short jam (lasting between 0:35 and 1:30; altogether 3:39) which can be accessed directly by rewinding from tracks 4, 8, and 10 respectively. Technically it exists in the pause between the end of one track and the beginning of another. CD players can sometimes be seen counting down to zero while they play these hidden tracks. Some rippers will often append these hidden tracks to the end of the previous song.

The final track, "Glorious Pop Song", ends at 3:43 and is followed by two seconds of silence followed by a recorded conversation which is mostly laughter that lasts for around 30 seconds.

Personnel
Skunk Anansie

Charts

Weekly charts
Weekly chart performance for Stoosh
Chart (1996–1997) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[12] 37
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[13] 6
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[14] 14
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[15] 22
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[16] 5
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[17] 11
French Albums (SNEP)[18] 31
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[19] 11
Italian Albums (FIMI)[20] 17
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[21] 8
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[22] 18
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[23] 8
UK Albums (OCC)[24] 9

Year-end charts
Year-end chart performance for Stoosh
Chart (1997) Position
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[25] 28
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[26] 87
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[27] 93
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[28] 28
German Albums Chart[29] 28
Italian Albums (FIMI)[20] 30
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[30] 100
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[31] 25
UK Albums (OCC)[32] 33

Certifications
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Austria (IFPI Austria)[33] Gold 25,000*
Belgium (BEA)[34] Gold 25,000*
France (SNEP)[35] Gold 100,000*
Germany (BVMI)[36] Gold 250,000^
Italy (FIMI)[37] 3× Platinum 300,000[38]
Netherlands (NVPI)[39] Gold 50,000^
Norway (IFPI Norway)[40] Gold 25,000*
Sweden (GLF)[41] Gold 40,000^
Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland)[42] Gold 25,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[43] Platinum 300,000^
United States — 30,000[44]

* Sales figures based on certification alone.
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References
  1. Demalon, Tom. "AllMusic review". AllMusic. Retrieved 25 May 2013.
  2. Chiola, Enio (27 October 2020). "15 Overlooked and Underrated Albums of the 1990s". PopMatters. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
  3. "New Releases: Singles" (PDF). Music Week. 11 January 1997. p. 25. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
  4. "New Releases: Singles" (PDF). Music Week. 31 May 1997. p. 33. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
  5. Sinclair, Tom. "EW review". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on 21 April 2009. Retrieved 25 May 2013.
  6. "Reviews: Albums" (PDF). Music Week. 28 September 1996. p. 24. Retrieved 5 September 2021.
  7. "Skunk Anansie Reviews". Retrieved 4 July 2017.
  8. Kress, Hanno. "Rock Hard review". issue 114. Retrieved 25 May 2013.
  9. Davey Boy (3 August 2008). "Stoosh Review". Sputnik Music. Retrieved 4 July 2017.
  10. Best of Rock & Metal - Die 500 stärksten Scheiben aller Zeiten (in German). Rock Hard. 2005. p. 61. ISBN 3-89880-517-4.
  11. Select, November 1996
  12. "Australiancharts.com – Skunk Anansie – Stoosh!". Hung Medien. Retrieved 19 December 2020.
  13. "Austriancharts.at – Skunk Anansie – Stoosh!" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 19 December 2020.
  14. "Ultratop.be – Skunk Anansie – Stoosh!" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 19 December 2020.
  15. "Ultratop.be – Skunk Anansie – Stoosh!" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved 19 December 2020.
  16. "Dutchcharts.nl – Skunk Anansie – Stoosh!" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 19 December 2020.
  17. "Skunk Anansie: Stoosh!" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland. Retrieved 19 December 2020.
  18. "Lescharts.com – Skunk Anansie – Stoosh!". Hung Medien. Retrieved 19 December 2020.
  19. "Offiziellecharts.de – Skunk Anansie – Stoosh!" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 19 December 2020.
  20. "Gli album più venduti del 1997" (in Italian). Hit Parade Italia. Retrieved 19 December 2020.
  21. "Norwegiancharts.com – Skunk Anansie – Stoosh!". Hung Medien. Retrieved 19 December 2020.
  22. "Swedishcharts.com – Skunk Anansie – Stoosh!". Hung Medien. Retrieved 19 December 2020.
  23. "Swisscharts.com – Skunk Anansie – Stoosh!". Hung Medien. Retrieved 19 December 2020.
  24. "Skunk Anansie | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart. Retrieved 19 December 2020.
  25. "Jahreshitparade Alben 1997". Austriancharts.at (in German). Retrieved 19 December 2020.
  26. "Jaaroverzichten 1997". Ultratop (in Dutch). Retrieved 19 December 2020.
  27. "Rapports Annuels 1997". Ultratop (in French). Retrieved 17 December 2020.
  28. "Jaaroverzichten – Album 1997". DutchCharts.nl (in Dutch). Retrieved 17 December 2020.
  29. "Top 100 Album-Jahrescharts" (in German). GfK Entertainment. Retrieved 8 September 2016.
  30. "Year list Album (incl. Collections), 1997". Sverigetopplistan (in Swedish). Retrieved 19 December 2020.
  31. "Schweizer Jahreshitparade 1997". Hitparade.ch (in German). Retrieved 19 December 2020.
  32. "End of Year Album Chart Top 100 – 1997". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 19 December 2020.
  33. "Austrian album certifications – Skunk Anansie – Stoosh" (in German). IFPI Austria. Retrieved 19 November 2018.
  34. "Ultratop − Goud en Platina – albums 1996". Ultratop. Hung Medien.
  35. "French album certifications – Skunk Anansie – Stoosh" (in French). Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique.
  36. "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (Skunk Anansie; 'Stoosh')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie. Retrieved 19 November 2018.
  37. "Italian album certifications – Skunk Anansie – Stoosh" (in Italian). Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana. Select "2000" in the "Anno" drop-down menu. Select "Stoosh" in the "Filtra" field. Select "Album e Compilation" under "Sezione".
  38. Berne, Terry (24 June 2000). "Virgin". Billboard. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
  39. "Dutch album certifications – Skunk Anansie – Stoosh" (in Dutch). Nederlandse Vereniging van Producenten en Importeurs van beeld- en geluidsdragers. Retrieved 19 November 2018. Enter Stoosh in the "Artiest of titel" box. Select 1996 in the drop-down menu saying "Alle jaargangen".
  40. "IFPI Norsk platebransje Trofeer 1993–2011" (in Norwegian). IFPI Norway. Retrieved 19 November 2018.
  41. "Guld- och Platinacertifikat − År 1987−1998" (PDF) (in Swedish). IFPI Sweden. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 May 2011.
  42. "The Official Swiss Charts and Music Community: Awards (Skunk Anansie; 'Stoosh')". IFPI Switzerland. Hung Medien. Retrieved 19 November 2018.
  43. "British album certifications – Skunk Anansie – Stoosh". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 19 November 2018.
  44. "Skunk Anansie" (PDF). Music Week. 6 February 1999. p. 9. Retrieved 12 March 2023.
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