Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	46/100
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
BBC	(unfavourable)
Drowned in Sound	(4/10)
The Guardian
Hot Press
The Independent
NME	(7/10)
The Observer	(unfavourable)
Pitchfork Media	(3.4/10)
The Skinny

2006–2007 at

Pull the Pin is the sixth studio album by Welsh rock band Stereophonics, released by V2 in the UK on 12 October 2007. A Stereophonics newsletter released the Pull the Pin album artwork to subscribers. The cover was also shown to Myspace users that had added the band in a bulletin.

The taster track "Bank Holiday Monday" had its world premier on Radio 1's Chris Moyles Show on Tuesday 1 May 2007 and was made available for digital download on Monday 28 May 2007 from online retailers. The album became a critical and commercial low-point for Stereophonics; receiving negative reviews and – at the time – having the lowest sales figures of their career. Despite this Pull the Pin still managed to reach number 1 on the UK Albums Chart, however it was their last until Keep the Village Alive almost 8 years later in 2015.

Lead singer Kelly Jones had to take ten months off before commencing to write songs for the album due to an illness in his family. About two years prior to the release of Pull the Pin, he had written the lyrics for "It Means Nothing" and "Daisy Lane" in a hotel in Germany—the latter was written for Language. Sex. Violence. Other? (2005) but it wasn't completed during that time.

"It Means Nothing" was written based on the 7/7 London attacks, it is about the feeling of unease in the city and people realising what was important in their lives. "Daisy Lane" is about a young boy who was stabbed to death on the street where Jones lives. He told The Sun: "It was something I saw looking out of my very own window. I saw a row of seven policeman searching an area of my street. Then I read in the paper that they'd been searching for a knife as this kid had been stabbed." The song "Stone" contains lyrics which were also featured in their earlier single "Moviestar", namely: "You're in my soul / You're in my mind". It was considered for the album's lead single but the band and record company decided for "It Means Nothing" instead.

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