Sweet Sixteen (Royal Trux album)

Sweet Sixteen
Studio album by
ReleasedFebruary 11, 1997
GenreRock
Length58:51
LabelVirgin[1]
Royal Trux chronology
Thank You
(1995)
Sweet Sixteen
(1997)
Singles, Live, Unreleased
(1997)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
Chicago Tribune[3]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music[4]
MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide[5]
NME4/10[6]
Rolling Stone[7]
Spin6/10[8]

Sweet Sixteen is an album by Royal Trux, released in 1997.[9][10] It is their only album not yet released as a vinyl LP. The album is the second of the band's trilogy paying homage to the music of the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s.[11]

Virgin Records was so upset with the album that it paid Royal Trux around $300,000 in order to terminate their recording contract.[12]

Critical reception

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Spin described the album as "lots of '70s dirtbag boogie, guitar noodling, and barroom jamathons."[8] Trouser Press wrote: "A compromise between the (relatively) straight-ahead rock structures of their Virgin debut and the mayhem preceding it, Sweet Sixteen still reveals moments of genius embedded in the mess of guitars, death-rattle vocals and tortured synthesizers."[13] The Chicago Reader wrote that Sweet Sixteen is "as grossly unlistenable as Twin Infinitives but lacks that album's surreal queerness, with the gruesome twosome and this year's rhythm section spitting up half-baked boogie tunes that all seem to break down."[14] Entertainment Weekly called the album "seriously warped, ’70s-style stoner rock."[15]

Track listing

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All tracks are written by Neil Hagerty and Jennifer Herrema

No.TitleLength
1."Don't Try Too Hard"4:09
2."Morphic Resident"4:50
3."The Pickup"5:24
4."Cold Joint"4:58
5."Golden Rules"4:13
6."You'll Be Staying in Room 323"4:15
7."Can't Have It Both Ways"4:39
8."10 Days 12 Nights"4:21
9."Microwave Made"4:54
10."Sweet Sixteen"4:37
11."I'm Looking Through You"4:15
12."Roswell Seeds and Stems"4:03
13."Pol Pot Pie"4:16

References

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  1. ^ "Royal Trux". Pitchfork. 24 October 2012.
  2. ^ AllMusic review
  3. ^ Kot, Greg (14 February 1997). "Royal TruxSweet Sixteen (Virgin) (star) (star)Where is..." chicagotribune.com.
  4. ^ Larkin, Colin (2006). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Vol. 7. MUZE. p. 169.
  5. ^ MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide. Visible Ink Press. 1999. p. 960.
  6. ^ "NME.COM - ROYAL TRUX - Sweet Sixteen - 26/4/1997". NME. August 17, 2000. Archived from the original on 2000-08-17.
  7. ^ "Royal Trux: Sweet Sixteen : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone". Rolling Stone. 29 January 2008. Archived from the original on 29 January 2008. Retrieved 9 July 2017.{{cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  8. ^ a b "Spins". SPIN. SPIN Media LLC. March 30, 1997 – via Google Books.
  9. ^ "Royal Trux | Biography & History". AllMusic.
  10. ^ The Rough Guide to Rock (2 ed.). Rough Guides Ltd. 1999. p. 841.
  11. ^ Kaufman, Gil. "Royal Trux Plow Through '80s On Accelerator". MTV News. Archived from the original on June 26, 2022.
  12. ^ "Rocky road to recovery". the Guardian. October 22, 2004.
  13. ^ "Royal Trux". Trouser Press. Retrieved 30 December 2020.
  14. ^ Ruttenberg, Jay (10 April 1997). "Adventures in Decomposition". Chicago Reader.
  15. ^ "Sweet Sixteen". EW.com.
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