Make Yourself is the third studio album by American rock band Incubus. It was released on October 26, 1999, through Epic Records and Immortal Records. The album received double platinum certification by the RIAA and produced three charting singles—"Pardon Me", "Stellar", and "Drive"—all of which reached the top three of the BillboardAlternative Songs chart, with the latter topping the chart and also becoming the band's sole top ten hit to date on the Billboard Hot 100, where it peaked at number nine.
The album is the first to be recorded with new turntablist Chris Kilmore, who replaced DJ Lyfe.
The songs for the album were written following an exhausting tour for their full length major label debut S.C.I.E.N.C.E.. Touring for S.C.I.E.N.C.E. began in 1997 and covered the entirety of 1998, with the band playing over 300 shows that year alone.[13] Vocalist Brandon Boyd reflected in a 2020 Kerrang! article, "when we got home, we started coming up with ideas and gave ourselves eight weeks to write the record and in those eight weeks, all the songs that appear on the album came out."[14] In a 1999 interview, Boyd mentioned that "Nowhere Fast" originated through improvisational live jams during the S.C.I.E.N.C.E. tour, remarking "we've been exploring drum-'n'-bass here and there on stage, playing little improvisational ditties in between real songs from the records. José would start playing a drum-'n'-bass he'd made up, I'd play my didgeridoo to it, and [it] started forming out of live things like that."[15] For Make Yourself, turntablist Chris Kilmore intended to use a scratch record of sounds he had recorded over the years. However, it took two-and-a-half weeks for Kilmore to get this record made, which led to him not being present for the early portions of the writing process.[13]
While the album has since been considered to have a more accessible sound than their previous works, Boyd claimed in 2020 that "we didn’t actually say out loud to each other that we needed to write a more commercial record; we just wrote in the same way we knew how to write and Make Yourself is what came out."[14] However, guitarist Mike Einziger did note in 2020 that the band wanted to make the album more mature and less "zany" than earlier works such as S.C.I.E.N.C.E..[14] In a 1999 interview from when the album was being written, he also said that it was going to have more "ambiance" and be more focused than S.C.I.E.N.C.E..[16] In 2020, he stated there was a "genuine creative desire to step up our artistry. We really wanted to become great songwriters [and] graduate from the zany music we spent our high school years writing."[14] Einziger added that, "I really wanted Brandon to be more vulnerable. We had conversations about that; some of them were uncomfortable. I felt like a lot of the music we’d written up until that point was personal but some of it was almost cartoonish, which is awesome and something that came very naturally to us, but I felt like we could really connect with people and write music that could make more of an emotional connection."[14]
Tensions arose between band members during the making of the album, which led to them briefly entering group therapy.[17] Boyd reflected on the tension in a 2001 interview with Spin, saying that "when we're making music together, it's like five men making love — in a very platonic sense. It's very erotic because your spirits are intermingling, you're becoming one. It's also why it can get so heated. You're tapping into this electricity that's very primal."[17]
Regarding his experience writing the album, Boyd remembered in 2020, "when we were touring S.C.I.E.N.C.E, I’d been with my girlfriend for quite a long time, and then it came to light that she’d been having an affair while I was gone, so I was dealing with a pretty high degree of heartbreak when I went into Make Yourself. The writing process ended up becoming like an open poetic therapy session for me. There was a little bit of anger, definitely heartbreak but also a sense of hope around finding a new love. From my point of view, the songs very clearly describe the arc of that experience."[14] In a 2000 interview, Boyd said that when "Pardon Me" was written, he was also dealing with the deaths of a family member and a friend, in addition to these relationship troubles. He said that he was "being bombarded by life" at the time, and that this inspired the song's lyrical themes.[18] The lyrics to "Stellar" were inspired by Boyd's new girlfriend Jo, who he met during the making of the album.[15] She would later appear in the song's music video,[17] with Boyd saying in 2020, "it was a very different kind of love than the love I experienced as a teenager. It felt much more expansive, hence the 'meet me in outer space' imagery."[14] Boyd wrote the melodies to the song after Einziger showed him the main guitar part for it.[14]
Regarding the hit single "Drive", Boyd said "a lot of those topics are still things I wrestle with. The song is about reckoning with fear and uncertainty and I’m still in a kind-of active dance with that, as I probably will be my entire life", adding that "just because you write something down, put a melody to it and a bunch of people like it doesn’t mean it was a thought that was complete – it’s not as if I became enlightened around the idea of not letting fear dictate the course of my life."[14] Einziger said, "I could never have predicted [Drive] was going to be a smash-hit song, but I knew that it felt special to us. It felt like an honest encapsulation of being vulnerable and I felt like people would connect with it."[14] Before recording the final version that appears on the album, the band worked on a demo version of the song at their homes which closely resembled the final version, with Einziger saying, "I remember [Brandon] singing the lyrics to me in the car as they appear on the album. The version we made before we recorded it properly was really the same."[14]
When the album was being recorded at NRG in North Hollywood, Chris Kilmore had his own DJ setup in the hallway. He adds, "there were a bunch of other bands there. 311 was there a lot of the time, and Jurassic 5 was there a lot of the time. And because I had that turntable setup in the hallway, I was always out there practicing and trying stuff."[13] The day the instrumental song "Battlestar Scralatchtica" was recorded, Brandon Boyd was missing because he had a dentist appointment. Kilmore states, "we weren’t going to waste a day. So we wrote a cool little track. I was out in the hallway scratching, and Nu-Mark and Cut Chemist walked by. I was like, 'Hey. Do you guys want to scratch on this track we just did?'. We went in, laid it down, and that’s how 'Battlestar Scralatchtica' came about."[13] Around the time the record was being made, Kilmore also contributed DJ scratches to the album Introduction to Mayhem, by the nu/rap metal band Primer 55.[19]
Touring
To support Make Yourself, the band and Buckethead opened for Primus on their Antipop tour in 1999, including at a millennium show on December 31, 1999.[20] Early the following year, they performed at the SnoCore Tour with System of a Down and Mr. Bungle (who broke up shortly afterwards). The members of Incubus have since spoken of their pleasure at getting to play with Primus and Mr. Bungle, two artists whom they cite as influences.[21] Mr. Bungle were met with a hostile crowd reception at some of the shows with Incubus and System of a Down. Mr. Bungle's bassist Trevor Dunn remarked in 2013 that "we were sort of the grandpas of the tour", adding that his band dressed up as the Village People at these shows in an attempt to anger the "metal kids" in the audience.[22] Brandon Boyd later reflected in 2018, "Mr. Bungle was hugely influential to both of our bands, and they were playing second, like before Incubus and System of a Down." He added, "Mike Patton would be a real rabble rouser, and say horrible things to the audience. We would be on the side of stage cheering, fanboys."[23]
Following this, Incubus went on an American tour with 311, which lasted from late April 2000 to the beginning of July 2000.[24] From August to early September 2000, the band performed at that year's edition of Ozzfest. It was their second appearance at the festival, having earlier appeared at the 1998 edition.[25] On October 12, 2000, the band performed the single "Stellar" on the Late Show with David Letterman.[26] They had also performed the song on an August 2, 2000 episode of the Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn.[27] Between October and November 2000, Incubus and Taproot supported Deftones on their "Back to School" tour for the album White Pony.[28]
Release and commercial response
Shortly after the album's release, a death metal band from Louisiana called Incubus changed their name. Now known as Opprobrium, they had released two critically acclaimed albums in 1988 and 1990, titled Serpent Temptation and Beyond the Unknown, and were not aware of the Californian Incubus prior to the release of Make Yourself. The name change was voluntarily made in order to avoid confusion and any potential conflicts between the two bands.[29][30]Serpent Temptation and Beyond the Unknown were sometimes incorrectly labelled as being early releases from the Californian Incubus, and Opprobrium eventually reissued these albums under their new name.[31][32] A British hard rock/heavy metal band called Incubus had also released an album in 1984 titled To the Devil a Daughter, which was sometimes attributed to the Californian Incubus.[33]
The first single "Pardon Me" was initially released to radio stations as an acoustic song, which led to the album version becoming popular as well.[14] According to Boyd, it was Epic/Immortal Records that suggested "Pardon Me" be released as a single, telling MTV in 2000 that "we wrote 'Pardon Me' along with the whole album and never thought anything different about it."[34] In August 2000, an EP titled When Incubus Attacks Volume 1 was released, featuring the acoustic version of "Pardon Me" and acoustic versions of the songs "Make Yourself" and "Stellar". The three acoustic versions of these songs originated from a November 1999 recording session in Chicago.[34] The EP also featured additional material, including the song "Crowded Elevator", which was recorded during the Make Yourself sessions.[35] "Crowded Elevator" had earlier appeared on the soundtrack album for the horror film Scream 3, which was released in January 2000.[36]
By the time Make Yourself's final and most popular single "Drive" was released in November 2000, the band had already sold a million copies, with Einziger recalling in 2020 that, "'Pardon Me' was a big deal for us, 'Stellar' was the second song that came out and a big deal on MTV, and then when 'Drive' came out it really pushed everything over the top."[14] Regarding their success around this time, Boyd said in 2020, "the most stark change was that all of a sudden women were coming to our concerts so when people would cheer after a song, the pitch went up considerably."[14]
In 1999 and 2000, music videos were made for "Pardon Me", "Stellar" and "Drive". Less widely seen music videos were also made for the non-singles "I Miss You", "Privilege" and "Out from Under". The video for "Out from Under" was originally meant to be released as part of the 2001 When Incubus Attacks Volume 2 DVD, although it was not included as there was not enough space left on the disc. A tour edition for the album was released in 2001, with a second disc containing the three acoustic tracks and one live track.[37]
Make Yourself has received generally positive reviews from critics. Steve Huey of AllMusic gave it four out of five stars, writing that "Make Yourself makes a bid for broader mainstream success while keeping the group rooted in a hybrid of familiar late '90s alt-metal (i.e., roaring guitars, white-noise sonic textures, and an undercurrent of electronics) and Chili Pepper funk-rock. Where S.C.I.E.N.C.E. sometimes veered abruptly between the two genres without really fusing them, Make Yourself finds the band settling more comfortably into its sound."[7]
Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine also gave it four out of five stars, writing in April 2001, "whether it’s rehashed hard rock or a non-enterprising rap-metal hybrid, there isn’t much to differentiate between most rock bands these days. Incubus, however, sets themselves apart with their second full-length release Make Yourself. A superb blend of metal guitar riffs, classic punk-rock mentality, and subtle hip hop and electronic elements, Incubus doesn’t just imitate these genres, but rather, redefines them in an otherwise non-revolutionary rock landscape."[12]The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004) states that on Make Yourself, "Incubus had found a beta-male approach to new-metal: roaring, assymetrical riffs and herky-jerky dynamics coexisting with Boyd's yearning tenor and burgeoning melodic gift."[41] In November 1999, Tulane Hullabaloo writer Henry Rienka claimed that it was a rap rock album in the style of bands such as Hed PE, despite consisting entirely of sung vocals. Rienka wrote that, "their union of grinding guitar, vinyl scratching, and urgent rock/rap vocals produces thrashing, grooving, and bouncing boobies."[43] He added, "Make Yourself just doesn't quite match up with their breakthrough release; 1997's S.C.I.E.N.C.E.. On this effort, Incubus seems more concerned with playing with sounds and differentiating themselves from Kid Rock than they do with making enjoyable music."[43]
Kevin Stewart-Panko of Canadian publication Exclaim! gave Make Yourself a positive review in December 1999, writing "Incubus is simply an awesome band. They have the distorted guitars, but they also have finger wagging melodies, an actual singer and dance floor elements. It’s similar stuff that plagued Faith No More about ten years ago, and Incubus has a noticeable FNM influence, especially Brandon Boyd's voice, which eerily recalls a youthful Mike Patton."[44] In their November 1999 review, CMJ New Music Report also compared the album's vocals to Faith No More, and described the instrumentation as being a cross between Primus and Korn. They added that it is a "step away from the spastic, funkdafied metal of 1997's brilliant S.C.I.E.N.C.E. [but] definitely not a step down in quality."[45]Adweek stated in April 2000 that Incubus had "finally made a mark", and that "their newest offering blends alternative metal with a little rap/rock thrown in for good measure."[46]
Despite garnering critical and commercial success, Make Yourself was met with a mixed reaction from some fans of the band, due to its more melodic sound. In a June 2000 interview with Spin, Brandon Boyd claimed, "when the album first came out, we got threatening letters from fans like 'You Sold Out'."[47]
Legacy and accolades
The album is listed in the 2005 book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. Colin Larkin wrote in his 2011 book The Encyclopedia of Popular Music that Make Yourself was "a far slicker affair than previous outings", adding that it "utilized the latest studio technology and a greater range of sounds."[40] In 2019, Kerrang! included it on a list titled "50 Rock and Metal Bands Whose Third Album Was Their Best".[4] They wrote, "in ways moving away from their roots and definitively getting more anthemic and catchier with it, Make Yourself caught Incubus in a state of flux, but one in which they really found their feet. A little nu metal, a little alternative metal, a little funk, but altogether compelling."[4]Loudwire praised it in 2019, stating that "while at first the album appears to be more of a mainstream break for the band, with Make Yourself they’ve managed to find a smoother way to incorporate hip-hop and funk more consistently into their brand of alternative metal", adding "it may not be the most heavy on the nu-metal sound because of this, but it allowed the mainstream to get a taste of something they may otherwise not have been looking for."[6] In 2019, the Times-Union reflected that on Make Yourself the band "blended some hip-hop and electronica with anthemic choruses and big riffs to create a form of alt-metal that was more dynamic than a lot of the nu-metal and bro'd out posturing in hard rock at that time."[48]
PopMatters included it on their 2020 list of "The Most Memorable Albums of 1999", with writer Theresa Dougherty remarking that they "became one of the first bands played on modern rock radio to effectively integrate a DJ into their sound."[49] In 2021, it was named one of the 20 best metal albums of 1999 by Metal Hammer magazine.[50] In a 2022 Louder Sound article, Brandon Boyd placed it fourth in his ranking of their studio albums. He stated, "It's not higher because it was a period of time that was gruelling. We were playing 9 or 10 shows a week: one in the morning and one in the evening, I learned to take naps on drum risers during soundchecks."[51] Boyd also reflected in 2020 that, "all of the flags were blowing in a direction that was telling us we should’ve made another record like S.C.I.E.N.C.E. and that would’ve solidified our place in a small subgenre of rock and metal", adding "our intuitions were pulling us in a completely different direction and we trusted it. We ended up carving our own place in the world and instead of falling into some subgenre of rock and metal, we created our own."[14] In 2023, Alternative Press placed it third in their ranking of the band's studio albums.[52]
Live performance
The first known performance of a Make Yourself song was at a March 4, 1999 concert at the Glass House in Pomona, California, which featured the live debut of "Nowhere Fast".[53] All of the other songs from Make Yourself were performed live during the touring cycle in 1999 and 2000, with the exception of "Battlestar Scralatchtica", which is not known to have been performed until 2001 during the Morning View touring cycle.[53] The band went on a tour of North America in 2019 to celebrate the album's 20th anniversary.[54] In a 2019 interview, DJ Chris Kilmore stated, "for me personally, I actually really enjoy revisiting Make Yourself because my role in the band has expanded greatly into playing all kinds of keyboards and things like that. But when we were on Make Yourself, I just had two turntables. So I really get to showcase what I originally did in this band, which is really fun for me."[13]
Track listing
Original release
All tracks are written by Brandon Boyd, Michael Einziger, Alex Katunich, Chris Kilmore and Jose Pasillas
^Mack, Eric (February 26, 2012). "Make Yourself - Incubus". Attackzonemedia (AZM). Archived from the original on May 12, 2015. Retrieved August 4, 2016. And in all seriousness, it's not a stretch to call Incubus the only good new band that emerged during this period in mainstream alternative rock.
