I H8 U 2

I H8 U 2
I H8 U 2 is the third studio album by The Dropouts, released on November 21st, 1996. The album revolves around the idea of a breakup, but isn't based on any real event. In an interview for a small alt-rock magazine, the drummer of band said

"For I H8 U 2 we wanted to try and tell a story without basing it on a real life event. An easy topic for us to go off of was breakups, so the album is about a breakup, and instead fuses details from various times in all of our [every band member] lives." - Jimmy Rodriguez

Many of the songs on I H8 U 2 were written in collaboration, and Nick Barnett, who had written most of the songs on their previous 2 albums, took a back seat and let the rest of the bands take on most of the writing. The basic "plot" of the album follows it's metaphorical main character as he slowly realizes that he and his girlfriend aren't meant to be, finding out that she isn't as good as a person as he originally thought. The album's name comes from a text that Nathan Taylor had gotten from one of his ex-girlfriends after a break up.

The album returns to more light hearted and goofy lyrics, while some songs like ''Do You Wanna Get High? and In Too Deep contain some of the deeper and more serious lyrics that were heard on One Hit Wonderful. The album also further experiments with new sounds, the most obvious one being in the song Fat Lip, but nothing as drastic as Why Can't We Be Friends?'' from the previous album.

Planning Stages
I H8 U 2 entered pre-production early in 1996. The band had gotten their footing and were on track to release a new album every year since they were self proclaimed workaholics.

"We all just loved making music so much that we were always looking for what was next, it helped that we weren't big enough for giant tours, so we had enough time to keep making new music, and that got us into our usual one album per year track that we still try to stick to." - Nick Barnett

The idea for I H8 U 2 came from Nathan Taylor getting a text from his ex girlfriend while they were on tour, that contained the exact message the album is named after. After getting all they needed to out with One Hit Wonderful, the band wanted to try and work with a less personal album, and the message to Nathan made them laugh so much they used it as the name and starting point. They wanted to make an album revolving around a break up, but fused all of their experiences together to make it less personal and more general, something that anybody could go through. After writing the bulk of the last two albums, Nick wanted a break and let the rest of the band pick up the slack for this album.

Production
Around March 1996, production officially started on I H8 U 2, with Jeremy Hunter once again producing the album. The production for their third album was much more of a collaborative effort between every member of the band than the last two albums had been, trying to figure out the story they wanted to tell and how they wanted it to sound. The consensus was to have the album keep the upbeat ska sound they were known for, as to not have the potentially depressing lyrics hit too hard, as they didn't want the album to be overly sad.

Once again all the original members of the band return, Nick Barnett, Scott Wilson, Nikki Brown, Jimmy Rodriguez, and Nathan Taylor. Many of the songs on the album are a collaborative effort, based on stories from certain members lives, or different stories combined together to make a new one that fit the album's "plot". Nick Barnett, usually the main writer of the band only wrote a few songs by himself for the album, taking a break to let everybody else try their hand at being more of a main writer.

Nick Barnett wrote the songs New Version of You (New Version), and Somebody Hates Me, both of them being cut songs from Cheer Up! that never made it past the planning stage, hence why New Version of You ends with (New Version). The lyrics of the songs happened to match up with the plan for I H8 U 2, so they were happy to use them from the vault.

Picking up most of the main writer responsiblites, Scott Wilson wrote the songs Do You Wanna Get High?, I Love/You Suck, and P.S. I Hate You. Many of the songs he wrote were based on experiences he had, while ''Do You Wanna Get High? ''was inspired by a story his friend had told him about his girlfriend.

Nikki Brown wrote the song I Want Your Girlfriend To Be My Girlfriend Too, based on a joke that her and her friends used to make when they would go out, along with some help from Nick Barnett to help it fit the story they were telling.

Nathan Taylor wrote Beverly Hills, based on how he was feeling after the breakup with his girlfriend who sent him the titular message, as he wanted to get big and famous to prove her wrong and make her regret leaving him. (Feelings he no longer had by the time they were working on this album).

And finally, In Too Deep and Fat Lip were both written by Jimmy Rodriguez with help from Jeremy Hunter. He wanted to try and infuse their alt-rock punk style with influences from late 80s-early 90s rap, which is more easily seen in the way the verses are sung in the song Fat Lip. Jeremy had In Too Deep lean more into the punk side of the music, as the first draft of the song didn't sound quite right, and Jimmy agreed it sounded better as a punk song.

After One Hit Wonderful, their record label at the time, Griffin Records who had released their previous 2 albums requested a more radio friendly album, which is also party responsible for the direction that the album took. The band complied as they didn't feel like they were being censored at all, grateful that they were even still on contract after their last album. The request particularly applied to Beverly Hills, which they made to be the most radio friendly song on the album.

The Road to I H8 U 2
Continuing the tradition of 3 singles per album, I H8 U 2 followed the same method, with the first single being Beverly Hills, with the intention of the most radio friendly song letting them get air time and try and recapture the audience that was lost from the pessimistic lyrics from One Hit Wonderful. The single was released on June 1st, 1996 - Debuted live on the Talkie McTalkerson show, again as a surprise musical guest. On the show they announced that they had a new album coming soon, but left the title a secret along with the album art. The single had critical success, with many people liking the simple chorus and guitar parts, making the song a great party song for lots of people to sing along to. The single got to the Top 10 Songs of June 1996, although still didn't become the viral sensation that Dope Nose did, but the band was more than ok with that after how burnt out they had gotten with their last viral hit.

The second single released for I H8 U 2 was I Love/You Suck, performed again on the Talkie McTalkerson show on September 19th, 1996. Now, closer to the release of the album, the name and the cover of the album were both revealed, letting people get excited. They also first told the story of the name here during an interview with Talkie. I Love/You Suck was also given a positive reception, while not becoming as big as Beverly Hills, many fans enjoyed the upbeat and fast tempo ska sound that they had grown attached to from the previous albums. Many people also loved the lyrics, enjoying the fast spoken lines during the chorus, the song truly sounded like the main character was arguing with himself, and the name I Love/You Suck was even used as a tagline to the movie Breakup Attempt Number 100.

The final single for I H8 U 2 was Fat Lip, and it also received the final single treatment of a music video. The music video included the band hanging out in different places, including a mall, skate park, and movie theater, cutting to them performing at a house party for the chorus. The lyrics Jimmy wrote applied very well to everyone's youth, and they used it as an opportunity to give some personality to their band, lots of the footage being shot home movie style, and the house party segments showing what they were like when performing. A footnote is that the music video for Fat Lip is Jimmy Rodriguez's favorite music video they ever made.

Reception
I H8 U 2 was finally released on November 21st, 1996. The album came out to mixed reviews, with critics calling lots of the music "uninspired" and disappointment in the lack of challenging songs and messages that was seen in their previous album, especially disappointed in Beverly Hills, as it seemed that they were going back on their word from One Hit Wonderful. Despite that, many fans were still in support of the album, loving the goofy lyrics and personality filled songs that they felt represented the band well. Many people thought that the band didn't always need to be pushing the boundaries, and loved having just a fun, fast album that didn't put too much weight on the listener.

Many fans also noticed how New Version Of You (New Version), and Somebody Hates Me, sounded like they could've been off of Cheer Up!, and the rumor of a sequel to the musical started spreading, so far that Nick and Scott had to come out and say that there was no plan for a sequel, but they should keep looking forward to new music from The Dropouts. The rumor did however help bring the album up a bit more, with many of the cult following from their musical coming back to enjoy the new music.

Overall, the public considered the album fun and enjoyable, but a bit forgettable with how hard some of the previous songs in their discography stuck with people. Notably, people found songs like ''Do You Wanna Get High? and Slow Down'' to be the most forgettable, with lots of songs from this album barely being played at live shows.

Following I H8 U 2's Release
I H8 U 2 was the first album that didn't have a corresponding tour with it, mostly due to time constraints as multiple band members had big things come up in their lives that had to be dealt with. The band did play a few shows here and there, but nothing to the extent of Fifteen Minutes of Fame or even The Party Your House Down Tour.

During the off time, Nick Barnett quickly got to work on their next album, using many of the experiences that he had with the reception to I H8 U 2 as inspiration, as well as experience with another musician who Nick had dated for a small amount of time during the days of One Hit Wonderful, breaking up shortly after the release of I H8 U 2. The result was another somewhat personal album, instead focusing on the problems that came with fame as The Dropouts got more and more popular, rather than their problems with the music industry like One Hit Wonderful.

Tracklist

 * 1) In Too Deep - Written by Jimmy Rodriguez and Jeremy Hunter
 * 2) I Want Your Girlfriend To Be My Girlfriend Too - Written by Nikki Brown and Nick Barnett
 * 3) Do You Wanna Get High? - Written by Scott Wilson
 * 4) Beverly Hills - Written by Nathan Taylor
 * 5) New Version Of You (New Version) - Written by Nick Barnett
 * 6) I Love/You Suck - Written by Scott Wilson
 * 7) Somebody Hates Me - Written by Nick Barnett
 * 8) Fat Lip - Written by Jimmy Rodriguez and Nick Barnett
 * 9) P.S. I Hate You - Written by Scott Wilson
 * 10) Slow Down - Written by Nick Barnett and Scott Wilson

Fun Facts
- I Love/You Suck and P.S. I Hate You are Nick Barnett's favorite songs to play from the album, he thinks the melody in the choruses of both songs are super fun and catchy, and he still catches himself singing them from time to time.

- Slow Down was written to be somewhat like I'm Cool from Party Down!, A slow closer song that acted as somewhat of a reflection on the rest of the album. Rather than it being the band themselves reflecting, it was the metaphorical main character reflecting on what he had gone through over the course of the album, and wanting to do better now.

- The band choreographed a small dance to New Version Of You (New Version), that they would do at live shows. The dance is very simple and uses mostly just hand and arm movements, but has become tradition whenever the song is played - most fans have learned it and will dance along at shows.

- The band no longer likes the song Beverly Hills, as they do now think that it as too radio friendly, even for the time that they were in when the album was originally released. Nathan Taylor likes the lyrics, but wish that they pushed the song further than they did.

- The person on the cover of I H8 U 2 is Nathan Taylor's little sister, Jenny Taylor, holding up Nathan's old phone. Jimmy texted him the message to get it to appear as it does in the photo.

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