Rockin' the Suburbs is the debut studio album by American singer-songwriter Ben Folds released on September 11, 2001, after Folds disbanded his group Ben Folds Five. Rockin' the Suburbs was recorded in Adelaide, Australia, where Folds was living at the time. He performed most of the instruments and vocals. Two singles from the album were released, "Rockin' the Suburbs", and "Still Fighting It".
Track listing
Track notes
According to Folds, "Not the Same" is based on a true story of a person he knew who, under the influence of LSD, climbed a tree at a party hosted by Darren Jessee (not Robert Sledge, as the song states), stayed in the tree overnight, and when he came down the next morning was a born-again Christian. Folds used Sledge's name instead of Jessee's in the lyrics because he thought "it sounded better".
Folds performed "Gone" with Street Corner Symphony on the finale of Season 2 of The Sing-Off and performed "Not the Same" with the Dartmouth Aires on the finale of Season 3.
"Still Fighting It" is a bittersweet ode to the pain of adolescence dedicated to his son Louis. He later wrote an accompanying song for his daughter Gracie, which he named after her and included on his 2005 album Songs for Silverman. During live performances, he frequently plays the two songs together.
"Rockin' the Suburbs" parodies the nu metal style of Korn and Rage Against the Machine. Folds stated of the song "I am taking the piss out of the whole scene, especially the followers."
- Ben Folds – piano, vocals, keyboards, guitars, bass guitar, drums
- Richard Fortus – additional guitar <small>(tracks 3, 10)</small>
- Larry Corbett – cello <small>(track 5)</small>
- DJ Swamp – additional beats <small>(track 10)</small>
- Frally Hynes – additional vocals <small>(track 4)</small>
- John McCrea – additional vocals <small>(track 5)</small>
- John Mark Painter – strings conductor and arranger
Production
- Producers: Ben Folds, Ben Grosse
- Recording: Ben Grosse, Andrew R. Wallace
- Mixing: Ben Grosse
- Additional Engineers: Blumpy, Cameron Webb
- Assistant Engineers: Rick Behrens, Aaron Lepley, Chuck Bailey, Justin Pynes, Uly Noriega, Dale Lawtone
- Programming: Ben Grosse, Andrew R. Wallace, Blumpy, Cameron Webb, John Vitale
- Programming Engineer: Andrew R. Wallace
- Mastering: Ted Jensen
Legacy
"Rockin' the Suburbs" is Folds' only single to make Billboards Modern Rock Tracks chart, peaking there at number 28 in September 2001. The album peaked at number 42 on the Billboard 200 chart, and at number 11 on the Top Internet Albums chart. A remake of the title track featuring William Shatner appeared in the soundtrack for the 2006 film Over the Hedge, which stars Shatner as an opossum named Ozzie.
Charts
Album
{|class="wikitable"
|-
! Year
! Chart
! Position
|-
| 2001
| The Billboard 200
| 42
|-
| 2001
| Top Internet Albums
| 11
|}
Singles
{|class="wikitable"
|-
! Year
! Single
! Chart
! Position
|-
| 2001
| "Rockin' the Suburbs"
| Modern Rock Tracks
| 28
|}