Sideways (Men Without Hats album)
| Sideways | ||||
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| Studio album by Men Without Hats | ||||
| Released | April 30, 1991 (Canada) January 25, 1992 (Japan) |
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| Recorded | 1990, Hudson Studios (Briarcliff Manor, New York) | |||
| Genre | Alternative rock, hard rock, grunge, country rock | |||
| Length | 50:08 | |||
| Label | PolyGram | |||
| Producer | Stefan Doroschuk, Mike Scott | |||
| Men Without Hats chronology | ||||
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| Allmusic |   |
Sideways is the fifth studio album by Canadian synthpop group Men Without Hats. Released on April 30, 1991, it featured a new sound based around electric guitars instead of the group's normal use of synthesizers. It was the second album to be recorded at Hudson Studios in New York and produced by bassist Stefan Doroschuk, with Mike Scott as co-producer.
Despite the group's insistence that guitars were the wave of the future, the album failed to attract an American label and was released only in Canada and Japan, although there are many imports that have made their way to American, European and Australian shelves.
In December 1989, during the The Adventures of Women & Men Without Hate in the 21st Century tour, guitarist Stefan Doroschuk was involved in a car accident in which both his legs and one of his arms were broken, necessitating the postponement of the tour. To pass the time, bandleader Ivan Doroschuk began jamming with Voivod drummer Michel Langevin and Doughboys member John Kastner and listening to Bleach by Nirvana, which would shape the sound of the album. According to Doroschuk, he was tired of being pressured by his record label to come up with another "Safety Dance", and instead wanted to take the album in a very different direction than anything the band had done in the past. A few months later, Stefan rejoined the band, this time switching to bass, and the new band began to tour. On 24 December 1990, Men Without Hats shared the stage with Mitsou at Les Foufounes Electriques in Montreal, performing many of their hits, rearranged in their new hard rock style, and most of the tracks that would become Sideways. The band eschewed the use of either of their logos (the crossed out man wearing a hat and the heart with the number 21 in it) for this release, instead opting to use a simple font (MENWITHOUTHATS).
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