Brothers (The Black Keys album)
Brothers is the sixth studio album by American rock duo The Black Keys.[1] Co-produced by the group, Mark Neill, and Danger Mouse, it was released on May 18, 2010, on Nonesuch Records. Brothers was the band's commercial breakthrough, as it sold over 73,000 copies in the United States in its first week and peaked at number three on the Billboard 200, their best performance on the chart to that point.
Brothers
May 18, 2010
2009
- Muscle Shoals (Sheffield, Ala.)
- The Bunker on Apple (Portland, Ore.)
- home studio (Akron, Ohio)
- Soil of the South (San Diego, Calif.)
55:29
- The Black Keys
- Danger Mouse
- Mark Neill
The album's lead single, "Tighten Up", the only track from the album produced by Danger Mouse, became their most successful single to that point, spending 10 weeks at number one on the Alternative Songs chart and becoming the group's first single on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number 87 and was later certified gold. The second single, "Howlin' for You", went gold as well.[2] In April 2012, the album was certified platinum in the US by the RIAA for shipping over one million copies.[3] It also went double-platinum in Canada and gold in the UK.[2] In 2011, it won three Grammy Awards, including honors for Best Alternative Music Album.[4]
Background[edit]
Tensions had grown within the band by 2009, and the two embarked on side projects. Guitarist/vocalist Dan Auerbach was introduced to engineer Mark Neill through friend Liam Watson, and with his assistance built his own analogue studio (later named Easy Eye Sound System) at his home in Akron, Ohio; in late 2007, the two convened in Neill's La Mesa, California, home to record.[5] The sessions became Auerbach's solo debut Keep It Hid, which was released in February 2009 on Nonesuch Records to positive reviews.[6] Drummer Patrick Carney, who had not been informed of Auerbach's solo plans, was livid: "Everybody knew but me. I was mad at Dan. I was mad at our manager. I was mad at everybody."[6][7] Carney was afraid Auerbach had moved on and was on the verge of quitting the band; the two hardly spoke for several months and another Black Keys recording was uncertain.[6] Auerbach, who had played Carney the recordings but failed to mention it would see release, found it increasingly difficult to communicate with the drummer due to his antipathy for Carney's then-wife, Denise Grollmus. Auerbach said, "I really hated her from the start and didn't want anything to do with her."[8]
Carney realized his anger was misdirected as he was coming off a rough divorce. He and Grollmus were married for two years, but together for nine.[6] According to the drummer, his ex-wife slept with his best friend, lied to him for several years and bilked him for money.[6] By the end of the relationship, Carney was depressed, drinking heavily, and had gained 25 pounds.[6] "Homeboy was miserable," Auerbach said of his bandmate "He was being manipulated mentally and emotionally."[6] Carney eventually broke off the relationship with a phone call while his wife was in Europe.[6] Eventually, Auerbach and Carney met to discuss how important the band was to both of them. "Then we hugged and made up and it's been all good ever since," said Auerbach.[6] The duo soon met at Neill's La Mesa home and got to work on several ideas, notably recording "These Days", which would ultimately become the closing track on Brothers. Things moved carefully in La Mesa when conversations shifted to Neill's old studio in Georgia. The three began discussing heading down South to complete the bulk of the album in a historic old studio.[5] Sun Studio and Phillips Recording in Memphis, as well as Robin Hood Studios in Tyler, Texas, were contenders, and the band even considered an old VFW hall in Neill's home town of Valdosta. The band desired, most of all, to get out of town and have the tracks imbued with a Southern kind of atmosphere. Logistical problems immediately surfaced with both Sun and Phillips, and Auerbach suggested Muscle Shoals Sound Studio.[5]
Muscle Shoals, located in northwestern Alabama, opened in April 1969 and hosted several legendary acts, most famously The Rolling Stones and Paul Simon, before it moved from its original location on Jackson Highway in 1978 to a larger, more modern facility.[9] The studio was closed in 2005 and had not seen recording in nearly 30 years, most recently having operated as a poorly maintained museum.[5] The studio was on a short list of legendary venues where Auerbach had always wanted to record.[9] Neill contacted Noel Webster, the musician and entrepreneur responsible for refurbishing the old studio, who cut the band a "good day rate, albeit with the clear understanding that we were getting nothing but an empty building with a bathroom, and yes, air conditioning. So we knew right from the start that we really would be trucking in our own equipment."[5]
Promotion[edit]
The album's first single was "Tighten Up", which became The Black Keys' most successful single to that point, being the group's first song to chart on and reach number one on the Alternative Songs and Rock Songs charts.[11] Mark C. Horn of Buzzbin Magazine described the song: "The song intros with the distinct whistling from Ennio Morricone's The Good, The Bad and The Ugly composition, backed up by Carney's monster thump drumming and Auerbach's soulful vocal offerings." Famed producer Danger Mouse, who produced Attack and Release, produced the song, which was recorded at Brooklyn's Bunker Studios."[12]
As the label asked director Chris Marrs Piliero to do a placeholder video for "Tighten Up" as a teaser for the album, he made a low-budget video for the song, released in April 2010, with The Black Keys alongside a dinosaur puppet named Frank. Later that month, another Piliero teaser video was released, with Frank singing "Next Girl" alongside bikini-clad models.[13] The official "Tighten Up" video, directed by Piliero, was released on May 18, 2010.[14][15]
An official video for the song "Howlin' for You" was released on February 10, 2011.[16] Directed by Chris Marrs Piliero,[17] the video parodied action movie trailers and starred Tricia Helfer, Diora Baird, Sean Patrick Flanery, Christian Serratos, Corbin Bernsen, Todd Bridges, and Shaun White.[16][18] It was nominated for the 2011 MTV Video Music Award for Best Rock Video.[19]
The band appeared as the musical guest on the American sketch comedy television show Saturday Night Live on January 8, 2011, performing "Howlin for You" and "Tighten Up".[20]
The third season finale of Luther used the song "Never Gonna Give You Up" as an outro song.[21]