Here's To You

Here's To You
Here's To You is the fifth studio album by The Dropouts, released on October 21st, 1998. The album was intended to be the last release by the band, with many of the songs revolving around the aspect of it being their last, as well as fun personal songs that the band wrote about each other and their experiences together.

The album strays further from the ska sound they were originally known for, opting to take the album in the direction they wanted due to it being their last one. Many of the songs lean more into alternative rock, and many songs from Cheer Up! were featured here because of the memories behind them. The albums songs were written majorly by everyone, since they wanted the album to be almost a love letter to themselves.

Planning Stages
After the financial failure of Price For Popularity, and the success of Scott Wilson and Nikki Brown's solo careers, the decision was made to make one last album and then break the band up. After being dropped by Griffin Records, this album was moved to the record company Nathan Taylor was working on, planned to be it's first release. His company Make Believe Records would go on later to produce albums for many different bands.

With their own personal record label and the idea of this being the last record they would write, they decided to dedicate all of the songs to themselves, poking fun at each other and writing many of the songs together. This can easily be seen in songs like We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful, poking fun at the success of Scott and Nikki's solo careers, as well as the song (Bye) Nikki (Bye), which is a song the rest of the band wrote entirely about Nikki. The album was quickly put into production with them having lots of time with no tour for Price For Popularity.

Production
Here's To You officially started production in February 1998. The original line up came together for what they thought would be their last album, Nick Barnett, Scott Wilson, Nikki Brown, Jimmy Rodriguez and Nathan Taylor all filled their usual roles, with Nathan Taylor this time also taking on the responsiblites of the producer, since Jeremy Hunter was unavailable, still working with Griffin Records.

As they thought of Here's To You as their final album, all of the songs are written to themselves, not worrying about what critics or fans wanted too much, instead opting for what they found fun. This led to songs jumping between different styles, easily being seen in songs like I Say Ooh and Superman. This album also includes the biggest number of songs from Cheer Up! during their original 5 album run. The reason for this was stated by Scott Wilson:

"Here's To You reuses a lot of songs from the musical, yeah - but it wasn't because we were lazy or pressed for time or anything. We had just wanted to reminiscence, since the musical is where we all first met, it made sense for us to put songs from it on here, as well as the songs applying pretty well to where we were in life at the time." - Scott Wilson.

Lots of the band members had songs of their own on the album, save for Jimmy Rodriguez who had recently started getting more into hip hop and rap and felt like his writing style didn't match well with the bands, and instead helped out with tracks rather than writing his own.

Nick Barnett wrote the songs We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful, El Scorcho, and Say It Ain't So, the first song intentionally poking fun at Scott and Nikki, while the line "It should've been me, everybody knows - everybody says so!" was originally written by Nikki, who thought that Nick deserved to become big rather than her, as most of the band respected Nick and held his talent high.

Scott Wilson wrote the song Superman, leaning back into the slower songs that had ended some of their previous album.

Nikki Brown wrote the song I Say Ooh with Jimmy Rodriguez, who included the small pseudo-rap verse in the song, and he also performs it live - however in the album version it's Nick performing it, purely because Jimmy wanted to see him try and rap, and it was the version that stuck. Nathan Taylor wrote the songs Holiday and Hold Me, which were written in the spirit of the band he had tried to make before The Dropouts, which is who the song Undone - The Sweater Song was originally written for.

The songs from Cheer Up! that were included all had specific reasons for being chosen, the titular song Cheer Up was chosen as a way to almost leave a message to their fans, that it'll get better and these things always happen. It's better to get over it and move on than be sad about the band forever. New York, New York was chosen as Nick Barnett had planned to move to New York City once the band broke up, instead of staying in Las Angeles like the rest of the band was doing. Drunk Again was added almost as a joke, as they pictured one of them becoming an alcoholic bum after their band was over, and also felt the lyrics spoke true to their feelings.

(Bye) Nikki (Bye) was added to the tracklist as a surprise to Nikki Brown, who had no idea the song existed at first. Nick Barnett, Scott Wilson, Jimmy Rodriguez, and Nathan Taylor all wrote the song together, including small inside jokes they had within the band, as well as including Nikki's little sister, Sarah Brown, to sing one chorus. That's who the little girl who sings near the end of the song is.

Here's To You has a bit more of a rough sound to it, as Nathan was still new and learning things about production. The band was fine with this as it was what they had, and even still sounded a lot better than their original EP had sounded. They all still believe that Nathan did an incredible job producing the album.

The Road To Here's To You
After the failure of Price For Popularity, The Dropouts had lost a good amount of relevance, not playing at many shows or festivals after the small amount they did before production started on Here's To You. To release the first single, Talkie McTalkerson invited them back on to his show, where they announced that this would be their last album. The first single, debuted live on the show, was El Scorcho, which was intended to be another big sing along song. El Scorcho was released the same day, on May 16th, 1998 to positive reviews. Many people liked the weird and oddly specific lyrics, which were memorable and got stuck in people's heads. Critics praised the raw emotion that could easily be heard in Nick Barnett's vocals. Fans felt the song was a good send off. Breaking tradition, the single also received a music video, a still shot of the couch Jimmy Rodriguez often used instead of a chair when playing drums, as each member came together to sing the song together, starting with just Nick alone, eventually everyone, including the main members of the ''Dropouts Brass Section. ''The music video was seen to be sweet and caring, almost like you were watching somebody's home movie.

The second single released was (Bye) Nikki (Bye), again debuted on the Talkie McTalkerson Show, where they now announced the name of the album. Instead of a live show, they premiered the music video for the song, again breaking the tradition and giving videos for all of the singles for the album. The video was a recording of the first time they played the song for Nikki, including when her little sister came out to help sing. The home movie aspect of the music videos carried over to this one, getting the same positive reception. The single was released on August 8th, 1998 to mixed reviews, as critics found the song too goofy and full of inside jokes and references that didn't make sense, while fans of the band loved it and what the song meant.

The final single released was We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful, which received another music video, this time just premiering as the video and not on a live show. The single came out on September 18th, 1998 to positive reviews. Many were glad to see they still had some songs in the old ska style, as well as the message of them poking fun at Scott and Nikki easily coming through with the over the top lyrics and loud brass section. The music video featured them playing in the same room from the Dope Nose video, basically being a parody of it.

Reception
Here's To You officially released on October 21st, 1998, filling in the usual time frame for Dropouts releases. The album came out to positive reviews, many seeing it as a vast improvement over their last album, as well as serving as a good send off to the band. Nick Barnett thinks that the positive reviews were mostly part of the fact it was their final album, which gave them some leeway with critics. Many found the inclusion of songs from Cheer Up! to be sweet and understood the message. With none of them being revealed during the singles, it was a nice surprise to hear the old songs again. Critics praised the overall story of the album, saying the send off vibes really shine through, it truly feels like an ending, but a vague one, leaving the listener to fill in the gaps that were left once you got through the loud big band ending to Drunk Again.

While the success of Here's To You did bring in some money for the band, they had already decided they'd move on, so rather than use the money to continue the band, they used it for one last tour, making up for the two they had missed on Price For Popularity and I H8 U 2. They made one last goodbye video to their fans announcing the tour and thanking them for all the support, especially just with this album alone. Afterwords, the band went their separate ways, with Nikki and Scott going on with their solo careers, Nathan working on his record company, and Jimmy also going a solo route with his hip hop and rap music.

The Final Send Off Tour
To use the money they had gotten from the success of Here's To You, the band went on their biggest tour yet, stretching out across the entire US, coast to coast. The shows continued in house parties, but this time also included slightly bigger venues, small theaters and bigger bars. They tried to open shows in as many cities and towns as they could afford, travelling every day between shows to get to their next destination. During these shows, the setlists included all of Here's To You, as well as choice songs from Price For Popularity and I H8 U 2, since those albums didn't get their own tour. They also included fan favorites from their first two albums, even including Dope Nose in many of their set lists. Old fans of the band often cite this as one of their favorite tours by the band, as the energy and emotions during those shows was off the charts, as the band and fans celebrated together, proud of all the accomplishments they had made up until this point.

Tracklist

 * 1) We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful - Written by Nick Barnett and Nikki Brown
 * 2) Cheer Up - Written by Nick Barnett and Scott Wilson
 * 3) Holiday - Written by Nathan Taylor
 * 4) El Scorcho - Written by Nick Barnett
 * 5) (Bye) Nikki (Bye) - Written by Nick Barnett, Scott Wilson, Jimmy Rodriguez, and Nathan Taylor
 * 6) New York, New York - Originally written by Frank Sinatra, arranged by Nick Barnett and Scott Wilson
 * 7) Superman - Written by Scott Wilson
 * 8) Hold Me - Written by Nathan Taylor
 * 9) Say It Ain't So - Written by Nick Barnett
 * 10) Drunk Again - Written by Nick Barnett and Scott Wilson

Fun Facts
- Both the cover art for the album and the single El Scorcho feature Nick Barnett and Scott Wilson walking down snowy roads.The cover art for the album was decided on first, basing the art for El Scorcho on the album's cover.

- Superman was later used as the theme song to a famous sitcom.

- The band still sometimes sings (Bye) Nikki (Bye) to her when she leaves social gathering and such. It's become a small running joke between the friends.

- The rap in I Say Ooh was a very early attempt at rap for Jimmy Rodriguez, who has now grown to be much better. He says he's a bit embarrassed by the rap segment of the song now, but thinks it fits the overall themes of the album better than a well written and produced rap would've. It feels very much like friends messing around, and he loves that.

- There's songs from Nikki Brown, Scott Wilson, and Jimmy Rodriguez's solo careers that reference either this album directly or just the time period that they were in when writing it. Every member of the band holds the album close to their hearts, with Nathan Taylor having a framed version of the record hanging up in his office.

- The original lineup of The Dropouts officially broke up on January 5th, 1999.

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