Songs for Polarbears is the debut studio album by Northern Irish alternative rock band Snow Patrol, released on 31 August 1998 in the United Kingdom, and 12 October in the United States.
The album charted at #143 in the UK, and did not sell well upon its initial release. However, its re-release eventually went Gold in the UK.
Background The band was listening to a diverse range of music at the time, with the majority of it being American rock like Pixies, Soundgarden and Dinosaur Jr. Other acts included My Bloody Valentine, and Super Furry Animals' first album Fuzzy Logic. All these influences resulted in a musically diverse album that incorporated styles like hip hop, drone, and Pavement-style indie rock. Appears as: "The musical diversity that ranges from hip hop beats to guitar drone to Pavement-esque indie rock that can be heard on the album is strong enough of a reason to make them a cult favourite." The album title is a reference to the band's previous name Polarbear. Appears as: "Once they were called Shrug, and more recently, Polarbear, which was changed when another, similarly titled act started getting a bit frosty. Hence the title of the album."
Track listing
"Marketplace" (3:48) is included as a hidden track after "One Hundred Things You Should Have Done in Bed" on both versions.
All bonus tracks originally appeared as B-sides to the singles released from Songs for Polarbears.
Personnel Snow Patrol Gary Lightbody – vocals, guitar, keyboards, drums on "Riot, Please" Mark McClelland – bass guitar, keyboards Jonny Quinn – drums
Other personnel Richard Colburn – drums, keyboards on track 2 Isobel Campbell – vocals on track 7 Fraser Simpson – guitar on track 11
Charts + Chart performance for Songs for PolarbearsChart (1998–2006)PeakpositionIrish Albums Chart90UK Albums Chart143
Certifications + Certifications for Songs for PolarbearsOrganizationLevelDate Note: Need to manually search for 'Snow Patrol'BPI (UK)Silver3 February 2006BPI (UK)Gold15 June 2007
References