Opiate | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
EP by Tool | ||||
Released | March 10, 1992 | |||
Recorded | December 1991 - January 1992 | |||
Studio | Sound City, Van Nuys, CA | |||
Genre | Alternative metal | |||
Length | 26:52 | |||
Label | Zoo Entertainment | |||
Producer | Sylvia Massy, Steve Hansgen, Tool | |||
Tool chronology | ||||
|
||||
Singles from Opiate | ||||
|
Opiate is an EP by American rock band Tool. It was produced and engineered by Sylvia Massy and former Minor Threat bassist Steve Hansgen. Released in 1992, it was the result of some two years of the band playing together after their formation in 1990. Opiate preceded Tool's first full-length release, Undertow, by a year. It is named after a quote by Karl Marx: "religion ... is the opiate of the masses". As of July 7, 2010, Opiate has sold 1,155,000 copies in the US and is certified Platinum by the RIAA.
Opiate features seven songs spanning six tracks, two of which are live recordings. Most versions of the EP (all except the cassette) feature the hidden seventh song titled "The Gaping Lotus Experience". On CD versions, the song is hidden at the end of the last track of the album, "Opiate", and begins approximately 6 minutes and 10 seconds into the track after "Opiate" has concluded. Vinyl copies of the EP featured a double groove on the second side; one which contained "Cold and Ugly", with the second containing "The Gaping Lotus Experience" and a small period of silence. Both grooves led into "Jerk-Off".
The song "Sweat" was featured on the Escape from L.A. soundtrack.
"Cold and Ugly" and "Jerk-Off" were recorded specially for the album at the Jellö Loft on New Year's Eve 1991 with a live audience. As a result, these two songs have never been available as true "studio" recordings except for the band's 1991 demo tape. This demo tape, titled 72826, also featured early versions of "Hush" and "Part of Me" (as well as "Crawl Away" and "Sober", which would eventually make it on Undertow), and was used to get the band signed. All four songs were re-recorded for this album.