Dysfunction is the second studio album by American rock band Staind, released on April 13, 1999, by Flip Records and Elektra Records. It is the band's first studio album released on a record label.
Staind self-released their debut album Tormented in 1996. On October 23, 1997, the band met Limp Bizkit vocalist Fred Durst. Durst was initially appalled by Tormented graphic artwork, and refused to sign Staind, but changed his mind after being impressed with the band's performance. Durst signed the band to Flip/Elektra and helped the band record Dysfunction. Staind promoted Dysfunction through touring and sampler cassettes.
Continuing, but expanding on, the dark alternative metal and nu metal sound displayed on Tormented, Dysfunction features a varied increase of singing and screaming, emotionally vulnerable lyrics inspired by singer Aaron Lewis' life, with a noticeable increase of melodic sections. Although still similar to Tormented in tone, Dysfunction is more melodic, has an absence of lo-fi production, and, despite prominent
moments of screaming, features more clean singing than Tormented. Critics compared Dysfunction to various bands, including Korn, Coal Chamber, Spineshank, Nothingface, Deftones, Tool, and Alice in Chains.
Dysfunction received mostly mixed reviews upon release; some critics praising Lewis' vocals and lyrics, as well as Murshok's guitar playing, while some criticized the album for being repetitive in terms of song structure. Despite little success upon release, the album grew into mainstream popularity at the end of 1999 with the success of the singles "Just Go", "Mudshovel" and "Home", eventually peaking at number 74 on the Billboard 200 chart in November of that year. After the release of Staind's next album Break the Cycle (2001), Dysfunction experienced a resurgence in popularity and reached number 1 on Billboard Top Pop Catalog Albums chart. In February 2004, the album was certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), signifying the shipment of two million copies in the United States.
Background and recording
Staind self-released its debut album Tormented in 1996. On October 23, 1997, Staind met Limp Bizkit vocalist Fred Durst at the Webster Theater in Hartford, Connecticut. Staind showed Durst a copy of Tormented and Durst was appalled by the album cover, which depicts a bloody Barbie doll on a crucifix with nails hanging from a plastic frame, a buried person with a rosary protruding from the person's nose, and a knife impaling a Bible. Durst assumed the band were Theistic Satanists. Dysfunction was recorded at Studio Litho and mixed at Studio X in Seattle, Washington. Durst introduced Staind to Terry Date. Date said that after hearing the singing voice of Staind lead singer Aaron Lewis, he instantly thought Lewis's "voice was pretty undeniable." |width = 25%|align = right
Staind's vocalist, Aaron Lewis, has stated he feels that, "Dysfunction was a huge step away from Tormented." Guitarist Mike Mushok expressed frustration in how label personnel were in no way intrusive on the production of Dysfunction, but after it sold over a million copies, the band would be relentlessly hassled during the production of future albums. Considered nu metal Gil Kaufman of MTV wrote that the album "doesn't share the heavy influence of the band's new pals. Staind's aggressive sound mixes the industrial crunch of Tool with the morose, heavy rock of Seattle grunge-rockers Alice in Chains." CMJ New Music Report compared Dysfunction to Deftones' Adrenaline, Spineshank, Nothingface's Pacifier, Coal Chamber, and "Korn's moments". Lewis said of Dysfunction lyrics: "All the lyrics are about me," Lewis said. "That's why it's called Dysfunction. It's just a list of all the fucked-up shit I've gone through in life." Staind joined Korn for Korn's Sick and Twisted Tour in 2000 and Staind also joined MTV's Return of the Rock tour. Staind began to receive significantly more attention with the mainstream success of the song "Outside" in early 2001. An acoustic version of the song featuring Durst peaked at number 56 on the Billboard Hot 100 on March 10, 2001, remaining on the chart for 19 weeks. In March, this version also peaked at number 1 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart and stayed on the chart for 26 weeks and peaked at number 2 on the Alternative Songs chart and remained on the chart for 25 weeks.
Reception
Critical reception
Dysfunction received mostly mixed reviews. CMJ New Music Report gave the album a positive review and wrote: "Generally, Lewis's plaintive, melodic and often beautiful crooning is pierced by spine-weakening guitar licks, making Staind a stand-out in the 'new metal' domain." Orlando Weekly described the album as "an impressive start" and acclaimed the album but criticized the song "Crawl" for the song's "annoying guitar riff", calling "Crawl" "the only short stick on the disc."
Commercial performance
Dysfunction achieved a limited amount of success at first, selling only 29,000 copies and debuting at number 173 on the Billboard 200. The album then peaked at number 74 on the chart on November 6, 1999, and was on the chart for 56 weeks. In July 1999, Elektra Records reported that Dysfunction had sold 75,000 copies. Although Dysfunction failed to achieve immediate success, the album began to achieve success months after its release. The album was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on November 5, 1999 with sales of over 500,000 copies reported in January 2000. Dysfunction was certified platinum by the RIAA on June 14, 2000 with sales of 1,126,000 copies reported in June 2001. Due to the mainstream success of Staind's third album Break the Cycle in 2001, Dysfunction peaked at number 1 on the Catalog Albums chart on May 5, 2001, being on the chart for 24 weeks. Dysfunction was certified double platinum by the RIAA on February 26, 2004. The singles for Dysfunction received a lot of radio play on rock radio. "Mudshovel" peaked at number 10 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart and stayed there for 28 weeks whereas "Home" peaked at number 11 on the same chart and remained there for 26 weeks. Dysfunction was ranked number 174 on Billboard 2000 year-end chart for Billboard 200 albums.
Track listing
All lyrics are written by Aaron Lewis; all music is composed by Staind.
| title8 = Bring the Noise
| note8 = Public Enemy cover; featuring Fred Durst and DJ Lethal
| length8 = 3:51
| title9 = Crawl
| length9 = 4:29
| title10 = Spleen
| note10 = <small>"Spleen" ends at 4:38. Following 11:45 of silence is a hidden track titled "Excess Baggage".</small>
| length10 = 21:01
| total_length = 59:59
- For unknown reasons, "Bring the Noise" ended up not being included on regular releases of the album, although it can be found as a bonus track on the Japanese release.
- On Japanese versions of the album, the hidden track "Excess Baggage" is moved after "Bring the Noise".
Personnel
Adapted from the album's liner notes.
| 174
|}
Certifications
Other appearances
- A demo of the song "Spleen", recorded in October 1997, had earlier appeared on the compilation Up The Dosage by Wonderdrug Records.
- An original version of "Mudshovel" appears on Staind's debut album Tormented as "Mudshuvel". This version features a heavier sound with less melody and also features screaming, whereas the Dysfunction version has an absence of screaming.