So Much for the Afterglow is the third studio album by American alternative rock band Everclear, released on October 7, 1997, through Capitol Records. It contained the singles "Everything to Everyone", "I Will Buy You a New Life", "Father of Mine", "So Much for the Afterglow", and "One Hit Wonder". "Everything to Everyone", "I Will Buy You A New Life", and "Father of Mine" received heavy rotation on MTV's Total Request Live and launched Everclear into mainstream popularity in the late-90s. So Much for the Afterglow provided Everclear with their only Grammy nomination to date, a Best Rock Instrumental nod in 1998 for "El Distorto de Melodica." The album is considered a departure from the band's earlier punk rock and grunge sound for a more pop-oriented sound. It stayed on the chart for 88 weeks, and was certified 2× Platinum by the RIAA in 1998. It remains Everclear's best selling album, having sold 2.2 million copies in the United States by July 2004.
Production
It was originally going to be called Pure White Evil, however, the title was changed to So Much for the Afterglow in March 1997.
Early on, singer Art Alexakis wanted to create "a combination of even heavier songs, more punk songs, and then kind of more melodic stuff." Regarding the recording process, Greg Eklund reflected, "We rented a room in a warehouse, oddly enough by Esco Steel, where I used to work, in Northwest Portland. We were literally around the corner from where I used to work in a steel foundry. I don't know how we found it, but it was in a really dilapidated warehouse down there. And Craig got, like, shingles and some weird flu that put him in the hospital or something. So I remember when we started working on Art's new songs it was just him and me."
Promotion
Following a run of shows in the US during late 1997, Everclear had a troubled tour of Australia, which saw the band temporarily break up, with bassist Craig Montoya eventually leaving the tour. Eklund also elaborated, "That's complete bullshit. That's a retelling of what happened. I love Australia, too. It's one of my favorite places in the world. That's not what happened."
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| rev3 = Entertainment Weekly
| rev3score = C+
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| rev6 = Pitchfork
| rev6score = 8.2/10
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| rev8 = The Rolling Stone Album Guide
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| rev9 = Spin
| rev9score = 8/10
| rev10 = The Village Voice
| rev10score = B+
So Much for the Afterglow received a mostly positive reaction from critics. The Orlando Sentinel observed in their review that, "It almost seems that Everclear is writing a soundtrack for their lives by singing about the 'girl next door', poverty, egotistical snobs and a father who abandons his family. Though Everclear does tackle some depressing subjects, their songs don't become Pearl Jam-like depress-fests because of the band's positive outlook and upbeat music." Spin claimed the album explored "oddly grown-up topics for alt-rock", also noting similarities with the band's previous work, stating "On Sparkle and Fade, the centerpieces 'Santa Monica' and 'Summerland' deal expressly with escaping to begin a new life in a new place, west of here, beside the ocean if at all possible. Now in 'Amphetamine', Miss Perfect-in-a-Fucked-Up-Way comes 'out West to find the sun'". In 2017, The Dallas Morning News included So Much for the Afterglow in an article titled "Flash back to 1997: 5 albums that were as good 20 years ago as they are today", noting that it took the band from "one-hit wonder to modern rock headliner."
Everclear toured the US and Australia in 2017 to celebrate the album's 20th anniversary.
Track listing
Personnel
;Band
- Art Alexakis - banjo, guitar, mandolin, piano, steel guitar, keyboards, vocals, producer, vocal arrangement, horn arrangements, string arrangements, cover art concept, cover design, toy piano, Moog
- Greg Eklund - percussion, drums, keyboards, vocals, assistant producer, slide whistle
- Craig Montoya - mandolin, bass guitar, keyboards, sound effects, vocals, assistant producer
;Additional musicians
- Paul Cantelon - violin
- Derron Nuhfer - saxophone
- Buddy Schaub - trombone
- Gerri Sutyak - cello
- Rami Jaffee - Vox organ
;Production
- Neal Avron - trumpet, producer, engineer, vocal arrangement, horn arrangements, mixing
- Tom Banghart - assistant engineer
- Mike Baumgartner - assistant engineer
- Steven Birch - coordination, art direction, design, cover art concept, cover design
- Ian Blanch - mixing assistant
- Nick Brophy - assistant engineer
- Lars Fox - sampling, loops, assistant producer
- Dave Friedlander - assistant engineer
- Krista Gaylor - photography
- Bill Jackson - assistant engineer
- Bob Ludwig - mastering
- Frank Ockenfels - photography, cover art
- Ronnie Rivera - assistant engineer
- Jim Rondinelli - engineer, string arrangements, assistant producer
- Kenneth A. Van Druten - assistant engineer
- Andy Wallace - mixing
- Perry Watts-Russell - Executive producer
- Joe Zook - editing, editing assistant, transfer assistant
Charts
Weekly charts
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
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! scope="col"| Chart (1997–1998)
! scope="col"| Peak<br />position
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Year-end charts
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
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! scope="col"| Chart (1998)
! scope="col"| Position
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! scope="row"| US Billboard 200
| 74
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! scope="col"| Chart (1999)
! scope="col"| Position
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! scope="row"| US Billboard 200
| 112
|}