RockCrown is the third studio album

Studio album

A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...

 by post-grunge

Post-grunge

Post-grunge is a subgenre of alternative rock that emerged in the mid-1990s as a derivative of grunge, using the sounds and aesthetic of grunge, but with a more commercially acceptable tone...

 band Seven Mary Three

Seven Mary Three

Seven Mary Three, occasionally abbreviated to 7 Mary 3 or 7M3, is an American hard rock band. They have released seven studio albums and one live album, and are best known for their hit singles "Cumbersome", "Water's Edge", "Lucky", and "Wait"....

. It was released on June 3, 1997 on Atlantic Records

Atlantic Records

Atlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz...

. The album peaked at #75 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...

on June 21, 1997. The album's Billboard

Billboard (magazine)

Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...

-charting singles were "Lucky" (#19 on Hot Modern Rock Tracks and #35 on Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks) and "RockCrown" (#17 on Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks).

In an act that disappointed many fans, RockCrown would shift into a lighter rock orientation compared to American Standard. Giti Khalsa explained, "With RockCrown, it was very much a response to going from playing bars and fraternities to getting a record deal to selling a million records in a year." Jason Ross also spoke about the album's change in an interview with Billboard:

"To me, the new songs represent a broadening of our horizons, the way they're based more on folk rock

Folk rock

Folk rock is a musical genre combining elements of folk music and rock music. In its earliest and narrowest sense, the term referred to a genre that arose in the United States and the UK around the mid-1960s...

and the singer/songwriter tradition than on crunching electric guitars. . . Acoustic music just feels more real to me right now. It reminds me that I have something to offer beyond the rock 'n' roll circus."

Track listing

All songs written and arranged by Seven Mary Three.

1. "Lucky" – 3:57
2. "RockCrown" – 2:45
3. "Needle Can't Burn (What The Needle Can't Find)" – 2:22
4. "Honey of Generation" – 3:55
5. "Home Stretch" – 3:01
6. "People Like New" – 3:59
7. "Make Up Your Mind" – 2:31
8. "Gone Away" – 2:11
9. "Times Like These" – 4:33
10. "I Could Be Wrong" – 3:46
11. "What Angry Blue?" – 3:31
12. "Houdini's Angels" – 3:28
13. "This Evening's Great Excuse" – 4:12
14. "Player Piano" – 2:19
15. "Oven" – 6:04

• Two additional songs ("The New Blues" and "A Little Hard, A Little Late") are listed in a picture of an album setlist, but are not included on the album.

Album credits

• Jason Ross – Lead Vocals, guitar
• Jason Pollock – Lead guitar, vocals
• Giti Khalsa – Drums
• Casey Daniel – Bass

Production

• Producers: Tom Morris, Jason Pollock, and Jason Ross
• Engineering: Tom Morris and Brian Benscoter
• Mixing: Tom Morris
• Mastering: Mike Fuller and Tom Morris
• Art Direction: Lane Wurster and Seven Mary Three
• Graphic Design: Chris Eselgroth
• Photography: Danny Clinch