Bricks Are Heavy

Bricks Are Heavy
Studio album by L7
Released	April 14, 1992
Recorded	1991 & 1992 at Smart Studios in Madison, Wisconsin and Sound City in Van Nuys, California
Genre	Grunge
Length	37:28
Label	Slash
Producer	L7 Butch Vig
L7 chronology
Smell the Magic (1990) Bricks Are Heavy (1992) Hungry for Stink (1994)
Singles from Bricks Are Heavy
"Pretend We're Dead" Released: 1992 "Everglade" Released: 1992 "Monster" Released: 1992

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
Entertainment Weekly	A[2]
Kerrang!	[3]
Q	[4]
Robert Christgau	A[5]
Rolling Stone	[6]

Bricks Are Heavy is the third album by the Los Angeles band L7, released in April 1992 through Slash Records. Backed by the single "Pretend We're Dead", the album became a breakthrough hit and the band became the "poster girls" of grunge music.

The album was released shortly after grunge had broken into the mainstream with the surprise success of Nirvana's Nevermind. In July 1992, the song "Pretend We're Dead" gained popularity among American rock radio stations, where it received regular airplay. By late August, the album had reached No. 1 on Billboard's Heatseekers album chart, and two weeks later it peaked at No. 160 on the Billboard 200.

Musically the album is heavier and dirtier than the band's previous recordings and described as "catchy tunes and mean vocals on top of ugly guitars and a quick-but-thick bottom of cast-iron grunge" by Entertainment Weekly.^[2] While the band retained its punk and hardcore punk roots, there was more emphasis on heavy metal than before. It was produced by Butch Vig, who is renowned for his work with bands such as Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, Sonic Youth and, later, Garbage.

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Wargasm"	Donita Sparks	2:40
2.	"Scrap"	Sparks, Brett Gurewitz	2:53
3.	"Pretend We're Dead"	Sparks	3:53
4.	"Diet Pill"	Sparks	4:21
5.	"Everglade"	Jennifer Finch, Daniel Ray	3:18
6.	"Slide"	Suzi Gardner, Sparks	3:37
7.	"One More Thing"	Finch	4:07
8.	"Mr. Integrity"	Sparks	4:06
9.	"Monster"	Gardner	2:56
10.	"Shitlist"	Sparks	2:55
11.	"This Ain't Pleasure"	Gardner, Caivano	2:42
Total length:			37:28

Personnel

L7

• Donita Sparks - guitar, lead vocals on tracks 1, 2, 3, 4, 8 and 10
• Suzi Gardner - guitar, lead vocals on tracks 6, 9 and 11
• Jennifer Finch - bass guitar, lead vocals on tracks 5 and 7
• Demetra Plakas - drums, backing vocals on "Pretend We're Dead"

Additional musician

• Paul Ryan - bongos

Production

• Butch Vig - producer, engineer, mixing
• Howie Weinberg - mastering
• Steve Marker - engineer
• Mr. Colson - engineer
• Elizabeth Hale - art direction
• Jeff Price - art direction
• Randall Martin - artwork
• Vicki Berndt - photography
• Arlan E. Helm - photography
• Damion Romero - photography

Chart positions

Album Chart Peak Billboard Top Heatseekers 1 [1] UK Albums Chart 24 [7] Australian Album Chart 47 [8] Billboard 200 160 [9]

Singles Year Title Peak Chart positions US ^Mod AUS [10] UK [11] 1992 "Pretend We're Dead" 8 50 21 "Everglade" — — 27 "Monster" — — 33 "—" denotes singles that were released but did not chart.

Other success

The song "Pretend We're Dead" was used in the video games Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and Rock Band 2. It was also used in the US trailer for the movie Shaun of the Dead.

The song "Shitlist" was used in both the 1992 sequel Pet Sematary Two and Oliver Stone's 1994 film Natural Born Killers and its soundtrack. The song is or was used by professional wrestlers Jon Moxley, who is currently signed as Dean Ambrose in WWE, during his runs in CZW, and Brian Pillman in ECW. CM Punk, now under contract with UFC, used the song as his entrance theme while on the independent circuit.

Accolades

• Rolling Stone: "The Essential Recordings of the 1990s"
• The Village Voice: "Pazz & Jop 1992 Critics Poll: Albums" – No. 32
• The Village Voice: "Pazz & Jop 1992 Critics Poll: Singles" – No. 11 ("Pretend We're Dead")
• The Village Voice: "Pazz & Jop 1992: Dean's List" - No. 4

References

1. Rivadavia, Eduardo. "Bricks Are Heavy - L7". Allmusic. Retrieved March 17, 2010.
2. Arnold, Gina (June 19, 1992). "Bricks Are Heavy Review". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved May 9, 2013.
3. Chirazi, Steffan (4 April 1992). "L7 'Bricks Are Heavy'". Kerrang! 386. London, UK: EMAP.
4. "L7 - Bricks Are Heavy CD Album". CD Universe. Retrieved May 9, 2013.
5. Christgau, Robert. "CG: L7". RobertChristgau.com. Retrieved on March 17, 2010.
6. Berger, Arion (September 17, 1992). "L7: Bricks Are Heavy : Music Reviews". Rolling Stone: 94. Archived from the original on November 12, 2007. Retrieved May 9, 2013.
7. , UK charts page for Bricks Are Heavy by L7
8. "L7 - Bricks Are Heavy". australian-charts.com. Retrieved 2010-01-17.
9. "Bricks Are Heavy charts [albums]". billboard.com. Retrieved 2010-01-17. delete character in |title= at position 36 (help)
10. "L7 Discography". austriancharts.at. Retrieved 2009-12-02.
11. "L7". chartstats.com. Retrieved 2009-01-31.