Dysfunction (album)

Staind self-released its debut album Tormented in 1996. On October 23, 1997, Staind met Limp Bizkit vocalist Fred Durst at the Webster Theater in Hartford, Connecticut. Staind showed Durst a copy of Tormented and Durst was appalled by the album cover, which depicts a bloody Barbie doll on a crucifix with nails hanging from a plastic frame, a buried person with a rosary protruding from the person's nose, and a knife impaling a Bible.[1] Durst assumed the band were Theistic Satanists.[1]

Despite initially trying to remove Staind from opening for Limp Bizkit due to the album cover of Tormented, Fred Durst was impressed with Staind's performance and changed his mind. After hearing their four-song demo, Durst signed Staind to Flip/Elektra to record the band's album Dysfunction. Durst and Staind then traveled to Jacksonville, Florida to begin developing and recording new songs,[2] and after a meeting with Flip, Staind recorded a three-track sampler in Los Angeles, California. By February 1998, they acquired a record contract and, after performing on the summer Warped Tour, began recording Dysfunction in December 1998.[3] Dysfunction was recorded at Studio Litho and mixed at Studio X in Seattle, Washington.[4] Durst introduced Staind to Terry Date. Date said that after hearing the singing voice of Staind lead singer Aaron Lewis, he instantly thought Lewis' "voice was pretty undeniable."[2] While Durst did most of Dysfunction's preproduction work, "Date said his only challenge was to capture the explosive live feel of the band and help bring out both their melodic and hard sensibilities."[2] After working with Durst in Jacksonville, Staind moved back to their hometown Springfield, Massachusetts to write songs like "Me", "Just Go", "Home", and some other songs from Dysfunction.[5]

Staind's vocalist, Aaron Lewis, has stated he feels that, "Dysfunction was a huge step away from Tormented."[7] Guitarist Mike Mushok expressed frustration in how label personnel were in no way intrusive on the production of Dysfunction, but after it sold over a million copies, the band would be relentlessly hassled during the production of future albums.[8] Considered nu metal[9][10] and alternative metal,[11] Dysfunction is known for featuring both singing and screaming.[11][12] The album is also known for featuring songs with slow parts that then turn into aggressive parts with screaming.[12] The album's lyrics are noted for being either angry or depressing.[11][12] Gil Kaufman of MTV wrote that the album "doesn't share the heavy hip-hop influence of the band's new pals. Staind's aggressive sound mixes the industrial crunch of Tool with the morose, heavy rock of Seattle grunge-rockers Alice in Chains."[2] CMJ New Music Report compared Dysfunction to Deftones' Adrenaline, Spineshank, Nothingface's Pacifier, Coal Chamber, and "Korn's non-hip-hop moments.[9] Lewis said of Dysfunction's lyrics: "All the lyrics are about me," Lewis said. "That's why it's called Dysfunction. It's just a list of all the fucked-up shit I've gone through in life."[2] Although Dysfunction features some screaming in some songs, the album features less screaming than Tormented, and is a lot more melodic than Tormented. Durst encouraged Lewis to use more melody in his voice after being impressed by Lewis' singing voice.[5] After describing Tormented as "one long rush of hardcore brat-rage, a 900mph scream of a man smashing his head against a wall in frustration", Tommy Udo wrote in his book Brave Nu World: "1999's Dysfunction is the sound of a band trying to get to grips wuth all the anger and shape something else that will reach beyond the hard core of devotees; not 'selling out' or 'going commercial', just making it bearable."[13]

Staind released three singles for the album: "Just Go", "Mudshovel", and "Home". Elektra Records promoted Staind in 1998. Dane Venable of Elektra said: "Before we started with radio, we tried to develop a fan presence through a street-awareness campaign." In 1998, Elektra began "with 20,000 Staind sampler cassettes, stickers, and a letter from Fred Durst endorsing the band, and that letter went out to the entire Limp Bizkit fan club list."[14] To promote Dysfunction, Staind joined the Family Values Tour in 1999[14] and also opened for Limp Bizkit.[2] The songs "Just Go", "Mudshovel", and "Home" received airplay on MTV and The Box. HBO's Reverb filmed Staind in 1999 for an episode that was scheduled to air in November 1999.[14] Staind joined Korn for Korn's Sick and Twisted Tour in 2000 and Staind also joined MTV's Return of the Rock tour.[15] Staind began to receive significantly more attention with the mainstream success of the song "Outside" in early 2001. An acoustic version of the song featuring Durst peaked at number 56 on the Billboard Hot 100 on March 10, 2001, remaining on the chart for 19 weeks.[16] In March, this version also peaked at number 1 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart and stayed on the chart for 26 weeks[17] and peaked at number 2 on the Alternative Songs chart and remained on the chart for 25 weeks.[18]

All lyrics are written by Aaron Lewis[4]; all music is composed by Staind[4].

• On digital editions of the album, the hidden track “Excess Baggage” is separated from “Spleen” as its own track.

• On the limited edition of the album, “Crawl” is moved to track 9, and “Spleen” is moved to track 10.

Adapted from the album's liner notes.[4]

• A demo of the song "Spleen", recorded in October 1997, had earlier appeared on the compilation Up The Dosage by Wonderdrug Records.[34]
• An original version of "Mudshovel" appears on Staind's debut album Tormented as "Mudshuvel". This version features a heavier sound with less melody and also features screaming, whereas the Dysfunction version has an absence of screaming.[35]