The Living End is the debut album of the Australian punk rock band the Living End, released on 12 October 1998. It was recorded at Sing Sing Studios in Melbourne, with Lindsay Gravina producing for Modular Recordings. The cover art, as described by front man Chris Cheney, is based on a photograph of a World War I all-female bomb factory. The album reached No. 1 on the ARIA Albums Chart and remained in the top 50 for 63 weeks.
The band had achieved mainstream success with their EP, Second Solution / Prisoner of Society, released in September 1997. It peaked at No. 4 on the ARIA Singles Chart. In early 1998, the related single "Prisoner of Society" was released in the United Kingdom and, the following year, in the United States. Other charting Australian singles were "Save the Day" and "All Torn Down". The sixth album track, "Monday", is the Living End's epitaph to the 1996 Dunblane massacre.
In December 1999 the album was certified 4× platinum by Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) for shipment of 280,000 units. In October 2010 it was listed in the book, 100 Best Australian Albums. As of July 2012, it is the band's most successful album.
Background
The Living End is the first full-length album by the Australian punk/rockabilly band the Living End, which was issued on 12 October 1998. The group had formed in 1994 in Melbourne by Chris Cheney on guitar and lead vocals, and Scott Owen on double bass and backing vocals. In 1996 they were joined by Travis Demsey on drums. In September 1997 they released their third extended play, Second Solution / Prisoner of Society, which peaked at No. 4 on the ARIA Singles Chart. Early in 1998 "Prisoner of Society" was issued as a separate single in the United Kingdom and, the following year, in the United States. It peaked at No. 23 on the Billboard Alternative Songs Chart.
Their next Australian single, "Save the Day" was issued in September 1998, a month ahead of the album. It made the top 30 on the ARIA Singles Chart. The sixth album track, "Monday", is the Living End's epitaph to the 1996 Dunblane massacre. The band supported The Offspring on the latter's Americana Tour during 1999. During 1999 they issued a US-only single, "Trapped", which did not chart.
In December 1999 The Living End was certified 4× Platinum by Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) for shipment of 280,000 units. In October 2010 it was listed in the book, 100 Best Australian Albums. As of July 2012 it is the band's most commercially successful album.
Reception
Allmusic's reviewer, Stephen Thomas Erlewine, felt "they've cleverly appropriated certain rockabilly signatures – most ridiculously, the upright acoustic bass – that give their homage to the golden age of punk a bit of charm. That would be enough to elevate them above many of their contemporaries, but they happen to rock harder and write better songs than many late-'90s punkers". While Rolling Stones Noah Tarnow found the group "revives the juvie mentality of several generations of guitar slingers, blending rockabilly's greasy-haired swagger with pissed-punk vitriol".
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! scope="row"| Australian Artist Albums Chart