Land of the Free?

Pennywise released their fifth studio album Straight Ahead in June 1999.[1] Its lead single "Alien" subsequently became a hit at radio. In the early stages of writing a follow-up, the material focused on social issues, such as their friends dealing with alcoholism and drug addiction. When the band were aware of the political climate around them – namely, school shootings, police corruption, and elections – they shifted their focus on these issues. Due to each member having their own four-track recorder, they were able to show a song in a more complete state to the rest of the band. The band would then work on the songs together; while producer Joe Barresi wasn't present for the majority of the writing sessions, he showed up on a few occasions to aid in the arrangements of two songs.[2]

Pennywise began recording their next album on February 3, 2001, at Stall #2 in Redondo Beach, California.[3][4] Barresi and the band co-produced the proceedings, with assistantance from engineer Andrew Busher. Chad Bamford, Billy Bowers, and Darian Rundal later performed digital editing.[4] Working with Barresi, the band wanted to create an album that was "more professional and just big", according to guitarist Fletcher Dragge. He added that Barresi pushed the band to "work harder and took our sound a little farther", however, as the band "don’t really listen to anybody," this resulted in some tension between the band and Barresi.[2]

Throughout the sessions, the band released audio interviews with each band member, and posted a potential track list for the album, which consisted of 17 songs. They held a contest where the winners, along with friends of theirs, could sing backing vocals for three of the songs. On April 6, the band announced that recording was finished, and that they were in the process of mixing.[5] The recordings were mixed at Sol Seven Recording in Sherman Oaks, California, with assistant mix engineer Jeff Thomas. Gene Grimaldi mastered the recordings at Oasis Mastering in Studio City, California.[4]

Musically, the sound of Land of the Free? has been described as punk rock.[6] All of the songs were written by Pennywise, except for "Who's on Your Side", which was written between the band and Epitaph Records founder Brett Gurewitz.[4] Vocalist Jim Lindberg called the album a "soundtrack for political activists all over the world".[7] Dragge's lead parts evoked the sound of Ignite guitarist Joe D. Foster.[8]

The opening track "Time Marches On" starts with the ringing of sirens in the distant and helicopter blades.[9] The title-track "Land of the Free?" harkened back to the band's earlier material, and was the first song written for the album.[2][10] Discussing the song, Dragge said: "It was land of the free, yeah right, how free are we? How free are we when you can’t even vote for a President and have that work out like it should?"[2] The band wrote "Fuck Authority" in protest of government corruption.[11] The verses of "My God" are about people blindly following whatever their religion tells them, while the chorus tackles self-belief and being unable to handle sin.[7] "WTO" refers to the WTO protests at occurred in Seattle, Washington.[12]

On April 30, 2001, "Time Marches On", alongside an EPK, was made available for download through Pennywise's website. "Fuck Authority" was released to radio stations on May 10. "The World" was posted on the band's website on May 22.[13] For the rest of May, the band embarked on a European tour, which ran into June.[14] Land of the Free? was released on June 19, 2001, through Epitaph Records; its cover artwork shows several police officers dressed in riot gear.[12][15] Between June and August, the group performed on the Warped Tour.[16] "Fuck Authority" was banned from airplay after the September 11 attacks.[17] In addition to this, the band's midwestern tour was canceled. On November 18, the music video for "My God" was posted on the band's website.[18] The midwest tour was rescheduled for January 2002.[19] In March and April, the band toured Australia as part of Warped Tour, before playing a few shows in Japan.[20]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[21]
Drowned in Sound	9/10[7]
Exclaim!	Favorable[22]
Metal.de	8/10[6]
NME	Favorable[9]
Ox-Fanzine	Favorable[23]
Punknews.org	[10]
Robert Christgau	[24]
Rock Hard	9/10[8]

Land of the Free? has received positive reviews. The AllMusic review by Jo-Ann Greene awards the album 4.5 stars and states: "Pennywise themselves are calling Land of the Free? 'a wake-up call,' aimed at the slumbering masses of America — an attempt to shake people out of their lethargy, and prod them into thinking about the world."[21]

Land of the Free? sold 25,000 copies in its first week of release.[25]

All songs written by Pennywise, except "Who's on Your Side", written by Pennywise and Brett Gurewitz.[4]

Personnel per booklet.[4]

Citations

Sources

• Land of the Free? at YouTube (streamed copy where licensed)