The Outsiders (Eric Church album)
The Outsiders is the fourth studio album by American country music artist Eric Church. It was released on February 11, 2014, via EMI Nashville. Like all of his previous albums, it is produced by Jay Joyce.[1] It was before the release that Church received media attention for saying "I think genres are dead."[2]
The Outsiders
Two singles were released prior to the album's release: the title track and "Give Me Back My Hometown". Both were met with positive reviews from critics, and charted in the top 10 Hot Country Songs chart. The latter also reached number one on the Billboard Country Airplay chart, becoming his fourth chart-topping single. The album's third single, "Cold One", was released in June 2014 and was a top 20 hit. The fourth single, "Talladega", was released to country radio on September 15, 2014, and became Church's fourth No. 1 hit.[3] The fifth single, "Like a Wrecking Ball", was released to country radio on March 9, 2015.
The album received critical acclaim, and debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and Top Country Albums chart, with sales of 288,000 in its first week of release.[4] It was the best-selling country album of 2014 in the United States.[5]
Background[edit]
In regard to the album's sound and genre, Church emphasized that he does not define his music by genre, calling it an "outdated concept." He goes further to say "I think the interesting thing is that there still are a bunch of stigmas about what this is or what that is. But I think the stigmas go away in the next 10 years, if they're not already going away now. I don't know what that means, I really don't."[6] According to CMT, Church goes further to say "I think genres are dead. There's good music. There's bad music. And I think the cool thing about Nashville is it is at the epicenter of that kind of thinking. I'm a country music artist in Nashville, but Nashville is way, way, way bigger than country music."[2]
After the release of the album, Church urged fans not to shuffle the song list on their playlists, saying "Anybody puts it on shuffle, I”ll come kill them myself. It’s made to be listened to start to finish. You start with 'The Outsiders,' you end with 'The Joint.' There’s two songs on the album, 'That’s Damn Rock & Roll' and 'Talladega.' I love ‘em both, but I don’t love ‘em near as much by themselves as I do in the sequence. The space they get from the songs around them, and the space they give the songs around them, makes me love those songs more. If you take them out, mix them all up — totally different album, it’s a totally different journey. It’s one of the only albums I can think of that I really believe that, if you put it on shuffle, you’re going to have an entirely different experience than if you listen to it the way it’s presented. I don’t know that people do that any more, but it’s meant to be listened to that way."[7]
Commercial performance[edit]
The album sold 288,000 copies in the US during its first week of release, charting at number one on both the Billboard 200 and the Top Country Albums chart. It was Church's second #1 album, and the biggest selling debut-week for a country album since Luke Bryan's Crash My Party.[4] In its second week, the album fell to number two, selling 74,000.[27] The album was certified Gold by the RIAA on July 17, 2014.[28] It became the best-selling country album of 2014 in the US,[5] as well as the tenth best-selling album overall of 2014 in the US with 811,000 copies sold for the year.[29] Sales of the album reached a million in July 2015,[30][31] and has sold 1,240,200 copies in the US as of April 2017.[32] It was certified double Platinum by the RIAA on April 29, 2019 for two million units in sales and streams.[33]
The album also charted at number one on the Canadian Albums Chart, selling 18,000 copies in its first week.[34]
The album also reached number 38 in the mid-week official UK Albums Chart before officially charting at number 70 in the UK and number 70 in Scotland, becoming Church's first appearance on these charts.