Turn On the Bright Lights

Turn On the Bright Lights is the debut studio album by American rock band Interpol, released on August 20, 2002.[1] The album was recorded in November 2001 at Tarquin Studios in Connecticut, and was co-produced, mixed and engineered by Peter Katis and Gareth Jones. It was released on August 19, 2002 in the United Kingdom and August 20 in the United States, through independent record label Matador Records.

Turn On the Bright Lights
Studio album by
Interpol
ReleasedAugust 20, 2002
RecordedNovember 2001
StudioTarquin (Bridgeport, Connecticut)
Genre
Length49:02
LabelMatador
Producer
Interpol chronology
Interpol
(2002)		 Turn On the Bright Lights
(2002)		 The Black EP
(2003)
Singles from Turn On the Bright Lights
  1. "PDA"
    Released: August 22, 2002
  2. "Obstacle 1"
    Released: November 11, 2002
  3. "Say Hello to the Angels" / "NYC"
    Released: April 14, 2003

Upon release, the record peaked at number 101 on the UK Albums Chart. It reached number 158 on the Billboard 200 in the United States, as well as spending 73 weeks on the Billboard Independent Albums chart, peaking at number five. The songs "PDA", "Obstacle 1" and the double a-side single "Say Hello to the Angels" / "NYC" were released as singles, with music videos being shot for all except "Say Hello to the Angels".

Music

In a brief interview about the fifteenth anniversary of Turn On the Bright Lights, guitarist Daniel Kessler stated the album's opening track, "Untitled" was written specifically to open the band's live shows. This leads into why the song is named "Untitled" because the band see the song as the intro song. Lead singer Paul Banks described the riff from the song as "signature Daniel".[2]

Promotion and release

The release of Turn On the Bright Lights was preceded by the marketing of the band's self-titled EP Interpol in June 2002, their first release for Matador. The EP contained three tracks: radio single "PDA", future single "NYC", and "Specialist". All three tracks later appeared on the album, with "Specialist" included as a bonus track in Australian and Japanese editions. Further promotion continued at the beginning of the following year, when the band played the 2003 NME Awards Tour alongside the Datsuns, the Polyphonic Spree and the Thrills.[3] The song "PDA" is featured as a playable track in 2008 video game Rock Band 2.[4]

10th Anniversary Edition

A remastered version of the album was released in 2012 to commemorate its tenth anniversary. It featured additional material including demo recordings of several tracks, the bonus songs previously available on international releases and a DVD of live performances and music videos.[5] Many of the demo recording tracks had been previously released however the 10th Anniversary Edition also contains five unreleased demo tracks from what is dubbed "Third Demo".[6]

Critical reception
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic81/100[7]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[8]
Entertainment WeeklyA−[9]
Houston Chronicle[10]
Los Angeles Times[11]
NME8/10[12]
Pitchfork9.5/10[13]
Record Collector[14]
Rolling Stone[15]
Slant Magazine[16]
The Village VoiceC+[17]

Turn On the Bright Lights was released to critical acclaim. The album holds a score of 81 out of 100 from the aggregate site Metacritic based on 21 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[7] Contemporary reviews of the album often noted Interpol's influences and drew comparisons to several other acts.[5] Michael Chamy of The Austin Chronicle cited "melodic Peter Hook-like basslines; the divine shoegazer textures of My Bloody Valentine and Ride; a peppy, Strokes-like bounce; and a singer who's a dead ringer for Ian Curtis."[18] "It's almost as if Ian Curtis never hanged himself," began Blender's review, with critic Jonah Weiner adding that Paul Banks' vocals channeled Curtis' "gloomy moan."[19] NME's Victoria Segal called Joy Division comparisons "obvious and unmistakable, airbourne in the ashen atmospherics," while praising Interpol's take on the "grey-skinned British past".[12] Billboard wrote that Interpol had created an "homage to their particular vision of the '80s that stands proudly alongside the best of its idols."[20] Scott Seward, writing in The Village Voice, remarked: "If I like them because they remind me of eating bad bathtub mescaline in the woods and listening to Cure singles, well, that'll do. You might like them for completely different reasons."[21]

Noel Murray of The A.V. Club opined that Interpol's virtue "lies in the way its music unfurls from pinched openings to wide-open codas",[22] while Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone wrote that their "sleek, melancholy sound is a thing of glacial beauty".[15] Eric Carr of Pitchfork argued that the band had forged their own distinct sound, "a grander, more theatrical atmosphere with lush production that counters their frustrated bombast", praising Turn On the Bright Lights as "one of the most strikingly passionate records I've heard this year."[13] However, The Village Voice's Robert Christgau, naming it "Dud of the Month" in his Consumer Guide column, felt that Interpol "exemplify and counsel disengagement, self-seeking, a luxurious cynicism," downplaying Joy Division comparisons as "too kind".[17] Q's lukewarm assessment of the album described it as "predictably claustrophobic listening".[23]

At the end of the year, Turn On the Bright Lights featured on several publications' lists of the best albums of 2002, including those of Pitchfork, who named it the year's best album,[24] NME, who ranked it at number ten,[25] and Stylus Magazine, who ranked it at number five.[26] The album placed at number 15 on The Village Voice's year-end Pazz & Jop critics' poll.[27]

Legacy

Hailed as a seminal album of the 2000s,[28][29][30][31][32] Turn On the Bright Lights has been cited as an influence on many indie rock bands, including the Killers,[33] Editors,[34][35] the xx,[36] the Organ,[37] She Wants Revenge,[38] and others to the extent that many of these bands have been disparagingly referred to as "Interpol clones".[39] Closely associated with 9/11-era New York City,[40] the album has been seen as helping define 2000s indie rock, and Interpol have been cited as helping usher in the New York-born post-punk revival scene, along with contemporaries such as the Strokes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and TV on the Radio.[41] Summing up the album's impact in a review of its 2012 re-issue, Matt LeMay of Pitchfork wrote: "Suggesting that this album is simply a product of its time and place is no less naive than suggesting that anyone who has ever been in love could easily write, arrange and record an amazing love song. There were a lot of good bands in New York in 2002, but only one band made this record."[5] In 2017, the band embarked on a worldwide tour to celebrate its 15th anniversary.[42]

In a 2018 interview with Vice, Paul Banks listed Turn on the Bright Lights as his second favorite of the band's albums. He stated: "as far as ease of making it, we had years to write these songs. The longest writing period of any of your records is your debut. We formed in 1997, so it’s five years, and three-and-a-half/four of playing shows and trying out that material. So it went down smoothly in the studio, and then you have all the excitement of it being your first album. It was a good time in our lives."[43] Drummer Sam Fogarino reflected on the album by saying: "we were very naïve, we didn’t know how to make a record together, and we were lucky to have a good snapshot taken of who we were at the time. And we got a little more confident with every record."[44]

At the end of the decade, the album has been featured on numerous lists:

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by expanding it with reliably sourced entries.
Publication Accolade Rank
Pitchfork 'Top 100 albums 2000-2004' 3[45]
Pitchfork 'Top 200 albums of the 2000s' 20[46]
Stylus 'Top 50 Albums 2000-2005' 6[47]
Stylus 'Top 100 Albums of the 2000s' 20[48]
NME '100 Greatest Albums of the Decade' 8[49]
NME '500 Greatest Albums of All Time' 130[50]
Rolling Stone '100 Best Albums of the Decade' 59[51]
Under the Radar 'Top 200 Albums of the Decade' 3[52]
Beats Per Minute 'Top 100 Albums of the Decade' 7[53]
eMusic '100 Best Albums of the Decade' 9
Lost At Sea '2000-2009: Albums of the Decade' 13[54]
The Irish Times 'Top 20 Albums of the Decade' 10[55]
Consequence of Sound 'Top 100 Albums of the Decade' 35[56]
musicOMH '21 Best Albums of the 2000s' 12
The Guardian '100 Best Albums of the 21st Century' 50[57]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Interpol.

No.TitleLength
1."Untitled"3:56
2."Obstacle 1"4:11
3."NYC"4:20
4."PDA"4:59
5."Say Hello to the Angels"4:28
6."Hands Away"3:05
7."Obstacle 2"3:47
8."Stella Was a Diver and She Was Always Down"6:28
9."Roland"3:35
10."The New"6:07
11."Leif Erikson"4:00
Total length:49:02
Tenth Anniversary Edition bonus disc
No.TitleLength
1."Interlude"1:01
2."Specialist"6:40
3."PDA" (First Demo)4:44
4."Roland" (First Demo)3:44
5."Get the Girls/Song 5" (First Demo)3:47
6."Precipitate" (Second Demo)5:33
7."Song Seven" (Second Demo)4:43
8."A Time to Be So Small" (Second Demo)5:47
9."Untitled" (Third Demo)4:13
10."Stella Was a Diver and She Was Always Down" (Third Demo)6:40
11."NYC" (Third Demo)4:27
12."Leif Erikson" (Third Demo)4:27
13."Gavilan/Cubed" (Third Demo) (alternatively known as "Mascara")6:49
14."Obstacle 2" (Peel Session)3:54
15."Hands Away" (Peel Session)3:10
16."The New" (Peel Session)5:59
17."NYC" (Peel Session)4:17

Bonus track on Australian edition

  • "Specialist" – 6:39

Bonus tracks on Japanese edition Two different versions exist. One version has the following bonus tracks:

  • "Interlude" – 1:02
  • "Specialist" – 6:39

The other version has the following bonus tracks:

  • "Hands Away" (Peel session)
  • "Obstacle 2" (Peel session)
  • "PDA" (video)
  • "NYC" (video)
  • "Obstacle 1" (video)

Bonus tracks on Mexican edition

  • "Interlude" – 1:02
  • "Specialist" – 6:39
  • "PDA" (video)
  • "NYC" (video)
  • "Obstacle 1" (video)

Personnel
Interpol

Charts
Chart (2002–03) Peak
position
French Albums (SNEP)[58] 62
UK Albums (OCC)[59] 101
US Billboard 200[60] 158
US Independent Albums (Billboard)[61] 5

Certifications and sales
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Mexico (AMPROFON)[62] N/A 20,000[63]
United Kingdom (BPI)[64] Gold 100,000^
United States (RIAA)[65] Gold 522,000[66]
Worldwide (IFPI) N/A 1,000,000 [67]

*sales figures based on certification alone
^shipments figures based on certification alone

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References
  1. "Matador Records - Store". Matador Records official website. Retrieved August 19, 2012.
  2. InterpolVEVO (May 11, 2018), Interpol - Turn on the Bright Lights XV, retrieved April 7, 2019
  3. Kershaw, Richard (February 14, 2003). "Review / Interpol @ Astoria, 9/02/03". Drowned in Sound. Retrieved December 6, 2009.
  4. Snow, Jean (July 14, 2008). "The Complete Rock Band 2 Track List". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved March 30, 2019.
  5. LeMay, Matt (December 4, 2012). "Interpol: Turn On the Bright Lights: The Tenth Anniversary Edition". Pitchfork. Retrieved May 19, 2013.
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  8. Kellman, Andy. "Turn on the Bright Lights – Interpol". AllMusic. Retrieved September 11, 2011.
  9. Serpick, Evan (August 23, 2002). "Turn on the Bright Lights". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on July 3, 2018. Retrieved May 19, 2013.
  10. Martinez, Rebekah (March 13, 2003). "Interpol – Turn On the Bright Lights". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved October 16, 2016.
  11. Bronson, Kevin (September 8, 2002). "Interpol 'Turn on the Bright Lights' Matador". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 30, 2015.
  12. Segal, Victoria (August 17, 2002). "Interpol: Turn On The Bright Lights". NME: 34. ISSN 0028-6362. Archived from the original on February 21, 2009. Retrieved September 11, 2011.
  13. Carr, Eric (August 18, 2002). "Interpol: Turn On the Bright Lights". Pitchfork. Retrieved September 11, 2011.
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  34. Chattman, Jon (March 18, 2010). "Editors' Frontman on the New Album and Leaving the Interpol Comparison Behind".
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  63. Furniss, Olaf (May 6, 2006). "Noiselab Raises Indie Acts' Volume In Mexico". Billboard. Retrieved July 12, 2018.
  64. "British album certifications – Interpol – Turn On the Bright Lights". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved July 12, 2018. Select albums in the Format field. Select Gold in the Certification field. Type Turn On the Bright Lights in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
  65. "American album certifications – Interpol – Turn On the Bright Lights". Recording Industry Association of America. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH. 
  66. Menze, Jill (August 13, 2010). "Interpol Returns To Matador For Fourth Album". Billboard. Retrieved July 12, 2018.
  67. Menze, Jill (May 1, 2017). "INTERPOL ANNOUNCES TURN ON THE BRIGHT LIGHTS 15TH ANNIVERSARY SHOWS IN NYC & LA". Red Light Management. Retrieved July 12, 2018.
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