International Pop Overthrow is the debut album by Material Issue

Material Issue

Material Issue was a 1980-1990s power pop trio from Chicago. The band's trademark was pop songs with themes of love and heartbreak, where a number of song titles using girls' first names.-History:...

, released on Mercury Records

Mercury Records

Mercury Records is a record label operating as a standalone company in the UK and as part of the Island Def Jam Motown Music Group in the US; both are subsidiaries of Universal Music Group. There is also a Mercury Records in Australia, which is a local artist and repertoire division of Universal...

 in 1991.

Info

The album was recorded in multiple recording sessions between 1988 and 1991, with the total recording costs reaching only $5,000. The band's record label, Mercury Records

Mercury Records

Mercury Records is a record label operating as a standalone company in the UK and as part of the Island Def Jam Motown Music Group in the US; both are subsidiaries of Universal Music Group. There is also a Mercury Records in Australia, which is a local artist and repertoire division of Universal...

, only expected the record to sell about 70,000 copies. However, it initially sold about 180,000 copies, with final sales exceeding 300,000. It reached #86 on the Billboard 200

Billboard 200

The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...

 album chart. The album was produced by Jeff Murphy, guitarist/vocalist for the band Shoes

Shoes (band)

Shoes are an American power pop band, formed in Zion, Illinois, in 1974 by brothers John and Jeff Murphy, and Gary Klebe and incorporating several different drummers over the years including Skip Meyer, Barry Shumaker, Ric Menck, John Richardson, and Jeff Hunter. The Murphy brothers and Klebe were...

, at the Shoes' Short Order Recorder studio, in Zion, Illinois

Zion, Illinois

Zion is a city in Lake County, Illinois, United States. The population was 22,866 at the 2000 census, and estimated at 24,303 as of 2005. The city was founded in July 1901 by John Alexander Dowie. He also started the Zion Tabernacle of the Christian Catholic Apostolic Church, which was the only...

.

Three songs from the album were released as singles:

• "Renee Remains The Same"
• "Valerie Loves Me"
• "Diane"

The International Pop Overthrow

International Pop Overthrow

The International Pop Overthrow is an American-originated music festival devoted to power pop music and related genres.Taking its name from Material Issue's 1991 album of the same name, the festival began in 1998, and has been held annually in the LA area since then...

 music festival was named in honor of this album.

Track listing

1. "Valerie Loves Me" - 3:05
2. "Diane" - 2:55
3. "Renee Remains The Same" - 3:16
4. "This Letter" - 4:21
5. "Out Right Now" - 2:03
6. "Crazy" - 3:34
7. "Chance Of A Lifetime" - 3:03
8. "International Pop Overthrow" - 2:29
9. "Very First Lie" - 3:30
10. "Trouble" - 3:18
11. "There Was A Few" - 3:23
12. "This Far Before" - 2:46
13. "A Very Good Idea" - 3:53
14. "Li'l Christine" - 3:21

Reception

• "Anyone who was looking for the future of power pop in 1991 might well have imagined these guys were it, and not without reason -- International Pop Overthrow is smart, hooky, and not afraid to sound edgy or let the amps go into the red." (Mark Deming, Allmusic)
• "Though power pop (a.k.a. "the skinny-tie era") was the rage in New York and Los Angeles for only a brief time at the start of the '80s, that style of melodic rock has survived in the Midwest for two decades thanks to practitioners such as Cheap Trick, the Raspberries, Shoes and the Romantics. The band next poised to pop till they drop is Chicago's Material Issue, whose major-label debut has just been released by Mercury." (Michael Corcoran, Chicago Sun-Times
  Chicago Sun-Times
  The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
  
  )
• "International Pop Overthrow is smart, hooky, and not afraid to sound edgy or let the amps go into the red." (Mark Deming, Rolling Stone
  Rolling Stone
  Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
  
  )
• "Their 1991 major-label debut, "International Pop Overthrow," paid delightful homage to girls, cars and power pop chords. At least seven of the cuts on the album were strong enough to be hit singles. Radio loved "Diane" and "Valerie Loves Me" the most." (Jae-Ha Kim, Chicago Sun-Times
  Chicago Sun-Times
  The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
  
  )
• "MATERIAL ISSUE could be the big college radio rave of the spring, thanks to the parade of perky tunes about girls they loved and lost on their new debut album, "International Pop Overthrow." Weaned on Cheap Trick, Shoes and other legends of Midwestern power pop in the late '70s, this Chicago trio lives, eats and breathes three-minute singles." (Dale Anderson, Buffalo News)

External links

- 20th Anniversary Edition

• Lyrics at Wikia