The Meanest of Times
| The Meanest of Times | ||||
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| Studio album by Dropkick Murphys | ||||
| Released | September 18, 2007 | |||
| Recorded | April – June 2007 | |||
| Studio | The Outpost (Stoughton, Massachusetts) |
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| Genre | Celtic punk | |||
| Length | 46:27 | |||
| Label | Born & Bred | |||
| Producer | Dropkick Murphys | |||
| Dropkick Murphys chronology | ||||
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| Alternative cover | ||||
Limited Edition Cover
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| Singles from The Meanest of Times | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   |
| Entertainment Weekly | B+ |
| SPIN | |
| MusicOMH | |
| AbsolutePunk.net | 78% |
| Boston Globe | Favorable |
The Meanest of Times is the sixth studio album by Dropkick Murphys. It was released on September 18, 2007 by their new vanity label, Born & Bred Records, a division of Cooking Vinyl Records. Their previous albums were released by Hellcat Records. The album was the last to feature guitarist Marc Orrell, who left the band following the tour in support of the album.
The picture on the album's cover was taken at Saint Brendan School in Dorchester, Massachusetts, close to Quincy, Massachusetts whence the band hails. Local kids posed in the picture.
The first songs from the album were heard through the band's MySpace page starting in August 2007. The first track to appear was "(F)lannigan's Ball", which was actually a different version than what is featured on the album, as it featured vocals by Al Barr and Ken Casey rather than Ronnie Drew and Spider Stacy.
On the U.S. Billboard 200 chart, the album debuted at number 20, selling about 28,000 copies in its first week. This album was #49 on Rolling Stone's list of the Top 50 Albums of 2007. The album's first single, "The State of Massachusetts", became one of the 100-most-played songs on US modern rock radio in October 2007. Also in October, the song had been added to the playlists of 18 US alternative rock stations. By January 2008, the song had become one of the 60-most-played alternative rock songs in the United States. This song was #83 on Rolling Stone's list of the 100 Best Songs of 2007.
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Wikipedia