Wisconsin Death Trip is the debut studio album by American industrial metal band Static-X, released on March 23, 1999, by Warner Bros. Records. The band was formed after lead singer Wayne Static and drummer Ken Jay met at a Virgin Records store in Chicago. After being introduced by the Smashing Pumpkins lead singer Billy Corgan, the two decided to head out west to California to enlist a lead guitarist and bassist. Once in California, Tony Campos joined as bassist, and not long after, Koichi Fukuda joined as guitarist (replacing original guitarist Emerson Swinford). Warner Bros. Records discovered the band in California and signed them in February 1998.
Wisconsin Death Trip peaked at number 107 on the US Billboard 200 and number one on the Top Heatseekers chart, and was certified platinum by the RIAA in 2001. The band wanted very "machine-like" sounding drums, but without the use of a drum machine: instead, they built their own triggering system from pieces of plywood and piezo microphones to record the kick, snare and toms into Opcode Vision. The cymbals were then played separately on top. Originally, the band - at the time called "Static", which management deemed too common to be service marked - wanted to use the title as the band name, but the label deemed it too long.
Reception
CMJ included the album in its "Loud Rock '99 Top 5" list, saying, "Static-X's industrial/metal hybrid uses a guitar sound that keeps its songs refreshingly large, loud and groovable." In 2018, Revolver include the album on their list of "20 Essential Nu-Metal Albums". At AllMusic, Tim Sheridan called it "Fast, cheap, and out of control. This is gutbucket thrash for the most jaded of teenaged parking lot dwellers."
Singles
240px|thumb|Man wearing t-shirt promoting Wisconsin Death Trip (Poland, 2024)
"Push It" was the first single released from the album. The song features an array of sounds from industrial metal to the band's "evil disco" style. Mick Olszewski directed the music video for the song, using clay figures along with shots of the band.
"I'm with Stupid" was released as the second single from the album. The song kicks off with Wayne Static bellowing out the chorus and then transitions to the lead guitar riff. David Meyers directed the song's music video, featuring creatures from the previous video. The video also includes Wayne Static playing a woman, and monkeys hidden throughout. This song, along with "Push It", is credited with Wisconsin Death Trips success.
"Bled for Days" was released as the final single from the album, although technically it was the first song released off the album as it originally appeared on the Bride of Chucky soundtrack nearly six months before the release of Wisconsin Death Trip. The music video is composed of recordings from live shows, and the audio was spliced with the original album version.
In popular culture
"Push It" was used in the intro for the 2000 video game Duke Nukem: Land of the Babes, was included in the soundtrack for the 1999 film Idle Hands and was featured in the 2004 film Torque. A remix of the song "Love Dump" appeared on the soundtrack to the 2001 film Valentine, as well as the 2009 video game Brütal Legend. In 2008, "Push It" was made available as downloadable content in the music game Rock Band. "Otsegolation" was featured in the soundtrack for the American release of Omega Boost in 1999, and "Bled for Days" was included in the soundtrack for the films Bride of Chucky and Universal Soldier: The Return.
Track listing
Personnel
Credits taken from the CD liner notes.
Static-X
- Wayne Static – lead vocals, rhythm guitar, programming
- Ken Jay – drums
- Koichi Fukuda – lead guitar, keyboards, programming
- Tony Campos – bass, backing vocals
Technical
- Ulrich Wild – production, engineering, mixing at Master Control, Burbank, CA
- Michael "Elvis" Baskette – recording assistant
- Jeff Robinson – mixing assistant
- Tom Baker – mastering at Future Disc
Charts
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