Dig Your Own Hole
Dig Your Own Hole is the second studio album by the English electronic music duo the Chemical Brothers. It was released on 7 April 1997 in the United Kingdom by Freestyle Dust and Virgin Records and in the United States by Astralwerks. It was recorded between 1996 and 1997, and features Noel Gallagher of Oasis and Beth Orton as guest vocalists.
Dig Your Own Hole was the first Chemical Brothers album to reach number one on the UK Albums Chart. Five singles were released, two of which reached number one in the UK: "Setting Sun", "Where Do I Begin", "Block Rockin' Beats", "Elektrobank", and "The Private Psychedelic Reel". The album received critical acclaim and has been included in several British magazines' lists of the best albums ever. The success of the album led the Chemical Brothers to be much sought-after remixers, and they released a mix album in 1998, Brothers [Gonna Work It Out |Brothers Gonna Work It Out].
Background
After the Chemical Brothers' successful debut album, Exit Planet Dust, released in June 1995, the duo continued to tour but quickly sought to record new material. Following the release of "Life Is Sweet", the final single from that album, the duo had changed labels from Junior Boy's Own to Virgin, with Virgin getting credit on their album Exit Planet Dust as well under the liner notes. The duo released an EP, Loops of Fury in January 1996, consisting of new material and a remix of one of the band's earliest and signature tracks, "Chemical Beats".The songs "It Doesn't Matter" and "Don't Stop the Rock" were released in June 1996 on vinyl as "Electronic Battle Weapon 1" and "Electronic Battle Weapon 2" respectively as promos for DJs to test in clubs. The duo met up with Noel Gallagher. They were interested in collaborating for a track. The Chemical Brothers had reportedly given him an instrumental track and he then wrote lyrics for the track. The song was released as the single "Setting Sun" on 30 September 1996. The song entered the UK Singles Chart at number one. Stereogum said that "the combination of rave sirens and psych-rock far-outness was probably what convinced people like Noel Gallagher and Mercury Rev to jump onboard".
"Where Do I Begin" was released as a promotional single in early 1997. "Block Rockin' Beats" was released on 24 March 1997 and reached number one on the UK Singles Chart, becoming the duo's second number one single.
Release
Dig Your Own Hole was released on 7 April 1997 by record labels Virgin and Freestyle Dust."Elektrobank" was released on 8 September 1997 and reached number 17 in the UK Singles Chart. "The Private Psychedelic Reel" was released on 1 December 1997. A numbered release, it was ineligible for the UK Singles Charts. Further physically released promotion for the album include a DJ mix and interview set.
The album was certified platinum by the British Phonographic Industry on 21 January 2000. In 2004, the album was packaged with 1995's Exit Planet Dust in a limited edition box set as part of EMI's "2CD Originals" collection.
Dig Your Own Hole was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album, at the 40th Annual Grammy Awards.
Critical reception and legacy
In Rolling Stone, David Fricke wrote that Dig Your Own Hole "burns the whole rock vs. techno argument into a fine, white ash", calling it "a wild beauty of a record" that "rocks, rolls and surges without factionalist prejudice or fear of genre". Entertainment Weekly reviewer David Browne found that the Chemical Brothers manage to turn sounds and "recycled voice snippets" into "alluring hooks in and of themselves, bringing the record as close to pop as techno has come so far", while The Village Voices Robert Christgau attributed the album's effectiveness to the duo's "spirit—generous, jubilant, unfazed by industrial doom, in love with energy and sound."In 1998, Q readers voted Dig Your Own Hole the 49th greatest album of all time, and it was also included in Q TV's "Top 100 Albums of All Time" list in 2008. In 2000, the same magazine placed it at number 42 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever. NME ranked it at number 414 in its 2014 list of NME's [The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time|the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time]. Rolling Stone included it in their list of the "100 Best Albums of the Nineties", as did Spin.
Uses in other media
The song "Setting Sun" was used in the 1997 films The Saint and Nightwatch. "Setting Sun" was also included on the official soundtrack album for The Saint. A poster of the album can be seen in the room of Kirsten Dunst's character Kelly in the 2001 film Get Over It. In 2003, "Block Rockin' Beats" was used in Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle and that same year, "Where Do I Begin" was used in the film Monster and the television series Queer as Folk, with the film Red Eye also using "Where Do I Begin" in 2005. In 2020, the documentary Console Wars featured "Block Rockin' Beats".Track listing
Sample credits- "Block Rockin' Beats" contains samples of "Gucci Again", written and performed by Schoolly D.
- "It Doesn't Matter" contains samples of "It Comes On Anyhow", written by Paul Conly, John Emelin, Tom Flye, Rusty Ford and Kim King, and performed by Lothar and the Hand People.
- "Get Up on It Like This" contains samples of "Money Runner", written by Quincy Jones and performed by John Schroeder.
Personnel
The Chemical Brothers
- Tom Rowlands – production
- Ed Simons – production
- Noel Gallagher – vocals on "Setting Sun"
- Beth Orton – vocals on "Where Do I Begin"
- DJ Kool Herc – vocals on introduction of "Elektrobank"
- Keith Murray – sampled vocals on "Elektrobank"
- Ali Friend – bass on "Elektrobank" and "Dig Your Own Hole"
- Seggs – bass on "Lost in the K-Hole"
- Jonathan Donahue – clarinet on "The Private Psychedelic Reel"
- Simon Phillips – drums
- Cheeky Paul – compiling, editing
- Steve Dub – engineering
- Jon Collyer – engineering
- Jon Dee – engineering on "Setting Sun"
- Tim Holmes – engineering on "Get Up on It Like This"
- Mike Marsh – mastering
- Negativespace – design
Charts
Weekly charts
| Chart | Peak position |