Pump Up the Valuum

Pump Up the Valuum is the eighth studio album by the American punk rock band NOFX. It was released on June 13, 2000, on Epitaph Records, their last through the company.

Pump Up the Valuum
Studio album by
NOFX
ReleasedJune 13, 2000
Recorded1999-2000, Motor Studios, San Francisco, USA
GenrePop punk, skate punk
Length31:35
LabelEpitaph
ProducerRyan Greene, Fat Mike
NOFX chronology
The Decline
(1999)		 Pump Up the Valuum
(2000)		 Surfer
(2001)

Production

The album's title deliberately misspells the trademark "Valium" to avoid a lawsuit, similar to the one The Melvins faced for their album Lysol. This is explained in the 45 Or 46 Songs... album booklet.

The initial song, "And Now for Something Completely Similar," is a parody of the famous saying "And Now for Something Completely Different" from Monty Python skits. As a prank, the intro sounds very similar to "Linoleum" from the band's 1994 album Punk in Drublic, right down to El Hefe warming up his voice[1] before the song begins, while the solo bass part echoes Shadows of Defeat from Good Riddance. Both similarities are addressed in the song's lyrics.

The song "Dinosaurs Will Die" features a part of the intro skit from The F.U.'s song "Civil Defense" off the album 'Kill For Christ'. The words which are spoken during this intro ("This is not a test of the emergency broadcast system") also appear in the Bad Religion song "Los Angeles Is Burning", on their 2004 album "The Empire Strikes First".

All of the vinyl copies of this record were colored blue.[2]

According to Fat Mike, "...the title track 'Pump Up the Valuum' got cut from the album. That's weird. We gave it to Epitaph for Punk O Rama 5."[3] Three other songs were mentioned in the Pump Up the Valuum booklet as songs that didn't make it to this record, but that will be in upcoming ones:

  1. Medio-core (later in The War on Errorism, 2003)
  2. Insulted By Germans (later in 7" of the Month #1, 2005, and Wolves In Wolves' Clothing, 2006)
  3. One Way Ticket to Fuckneckville (later in Aggropop Now 2003, The War on Errorism, and 7" of the Month #7, 2005)

Other outtakes include "Pods and Gods", "Lower", "Bath of Least Resistance", "San Francisco Fat", and "Pump Up the Valium"..

Critical reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[4]
North County TimesB+[5]
Ox-FanzineFavorable[6]
Punknews.org[7]
Rock Hard (de)9/10[8]

In 2005, Pump Up the Valuum was ranked number 331 in Rock Hard magazine's book of The 500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time.[9] The album was included at number 17 on Rock Sound's "The 51 Most Essential Pop Punk Albums of All Time" list.[10]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Fat Mike.

No.TitleLength
1."And Now for Something Completely Similar"0:58
2."Take Two Placebos and Call Me Lame"2:25
3."What's the Matter With Parents Today?"1:58
4."Dinosaurs Will Die"2:58
5."Thank God It's Monday"1:39
6."Clams Have Feelings Too (Actually They Don't)"2:32
7."Louise"1:49
8."Stranger Than Fishin'"1:05
9."Pharmacist's Daughter"1:58
10."Bottles to the Ground"2:20
11."Total Bummer"2:13
12."My Vagina"2:36
13."Herojuana"2:46
14."Theme From a NOFX Album"4:18
Total length:31:35

Personnel

Charts
Year Chart Position
2000 The Billboard 200 61
2000 Top Independent Albums 48
2000 German Album Charts[11] 64

References
Citations
  1. NOFX - Official Website Q&A
  2. Pump Up The Valuum - NOFX Wiki
  3. Epitaph Records: NOFX - Pump Up The Valuum Archived 2007-10-22 at the Wayback Machine
  4. Allmusic review
  5. Rubin, Stephen (July 7–13, 2000). "Music". North County Times. Archived from the original on December 17, 2000. Retrieved October 14, 2020.
  6. Flame, Randy (June–August 2000). "Reviews: NOFX / Pump Up The Valuum CD/LP". Ox-Fanzine (in German). Retrieved May 26, 2019.
  7. Punknews.org review
  8. Rensen, Michael. "Rock Hard review". issue 158. Retrieved 27 May 2013.
  9. [...], Rock Hard (Hrsg.). [Red.: Michael Rensen. Mitarb.: Götz Kühnemund] (2005). Best of Rock & Metal die 500 stärksten Scheiben aller Zeiten. Königswinter: Heel. p. 78. ISBN 3-89880-517-4.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  10. Bird, ed. 2014, p. 72
  11. "charts.de". Retrieved 27 May 2013.
Sources
  • Bird, Ryan, ed. (September 2014). "The 51 Most Essential Pop Punk Albums of All Time". Rock Sound. London: Freeway Press Inc. (191). ISSN 1465-0185.
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