The Gift of Game

The Gift of Game is the debut studio album by American band Crazy Town. It was released on November 9, 1999, in the U.S. by Columbia Records. The album yielded the band its biggest hit to date with "Butterfly" which reached number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100[6] on March 24, 2001.

The Gift of Game
Studio album by
Crazy Town
ReleasedNovember 9, 1999 (1999-11-09) (US)
Recorded1999
StudioWestlake (Los Angeles)
Genre
Length45:17
LabelColumbia
ProducerJosh Abraham
Crazy Town chronology
The Gift of Game
(1999)		 Darkhorse
(2002)
Singles from The Gift of Game
  1. "Toxic"
    Released: September 9, 1999
  2. "Darkside"
    Released: June 10, 2000
  3. "Butterfly"
    Released: February 20, 2001 (physical release)[5]
  4. "Revolving Door"
    Released: August 14, 2001

Worldwide the album sold more than 2.5 million units,[7] with more than 1.6 million in the US alone.[8]

Background

The band refused to cede its official website to Columbia Records (as per a contract clause), so the record label barred the group from advertising it on the album's artwork.[9] The band circumvented the ban by adding a last-minute outro to the album, titled after the website (www.crazytown.com), and in which the URL is repeating multiple times.[9]

The girl licking the lollipop on the cover of the album is a fictional character created by Crazy Town, known as "Little Lolita". Both the album title and the picture of Little Lolita are based on lyrics from the song "Lollipop Porn". The album cover was designed by co-lead singer Shifty Shellshock's father and uncle.[10] A song titled "Lolita" later appeared on Shellshock's solo album Happy Love Sick and her image reappears on Crazy Town's third album The Brimstone Sluggers.

Reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[4]
NME[2]
Panorama[11]

Steve Huey at AllMusic described the album as "similar to many other rap-inflected alternative metal albums in that it concentrates on sound over structure, creating macho, aggressive grooves with grinding, noisily textured guitars and the underlying feel of squared-off hip-hop beats". Huey argued that despite signs of Limp Bizkit's "juvenile humor", the album "shows promise".[4] April Long of NME criticized the album for its generic guitar riffs, and containing "some of the most Neanderthal lyrics ever written".[2]

About the album's lyrics, Shifty Shellshock said: "We’re just having a good time. We’re not like political or anything. I can be very sarcastic just like a little punk, we talk a lot of trash. We have some points, like 'learn from your mistakes', 'check yourself', you know, 'don’t get taken advantage of'. Real simple things, nothing too overwhelming".[12]

Track listing
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Intro"Shifty Shellshock, Doug Miller0:25
2."Toxic"Shellshock, Miller, Bret Mazur2:48
3."Think Fast" (featuring Dirty Unit)Shellshock, Mazur, Miller, Rust Epique, Torshawn Roland, Percy Washington3:52
4."Darkside"Shellshock, Mazur3:52
5."Black Cloud" (featuring Jay Gordon)Shellshock, Mazur, Miller, Epique, Gordon, Bernard Williams5:02
6."Butterfly" (sampled Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Pretty Little Ditty")Shellshock, Mazur, Anthony Kiedis, Flea, Chad Smith, John Frusciante3:36
7."Only When I'm Drunk" (Tha Alkaholiks cover)Tash, J-Ro, E-Swift2:47
8."Hollywood Babylon" (featuring Mad Lion)Shellshock, Mazur, Mad Lion4:23
9."Face the Music"Shellshock, Mazur3:24
10."Lollipop Porn"Shellshock, Mazur, Nicole Lorenzo3:54
11."Revolving Door"Shellshock, Mazur3:40
12."Players (Only Love You When They're Playing)" (featuring Jenny Sipprelle)Shellshock, Mazur, Williams, Anthony Valli4:13
13."B-Boy 2000" (featuring KRS-One)Shellshock, Mazur, KRS-One, Williams, Valli, Miller, Epique4:27
14."Outro www.crazytown.com" 1:19
32."Untitled Hidden Track" 0:50

Charts

Certifications
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[39] Gold 35,000^
Canada (Music Canada)[40] Platinum 100,000^
Finland (Musiikkituottajat)[41] Gold 20,933[41]
Germany (BVMI)[42] Gold 150,000^
New Zealand (RMNZ)[43] Gold 7,500^
Norway (IFPI Norway)[44] Gold 10,000*
Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland)[45] Gold 25,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[46] Gold 100,000*
United States (RIAA)[47] Platinum 1,600,000[8]

* Sales figures based on certification alone.
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

Singles
Year Single Peak chart positions
US
[48]		 US
Alt.
[48]		 US
Main.
[48]		 AUS
[49]		 NLD
[50]		 NZL
[51]		 FIN
[52]		 GER
[53]		 SWI
[54]		 UK
[55]		 SWE
[56]		 NOR
[57]
1999 "Toxic" — — — — — — — — — — — —
2000 "Darkside" — — — — — — — — — — — —
"Butterfly" 1 1 21 4 8 2 2 1 1 3 2 1
2001 "Revolving Door" — — — 76[58] 71 — 19 26 43 23 46 —
"—" denotes a single that didn't chart

Personnel

Crazy Town

Additional personnel

  • Troy Van Leeuwen – guitars on "Darkside"
  • Jay Gordon – keyboards on "Darkside", refrain in "Black Cloud"
  • Stephen Costantino – guitars on "Revolving Door" and "Hollywood Babylon"
  • KRS-One

References
  1. "Winging It: a profile on the band Crazy Town". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved July 5, 2015.
  2. Long, April (April 13, 2001). "Crazy Town : The Gift Of Game". NME. Retrieved October 9, 2020.
  3. Kitts, Jeff; Tolinski, Brad (2002). Guitar World Presents Nu-metal. ISBN 9780634032875. Retrieved July 5, 2015. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  4. The Gift of Game at AllMusic. Retrieved October 9, 2020.
  5. Pietroluongo, Sylvio (February 17, 2001). "Hot 100 Spotlight" (PDF). Billboard.
  6. "Crazy Town - Bio". MTV. Retrieved May 29, 2014.
  7. "Crazytown - Darkhorse". Melodic. Retrieved May 29, 2014.
  8. "Crazy Town Rides 'Darkhorse' On The Road". Billboard. December 20, 2002. Retrieved September 26, 2019.
  9. "Band, Label Feud Over Web Site an overstatement, if not by much". The Los Angeles Times. November 3, 1999. Retrieved July 3, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. Edwards, Gavin (March 15, 2001). "Q&A: Shifty Shellshock of Crazy Town". Rolling Stone. No. 864. p. 35.
  11. "The Gift of Game – Limp Bizkit: Se Opp!". panorama.no. Retrieved October 9, 2020.
  12. "Crazy Town". Ink 19. Archived from the original on August 2, 2022.
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  14. "Austriancharts.at – Crazy Town – The Gift Of Game" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved January 10, 2021.
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  33. "Jahreshitparade Singles 2001". austriancharts.at. Retrieved October 15, 2021.
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  41. "Crazy Town" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland. Retrieved July 24, 2019.
  42. "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (Crazy Town; 'The Gift of Game')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie. Retrieved July 24, 2019.
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  49. Australian Singles Charting
  50. Dutch Singles Charting
  51. New Zealand Singles Charting
  52. Finnish Singles Charting
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  54. Swiss Singles Charting
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  57. Norway Charts – Crazy Town
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