Stupid Stupid Stupid is the second studio album by the English rock band Black Grape, released on 10 November 1997 through Radioactive Records. While touring in support of their debut studio album It's Great When You're Straight...Yeah (1995), vocalist Paul "Kermit" Leveridge was diagnosed with sepsis. Carl "Psycho" McCarthy temporarily filled in Kermit's role before being added to the line-up permanently. Though he was too ill to tour, Kermit joined the band in Hollywood to work on songs for their next album, which continued throughout 1996. They recorded their second album at Real World Studios in Bath and Westlake Audio in Los Angeles, California, over eight weeks with Danny Saber, John X Volaitis, and frontman Shaun Ryder as producers. Stupid Stupid Stupid is a dance-rock album that continues the party atmosphere of It's Great When You're Straight...Yeah while toning down that album's religious references.
Stupid Stupid Stupid received mixed reviews from music critics, some of whom saw it as a continuation of It's Great When You're Straight...Yeah, while others found it to be an inferior version of that album. It peaked at number 11 in the UK, as well as charting highly in Scotland and Sweden. It would be certified gold in the UK within a few months of release. With an appearance at the Phoenix Festival, Saber was made a member of Black Grape. "Get Higher" was released as the lead single from Stupid Stupid Stupid on 20 October 1997, reaching number 12 in Scotland and number 24 in the UK. It was followed by the European-only second single, "Dadi Waz a Badi". Following a fight prior to a show, Ryder fired the rest of the band; future touring plans were subsequently cancelled. "Marbles" was released as the album's third single on 23 February 1998, sitting outside of the top 40 in Scotland and the UK. By July 1998, Ryder said he would no longer be recording under the Black Grape name.
Background Black Grape released their debut studio album, It's Great When You're Straight...Yeah, in August 1995. It topped the UK Album Chart for two months and was eventually certified platinum. All three of its singles – "Reverend Black Grape", "In the Name of the Father", and "Kelly's Heroes" – reached the top 20 in the UK, with "In the Name of the Father" peaking the highest at number 8. After flying back to the United Kingdom after a show, vocalist Paul "Kermit" Leveridge fell ill and was subsequently diagnosed with sepsis.Verrico 1998, p. 203 In early 1996, the band embarked on a UK tour, with Carl "Psycho" McCarthy covering Kermit's role. At the tour's conclusion, he joined the band on a permanent basis.Cigarettes 1996 Dancer Bez left the band over disagreements with finances with the band's label, Radioactive Records. Kermit was in a stable condition to help record "England's Irie", a song intended to promote the Euro 1996 football league.Middles 1997, p. 188 Black Grape then toured across the United States and South America with Psycho; Kermit had to miss the trek as a result of a lung infection.Verrico 1998, p. 204
Despite Kermit being too ill to tour, he flew to the US in May 1996; he, frontman Shaun Ryder, and producer Danny Saber worked on some new songs in a rented house in Hollywood.Verrico 1998, p. 205 The band released the non-album single "Fat Neck" in May 1996, which peaked at number ten in the UK. Around it, they supported Oasis for two shows and headlined Tribal Gathering. The following month, Ryder fired their management team, Nicholl and Dime, on the grounds that they were trying to extort money out of him.Middles 1997, p. 193 He tried to find a new manager, being in contact with Nirvana associate Danny Goldberg and Henry Rollins contactee Richard Bishop, eventually going with Bishop's management company, 3AM.Ryder 2012, p. 342 Kermit and Psycho meanwhile hired the company Hot Soup, which consisted of their touring manager Tony Murray and Ryder's father, to manage the pair. "England's Irie" was released as another non-album single that same month, peaking at number six in the UK. They headlined the Saturday date of the Reading Festival. Throughout the year, the band spent three separate fortnight-long sessions at the rented Hollywood residence to write material for their next album, with the last occurring in December 1996.Verrico 1998, p. 206 They demoed 15 tracks in total while there.
Production Ryder did not want to rush into recording their next album, preferring to take a slow-paced approach to it. In the meantime, Saber occupied himself working on Bridges to Babylon (1997) by the Rolling Stones, as well as remix tracks by the likes of David Bowie and U2. Ryder decided to take a break, purchasing a house outside of Cork, Ireland. Black Grape recorded their new album over the course of eight weeks in July and August 1997.Verrico 1998, p. 208 In the midst of recording, Ryder was busy filming scenes for The Avengers (1998); they were accompanied by live member and keyboardist Martin Slattery. Sessions were held at Real World Studios in Bath and Westlake Audio in Los Angeles, California, with Saber, John X Volaitis, and Ryder as producers. "Dadi Waz a Badi" had the extra credit of also being produced by It's Great When You're Straight...Yeah producer Stephen Lironi.
Around this time, Kermit and Psycho were focused on trying to get their side project Manmade started; Ryder theorised that people had told the pair that they did not need him to be successful.Ryder 2012, p. 344 Ryder and Saber would often be sitting in the studio waiting for Kermit and Psycho to show up, who were recording for Manmade instead of for Black Grape. Ryder's frustration about the situation extended to Murray, saying he had a conflict of interest with the pair. Ryder wanted to continue the party atmosphere from their debut, but felt this was unattainable as the collaborative nature of that album was not present while making the new one.Ryder 2012, p. 345 He went as far as to compare it to the making of his previous band Happy Mondays' fourth studio album Yes Please! (1992): "The band was splintering and the music really suffered because of it".Ryder 2012, p. 347 Volaitis served as the main engineer, with assistance from Marco Milgliari, who was an additional engineer alongside Phil Ault, Ewan Davis, and Saber. Saber claimed that Ryder would record as many as 20 tracks of his vocals for every song on the album. Tom Lord-Alge, with assistance from Mauricio Iragorri, mixed the recordings at South Beach Studios in Miami, Florida, and Encore Studios in Los Angeles. Ted Jensen then mastered the album at Sterling Sound in New York.
Composition and lyrics Musically, the sound of Stupid Stupid Stupid has been described as dance-rock, with influence from soul. Author Lisa Verrico wrote in her book High Life 'N' Low Down Dirty: The Thrills and Spills of Shaun Ryder that the album melded together "P-funk, soul, hip hop, rock and drum'n'bass beats with a buoyant brass section, bongos, scratching and the usual smattering of musical steals". It retained the party atmosphere of It's Great When You're Straight...Yeah; it lacked the religious references of that album, with Ryder claiming he put more effort into the lyrics for Stupid Stupid Stupid. The title was taken from an occasion where the band was performing "Reverend Black Grape" on TV and had to change the lyric "talking bullshit... bullshit... bullshit" to "talking stupid... stupid... stupid". All of the tracks were credited to Ryder, Saber, and Manmade, except "Lonely", by Posie Knight and Jerry Weaver.
"Get Higher" is about Ryder's drug consumption; its intro consists of spliced speeches of former US president Ronald Reagan, making him sound like he is discussing drug use. It was taken from "Just Say No", a TV campaign from the 1980s where Reagan and his wife Nancy warned against marijuana usage. Ryder said he had "ripped [off] a bit" of "Reach for Love" (1984) by Marcel King for "Get Higher" in the hopes that listeners would "go back and discover the original".Ryder 2012, p. 94 "Squeaky" is about safe sex; its music is a cross between the sound of Led Zeppelin and baggy, with record scratches and duck noises. "Marbles" is a trip hop and electronic house track that was compared to the work of Happy Mondays and continued the vocal sparring found on Black Grape's debut.Ryder 2012, p. 346 "Dadi Waz a Badi" is about having bad parents as role models and Ryder pondering whether he is a good father.Harrison 1998, p. 33 Both it and "Marbles" recalled the sound of Happy Mondays' third studio album, Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches (1990).
"Rubberband" is a guitar-focused rock song with heavy bass parts, topped by Ryder's distorted voice being run through a flange pedal. It channels the sound of "Devils Haircut" (1996) by Beck and lifts the guitar part from the Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches opening track, "Kinky Afro". "Spotlight" includes a musical tribute to Phil Lynott and is the only track on the album not to feature vocals from Kermit. "Tell Me Something" is a drum and bass track with Latin music flourishes and borrows elements of "Fools Gold" (1989) by the Stone Roses and the psychedelic work of the Byrds. "Money Back Guaranteed" is a series of toilet jokes. "Lonely" is a cover of the Frederick Knight track "I've Been Lonely for So Long (1972); Black Grape's version of the track was compared to Exile on Main St. (1972)-era Rolling Stones. They decided to do a version of it after listening to its respective album, I've Been Lonely for So Long (1972), while in the studio. The album concludes with the Latin funk of "Words".
Release Black Grape played their first show in 1997, performing at the Phoenix Festival, which marked the introduction of Saber as a member of the band.Verrico 1998, pp. 207–8 In August 1997, the band's documentary, The Grape Tapes, premiered at the Edinburgh Film Festival. It was directed by Tom Bruggen, who originally wanted to make a documentary on Happy Mondays; as that band broke up, Bruggen filmed the formation of Black Grape.Ryder 2012, p. 306 "Get Higher" was released as the album's lead single on 20 October 1997; this version omitted the audio clip of Reagan. Two versions were released on CD: the first with remixes of "Get Higher" and a live version of "Rubberband", while the second included remixes of "Rubberband" and the music video for "Get Higher". Stupid Stupid Stupid was released on 10 November 1997, after initially being scheduled for October 1997.Harrison 1997, p. 4Sexton 1998, p. 22 Ryder said the album's artwork received criticism from some people in the US as the golliwog doll depicted with googly eyes came across as a racist stereotype, to which he responded: "We had two black kids in the band, Kermit and Psycho, who hadn't even thought anything of it".Ryder 2012, p. 239