Celebrity Skin
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Celebrity Skin is the third studio album by American alternative rock band Hole, released on September 8, 1998, in the United States on DGC Records and internationally on Geffen Records. It was the last album released by the band before their dissolution in 2002. Hole intended for the record to diverge significantly from their previous noise and grunge-influenced sound as featured on Pretty on the Inside (1991) and Live Through This (1994). The band hired producer Michael Beinhorn to record Celebrity Skin over a nine-month period that included sessions in Los Angeles, New York City, and London. It was the band's only studio release to feature bassist Melissa Auf der Maur. Drummer Patty Schemel played on the demos for the album but was replaced by session drummer Deen Castronovo at the suggestion of Beinhorn. This issue created a rift between Schemel and the band, resulting in her dropping out of the tour and parting ways with the group, though she was still credited.
The band sought to use Los Angeles and the state of California as a unifying theme and began writing what they conceived as a "California album" in 1997. Unlike Hole's previous releases, the final songs on Celebrity Skin featured instrumental contributions from several musicians outside the band, primarily Billy Corgan, who co-wrote the musical arrangements on five songs. Auf der Maur's former bandmate Jordon Zadorozny, as well as Go-Go's guitarist Charlotte Caffey, also contributed to the composition of one track. Frontwoman Courtney Love, who wrote all of the lyrics, named the album and its title track after a poem she had written that was influenced by T. S. Eliot's "The Waste Land". Motifs of water and drowning are also prominent throughout the album.
Celebrity Skin is Hole's most commercially successful album. It peaked at number nine on the US Billboard 200, number four on the Australian Albums Chart, and number 11 on the UK Albums Chart. To date, it has sold over 1.4 million copies in the United States alone, has been certified as double-platinum in Australia by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA), and platinum in Canada by Music Canada (MC) and the United States by Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It garnered Hole a number-one hit single on the Modern Rock Tracks chart with the title track, "Celebrity Skin". Critical reaction to the album was very positive and it was listed on a number of publications' year-end lists in 1998, including those by Time and The Village Voice. The album was named the 265th greatest album of all time by a 2013 poll by NME magazine and was featured in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
Production and composition
Recording history
In September 1995, Hole completed the final leg of their year-long tour in promotion for their second studio album, Live Through This (1994).<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> During the hiatus that followed, the members of Hole began working on individual projects. Frontwoman Courtney Love was cast as Althea Flynt in The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996) alongside Woody Harrelson,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> lead guitarist Eric Erlandson collaborated with Rodney Bingenheimer and Thurston Moore on the short-lived project Rodney & the Tube Tops from 1996 to 1997,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> bassist Melissa Auf der Maur provided backing on Ric Ocasek's album Troublizing (1997),<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> and drummer Patty Schemel played with the Lemonheads on the tribute album Schoolhouse Rock! Rocks (1996).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
After Love completed her obligations promoting The People vs. Larry Flynt, the band reunited to write new material for their next album, titled Celebrity Skin. According to Love, the embryonic versions of the songs "weren't very good" and "not written well".<ref>Love, Courtney. "We just had written songs, but they weren't very good. We kept on writing and writing, there were ones that were not written well." Extracts from a transcription of an interview on The House in Sydney, Australia in January 1999.</ref> However, the songs developed following the band's relocation to several parts of the United States, including Nashville, Memphis, and New Orleans.<ref>Auf der Maur, Melissa. "We were trying different parts of America to write in like New Orleans and New York, where else? Nashville and Memphis. It really wasn't four years in the making." Extracts from a transcription of an interview on The House in Sydney, Australia, in January 1999.</ref><ref name="int">Template:Cite AV media notes</ref> During their time in New Orleans, the band recorded a number of demos, including an early version of "Awful" (1999) and songs which later developed into "Dying" and "Hit So Hard".<ref name=int/> During these writing and recording attempts, Love had grown frustrated as she felt the songs were not coalescing into a unifying whole.<ref name=gabriela>Template:Cite web</ref> Erlandson later said he felt that "everything was falling apart... Making that record was insane. There were obstacles at each step of the way."<ref name=gabriela/> Because of this perceived lack of direction, Love decided to use California as a theme to build the songs around: "Let's tie this together with a concept, even if it's fake," she recalled, "for directional purposes."<ref name=gabriela/> Specifically, Love sought to interpret California as "a metaphor for the American dream".<ref name=gabriela/>
The band entered Conway Recording Studios<ref name=notes/> in Los Angeles in April 1997 to begin the recording sessions of the album.<ref name="fr">Template:Cite interview</ref> The original plan was to have Billy Corgan as executive producer, who was a second choice after Brian Eno,<ref name="fr" /> however, Corgan did not initially participate in, or contribute to the recording process. Michael Beinhorn was hired as head of production instead. Recording sessions for the album were spread out over the course of eight to nine months in various locations. The majority of the album was recorded at Conway Recording Studios, however, additional recording was done at Record Plant West in Los Angeles and Olympic Studios in London, United Kingdom.<ref name="notes">Template:Cite AV media notes</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The final recording sessions were completed at Quad Studios in early 1998. These sessions were also video-taped by a friend of the band, as noted in an October 1998 article in Spin magazine.<ref name="sp98">Template:Cite magazine Template:Free access</ref> Auf der Maur characterized the sessions as being based around Love's busy schedule at the time: "It was her Hollywood phase", during which she would "chain-smoke Marlboro lights", "go to the beach at 7AM with a personal trainer and auditioning. She'd just done [The People vs.] Larry Flynt."<ref name=noisey>Template:Cite web</ref>
According to Love, her vision for the album was to "deconstruct the California Sound" in the L.A. tradition of bands like The Doors, The Beach Boys and The Byrds,<ref name="int" /> but she was struggling with the composition of the record and felt like she was "in a rut".<ref name="int" /> After sending early recordings of the songs to Corgan, he decided to join the band in the studio for a total of twelve days in an attempt to help Love with her songcraft.<ref name="int" /> Love compared Corgan's presence in the studio to "a math teacher who wouldn't give you the answers but was making you solve the problems yourself",<ref name="int" /> and stated that he had her study key changes as well as melodies and phrasing from songs by Frank Sinatra and The Beatles:<ref name="int" />
Of the album's twelve tracks, Corgan shares instrumental songwriting credits on five.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In addition to Corgan, Auf der Maur's former Tinker bandmate, Jordon Zadorozny, and Go-Go's guitarist and songwriter Charlotte Caffey helped co-compose the track "Reasons to Be Beautiful".<ref>Template:Cite web Template:Small.</ref>
A wide variety of guitars, effect pedals and equipment were used during the recording of Celebrity Skin. Love used Fender tube amplifiers, Matchless amps, Ampeg amps and a Randall Commander that belonged to Love's late husband Kurt Cobain.<ref name="gw">Template:Cite magazine</ref> Love's primary guitars during the sessions were her custom Fender Vista Venus and a Chet Atkins Gretsch.<ref name="gw" /> Erlandson's guitar set-up was much more complex, using numerous guitars through different effects in a set-up he arranged with Beinhorn. He used three of his Veleno guitars that were also used to record Live Through This, a 1968 Fender Telecaster and "numerous other guitars".<ref name="gw" /> Each signal from each guitar was split to two separate channels. One channel included a Tech 21 SansAmp, a collection of vintage analog synthesizers, including a Serge modular system, an ARP 2600 and a Moog modular system with a Bode frequency shifter. The other side included a Watkins Dominator, which "provided tons of low end",<ref name="gw" /> and generators that were later used during the production process. Recording was officially completed in London in late February 1998.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Drum tracks
Despite receiving credit on the album, Patty Schemel only recorded drum tracks for its demos, and was replaced by session drummer Deen Castronovo during the final recording sessions; thus, her drumming does not appear on the finished tracks.Template:Sfn According to Schemel, Beinhorn was actively "psyching her out" in the studio when she began recording.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> According to sound technician Chris Whitemeyer, Beinhorn would request endless takes of Schemel's drumming, only to then lower the volume in his booth to inaudible levels, sit back, and read a newspaper.<ref name="hitso">Template:Cite AV media</ref> Whitemeyer also stated that Schemel was forced to drum in the studio eight hours a day for over two weeks, and that Beinhorn "wanted Patty to give up".<ref name="hitso" /> Schemel later likened the recording sessions to "athletic training".Template:Sfn After Schemel completed over two weeks of recording, Beinhorn brought Love into the studio and had her listen to recorded loops of Schemel's "weakest playing",<ref name="hitso" /> and then suggested Castronovo as an alternative.Template:Sfn Beinhorn also claimed to Love that Schemel would get "red-light fever" in the studio, implying that she was incapable of remembering the correct parts to play during recording.Template:Sfn Whitemeyer claimed that Castronovo had been asked by Beinhorn to play on the record before Love or any of the other band members heard Schemel's drum tracks, and that Beinhorn "had it all planned out" early on.<ref name="hitso" />
Beinhorn's pressure, coupled with a feeling that Love wasn't supporting her, resulted in Schemel leaving the studio, requesting a settlement, and breaking ties with the band.Template:Sfn Several months later, Schemel showed up to join the band for promotional photoshoots as per her original contract with the label, but refused to tour with the band to support the record.Template:Sfn In 2002, Love admitted in an interview with Carrie Fisher that despite Beinhorn's meddling, it had ultimately been her decision to have Schemel replaced on the album: Template:Blockquote
Music and arrangements
Celebrity Skin marked a major shift in Hole's musical style, emphasizing a more mainstream alternative rock sound.<ref name=noisey/> Jael Goldfine of Paper magazine notes that the album "defined the post-grunge power pop sound of the '90s."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Rolling StoneTemplate:'s James Hunter observed that the album features shifts in guitar sounds that alternate from "silveriness to something rougher in a heartbeat," adding that it is teeming with "minimalist explosion, idiomatic flair and dead-on rhythms."<ref name=rs/> The Independent later referred to the album as having ushered in a pop rock "era" for Hole.<ref name="Independent">Template:Cite news</ref>
In 2018, Melissa Auf der Maur reflected "That wasn't something I was striving for but it was something Courtney and the label were. At the time I was like, 'why are you making this so fancy?' but she had a whole vision for her art."<ref name=noisey/> Rebecca Nicholson of The Guardian observed a darker subtext to the album's glossy production, however, noting: "Celebrity SkinTemplate:'s aesthetic is caught up in that turmoil of competing identities, a push-pull of glossy glamour and its seedy underbelly. For all the slickness of Michael Beinhorn’s production and the big-budget videos that accompanied its singles, the songs remain raw and cynical, as wary and worn as they are defiant."<ref name=nicholson>Template:Cite web</ref>
Lyrics and themes
While writing the lyrics for Celebrity Skin, Love aimed to "marry great hooks with a dense [lyrical] vision... I want to be as perverse as I'd like to be—while making you hum along with it."<ref name=kaufman/> She cited an array of literary influences, including T. S. Eliot.<ref name=farry>Template:Cite interview Template:YouTube.</ref> Several songs on the album reference, and sometimes directly quote, multiple literary works: The album's title track directly quotes The House of Life by Dante Rossetti ("my name is might-have-been"),Template:Sfn as well as William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice ("So glad I came here with your pound of flesh").<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> "Awful", the album's third single, references Neil Diamond's "Cherry, Cherry", as well as the American spiritual "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot".<ref name=top20>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
Various lyrical references to Hollywood and California culture are present throughout the album.<ref name=kaufman/><ref name=rs20/> Whereas the band's debut, Pretty on the Inside, had dealt with the "repulsive aspects of L.A.Template:Em dashsuperficiality, sexism, violence, and drugs",<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Celebrity Skin examined the more opulent elements of Los AngelesTemplate:Em dashspecifically from the perspective of Love, who at the time had risen as an A-list star<ref name=rs20>Template:Cite magazine</ref>Template:Em dash but "deconstructed the concept, picking off the healing scab of her public reinvention to rehash the wounds of her past".<ref name=rs20/> Commenting on the themes, James Hunter of Rolling Stone notes that the album is lyrically obsessed with "the promises and the agonies of Southern California. Sold-out sluts, fading actresses, deluded teenagers, “summer babes” and hunks—all this “beautiful garbage” crowds the roadside of the album."<ref name=rs/> Gil Kaufman, writing about the album for MTV, noted that "Love's crash-and-burn lyrics are full of provocative, self-referential phrases that might harbor double or triple meanings."<ref name=kaufman>Template:Cite web</ref>
Another prominent lyrical and aesthetic theme on the record is water and drowning, as noted by Erlandson in a 1998 interview on the album's composition and recording sessions.<ref name="schwartz">Template:Cite magazine</ref> Erlandson cited the drowning death of Jeff Buckley, as well as the deaths of both Erlandson's and Auf der Maur's fathers of pulmonary edema and lung cancer, respectively.<ref name=schwartz/> "Those were literal things," said Erlandson, "but drowning became a metaphor for this record and for all the people we had lost."<ref name=schwartz/> Additional lyrical motifs include angels, stars, and heaven.<ref name=bloom>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Commenting on the recurring images throughout the album, Love said: "I'm a Cancer. I recycle."<ref name=bloom/>
On the album's title, Love divulged that she initially wanted to name it Holy War, as she felt it was "a mission statement. It's a statement of such pretense and import. It's incredibly ambitious."<ref name=sp98/> Erlandson alternately wanted to name the record Sugar Coma, which Love opposed, stating it was "pedestrian—it denotes the end of a cycle. Something deadly. If executives like it, you know it's bad."<ref name=sp98/> The final title, Celebrity Skin, was teased by Love during a 1995 interview with Jools Holland, in which she joked that she was considering naming their upcoming album Celebrity Skin because she had "touched a lot of it".<ref name=jools>Template:Cite episode</ref> She subsequently clarified that she had derived the name from a short-lived band in Los Angeles named Celebrity Skin, as well as a bootleg pornographic magazine featuring nude candid photos of celebrities.<ref name=jools/>
Release
Celebrity Skin was released internationally on September 8, 1998.<ref name=kaufman/> It was the last album released by Hole before their dissolution in 2002,<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> though frontwoman Courtney Love later revived the band with new members for the release of Nobody's Daughter in 2010.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Singles
Despite the extreme measures undertaken by Hole's label, DGC Records, to prevent the album from leaking (including an "iron clad" agreement that prohibited music journalists who received advance copies from allowing anyone else to hear or record the album), the first single from the album, "Celebrity Skin", was leaked three weeks before its intended release dates and played "nearly a dozen times" on New York radio station WXRK (92.3 FM) and their Los Angeles-based sister station, KROQ-FM (106.7 FM), on the weekend of July 31 to August 2, 1998.<ref name="VH1TunesLeakedOnRadioNet">Template:Cite web</ref> DGC spokesperson Jim Merlis denied that the leak originated from them and issued WXRK a cease and desist order on August 3, 1998.<ref name="VH1TunesLeakedOnRadioNet"/> Nevertheless, San Francisco radio station Live 105 (105.3 FM) played the single again the following weekend.<ref name="VH1SFStationJumpsGun">Template:Cite web</ref>
The lead single, "Celebrity Skin", was officially released on September 8, 1998, the same day of the album release.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=kaufman/> It peaked at number 85 on the US Billboard Hot 100,<ref name="Hot100">Template:Cite magazine</ref> and entered the top 20 of the United Kingdom, Scotland, and Iceland.<ref name="UKcharts">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It also topped the US Alternative Songs chart and the Canadian Rock/Alternative chart.<ref name="USAlt">Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The single was nominated for Best Rock Song and Best Rock Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group at the 1999 Grammy Awards.<ref name="41g">Template:Cite web</ref> It was followed by "Malibu", released on December 29, 1998.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The single peaked at number 81 on the US Billboard Hot 100,<ref name="Hot100"/> and entered the top 40 of Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom.<ref name="Aus">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
"Malibu" was nominated for Best Cinematography at the 1999 MTV Video Music Awards and nominated for a Music Video Cinematography Achievement provided by the Music Video Production Association.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The single also received a nomination for Best Rock Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group at the 2000 Grammy Awards.<ref>Template:Cite web N.B. The categories are listed on page 1 and the artist on page 2.</ref> The third and final single, "Awful", was released on April 27, 1999.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It peaked at number 13 on US Alternative Songs chart and entered the ARIA Top 100 Singles Chart and the UK Singles Chart.<ref name="USAlt"/><ref name="Aus"/><ref name="UKcharts"/>
Artwork
The front cover of the album features a black-and-white photograph of all four band members standing in front of a burning palm tree.<ref name=noisey/> The photograph was a Polaroid that had initially been intended as a test shot, but was ultimately chosen for the cover art.<ref name=noisey/> Joe-Mama Nitzberg, the album's art director, recalled that the palm tree and fire were in fact real, and that at one point during the shoot, a wind gust led the tree to topple over.<ref name=noisey/> Nitzberg stated that the unifying visual theme for the album's overall artwork and packaging was to highlight Los Angeles as an artificial "paradise."<ref name=noisey/>
The lyrical themes of water and drowning were carried over to the album's packaging, with the back cover displaying a cropped version of the painting Ophelia Drowning (1895) by Paul Steck.<ref name=notes/> Photographs of the Modesto Arch (which reads "Water, Wealth, Contentment, Health") and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power figure in the liner notes,<ref name=notes/> keeping in theme with the album's preoccupation with California.<ref name=noisey/> The liner notes dedicate the album to "the stolen water of Los Angeles and to anyone who ever drowned", the former referring to the California water wars.<ref name="schwartz"/>
Reception
Celebrity Skin received positive reviews from music critics. The Village Voice critic Robert Christgau said Love is "better punk than actress, better actress than popster" and listed the title track and "Awful" as the album's most notable songs.<ref name="rc">Template:Cite web</ref> Robert Cherry of the Alternative Press described Celebrity SkinTemplate:'s sound as "meticulously orchestrated guitars, multilayered vocal harmonies, quantized drums and sheeny studio magic" and said the songs "hit nerve centers like a thousand AM classics".<ref name="ap">Template:Cite magazine</ref> The Austin ChronicleTemplate:'s Marc Savlov referred to the album as "end of the summer crunch-pop from the most enigmatic woman around" but criticized Love's "painful, quasi-Freudian vein" and "Michael Beinhorn's slick, SoCal production".<ref name="ac"/> The Los Angeles Times reviewer Robert Hilburn called the album "one wild emotional ride" and "a far more complex work than the invigorating, mainstream coating would lead you to believe."<ref name="la" /> Steve Sutherland of NME mentioned that "the first thing you think when Celebrity Skin smacks you in the nose is that you may never need to hear a rock 'n' roll record ever again," and compared the album's sound to Fleetwood Mac.<ref name="nme" />
James Hunter from Rolling Stone described it as "sprung, flung and fun, high-impact, rock-fueled pop" and noted that "it teems with sonic knockouts that make you see all sorts of stars and is accessible, fiery and intimate – often at the same time,"<ref name="rs" /> while Spin reviewer Joshua Clover referred to the album as "a record filled with quotation and reference, backtalk and revision" and said "there are too many great songs, and this is a magnificent pop record."<ref name="sm" /> A review published in Musician also praised the album, particularly Erlandson's guitar contributions, noting: "Erlandson's tireless, monomaniacal guitar wizardry gives Celebrity Skin its gorgeous textures and resonant power."<ref name=musician>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Entertainment Weekly reviewer David Browne said "the music is sleeker and more taut than anything Hole have done".<ref name="ew"/> The GuardianTemplate:'s Caroline Sullivan awarded the album three out of five stars, writing that "Love and Hole have always been about feeling rather than technique... well, a bit of technique actually creeps in, too. Technique is the only word for whatever process made certain segments of Celebrity Skin sound so confident, so smooth."<ref name=sullivan/>
Of retrospective assessments, AllMusic editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote that the album was "a glaze of shiny guitars and hazy melodies, all intended to evoke the heyday of Californian pop in the late '70s," awarding the album three and a half stars out of five.<ref name="am" /> In a piece celebrating the album's 20th anniversary, Stereogum critic Gabriela Claymore characterized it as a "polished, decadent rock [record] with something rotten at its core... Hole's most sonically accomplished album but it is not their best."<ref name=gabriela/> Tom Edwards of Drowned in Sound was more critical in a retrospective review, referring to "Awful" as "gorgeous, pure blues" and "Hit So Hard" as "the best song about love since 'Retard Girl'," but concluding that "it's a weak record full of empty music either way."<ref name="ds">Template:Cite web</ref>
Accolades
Several publications included Celebrity Skin in their year-end periodical lists, including Time, who listed the album at number nine on its Best of 1998 Music list,<ref name=timeyearend>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Spin, who listed the album at number 11 on its Top 20 Albums of the Year list,<ref name=top20/> and The Village Voice, who listed the album at number 14 in the Pazz and Jop Critics' Poll.<ref name="fix">Template:Cite magazine</ref> Los Angeles TimesTemplate:'s Robert Hillburn ranked it number five on the list of Top 10 Albums of the Year.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The 2013 [[NME's The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time|NMETemplate:'s The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time]] ranked Celebrity Skin 265th on their list.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It is also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die (2010).Template:Sfn Celebrity Skin was nominated for Best Rock Album at the 1999 Grammy Awards.<ref name="41g"/>
Commercial performance
Celebrity Skin was a commercial success, charting in various countries within a week of its release. In the United States, the album debuted at number nine on the Billboard 200 with sales of 86,000 copies in its first week.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> The album was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on October 13, 1998, and later certified platinum on December 21 for shipments in excess of one million copies.<ref name="RIAA"/> As of April 2010, it had sold 1.4 million copies in the United States.<ref name="fix" />
The album has also been certified Platinum by platinum by Music Canada (MC), peaking at number three with sales of over 100,000 copies,<ref name=CanadaCert/> and two times Platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA), peaking at number four,<ref name=ARIA/> with sales of over 140,000 copies. In the United Kingdom, it peaked at number 11 with 124,221 copies sold,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and was certified Gold by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI).<ref name=UKCert/> Additionally, the album peaked at number 15 on the Austrian Albums Chart;<ref name=austriachart/> on Switzerland's Albums Chart at number six;<ref name=switzerlandchart/> on Sweden's Albums Chart at number 10;<ref name=swedenchart/> and on the New Zealand Music Chart at number 15,<ref name=newzealandchart/> where it was also certified gold.<ref name= NZCert/>
Track listing
All lyrics written by Courtney Love.<ref name=notes/> All tracks produced by Michael Beinhorn.<ref name=notes/> Template:Track listing
Personnel
Credits adapted from the liner notes of Celebrity Skin and Hit So Hard: A Memoir.<ref name="notes" />Template:Sfn
Template:Col-begin Template:Col-2 Hole
- Courtney LoveTemplate:Spaced ndashlead vocals, rhythm guitar
- Eric ErlandsonTemplate:Spaced ndashlead guitar
- Melissa Auf der MaurTemplate:Spaced ndashbass, backing vocals
- Patty SchemelTemplate:Spaced ndashdrumsTemplate:Efn
Guest musicians
- Deen CastronovoTemplate:Spaced ndashdrums Template:Small
- Billy CorganTemplate:Spaced ndashbass Template:Small
- Craig ArmstrongTemplate:Spaced ndashstrings Template:Small
- David CampbellTemplate:Spaced ndashstrings Template:Small
Production
- Michael BeinhornTemplate:Spaced ndashproducer, programming
- Eric ErlandsonTemplate:Spaced ndashadditional producer
- Paul NorthfieldTemplate:Spaced ndashengineer Template:Small
- Rob EatonTemplate:Spaced ndashengineer Template:Small
- Joe BarresiTemplate:Spaced ndashengineer Template:Small
- Frank FilipettiTemplate:Spaced ndashengineer Template:Small
- John NelsonTemplate:Spaced ndashadditional engineer Template:Small
- Ben HoltTemplate:Spaced ndashadditional engineer
- Ann MincieliTemplate:Spaced ndashadditional engineer
- Paul WaltonTemplate:Spaced ndashadditional engineer
Template:Col-2 Technical
- Tom Lord-AlgeTemplate:Spaced ndashmixing Template:Small
- Chris Lord-AlgeTemplate:Spaced ndashmixing Template:Small
- Jack Joseph PuigTemplate:Spaced ndashmixing Template:Small
- Leo FerreraTemplate:Spaced ndashmixing assistant
- Femio HernandezTemplate:Spaced ndashmixing assistant
- Rob HoffmanTemplate:Spaced ndashmixing assistant
- Mike DyTemplate:Spaced ndashmixing assistant
- Jim ChampagneTemplate:Spaced ndashmixing assistant
- Ted JensenTemplate:Spaced ndashmastering
- Paul DeCarliTemplate:Spaced ndashprogramming
- Max RisenhowerTemplate:Spaced ndashprogramming
- Chris VrennaTemplate:Spaced ndashprogramming
- Nick FranglenTemplate:Spaced ndashprogramming
- Chris WhitemyerTemplate:Spaced ndashtechnician
Design
- Joe-Mama NitzbergTemplate:Spaced ndashart direction
- Janet WolsbornTemplate:Spaced ndashart direction
- Front cover: Guzman (Constance Hansen & Russell Peacock)
- Back cover: Ophelia Drowning by Paul Steck, 1895 Template:Small
- Maggie HallahanTemplate:Spaced ndashphotography
- Robert DawsonTemplate:Spaced ndashphotography
- Richard PrinceTemplate:Spaced ndashphotography
Charts
Template:Col-begin Template:Col-2
Weekly charts
| Chart (1998) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| European Albums (Music & Media)<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> | 16 |
| Japanese Albums (Oricon)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | 23 |
Year-end charts
| Chart (1998) | Position |
|---|---|
| Australian Albums (ARIA)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | 83 |
| Canada Top Albums/CDs (RPM)<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> | 90 |
| US Billboard 200<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> | 152 |
| Chart (1999) | Position |
|---|---|
| Australian Albums (ARIA)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | 45 |
| US Billboard 200<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> | 129 |
Certifications
Template:Certification Table Top Template:Certification Table Entry Template:Certification Table Entry Template:Certification Table Entry Template:Certification Table Entry Template:Certification Table Entry Template:Certification Table Bottom