The Gift of Game

The Gift of Game
Studio album by Crazy Town
Released	November 9, 1999 (U.S.)
Recorded	1999 at Westlake Audio, Los Angeles
Genre	Rap rock[1] rap metal[2] alternative metal[3] nu metal[4]
Length	45:17
Label	Columbia
Producer	Josh Abraham
Crazy Town chronology
The Gift of Game (1999) Darkhorse (2002)
Singles from The Gift of Game
"Toxic" Released: September 9, 1999 "Darkside" Released: June 10, 2000 "Butterfly" Released: November 13, 2000 "Revolving Door" Released: July 2, 2001

The Gift of Game is the first album by Los Angeles band Crazy Town. It was released on November 9, 1999 in the U.S. by Columbia Records. The album yielded the band its biggest hit to date with "Butterfly" which reached number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100^[5] on March 24, 2001.

Worldwide the album sold more than 2.5 million units,^[6] with more than 1.5 million in the US alone.^[7]

The girl licking the lollipop on the cover of the album is a fictional character created by Crazy Town, known as "Little Lolita". Both the album title and the picture of Little Lolita are based on lyrics from the song "Lollipop Porn". The album cover was designed by co-lead singer Shifty Shellshock's father and uncle.^[8] A song titled "Lolita" later appeared on Shellshock's solo album Happy Love Sick and her image reappears on Crazytown's third album The Brimstone Sluggers.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[3]
NME	[2]
Panorama	[9]

Steve Huey at AllMusic described the album as "similar to many other rap-inflected alternative metal albums in that it concentrates on sound over structure, creating macho, aggressive grooves with grinding, noisily textured guitars and the underlying feel of squared-off hip-hop beats. While Huey argued that the shows signs of Limp Bizkit's "juvenile humor", it shows "promise".^[3] April Long of NME criticized the album for its generic guitar riffs, and containing "some of the most Neanderthal lyrics ever written"^[2]

Track listing

(Tracks 15 to 31 are silence)

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Intro"	Shifty Shellshock, Doug Miller	0:25
2.	"Toxic"	Shellshock, Miller, Bret Mazur	2:48
3.	"Think Fast" (featuring Dirty Unit)	Shellshock, Mazur, Miller, Rust Epique, Torshawn Roland, Percy Washington	3:52
4.	"Darkside"	Shellshock, Mazur	3:52
5.	"Black Cloud" (featuring Jay Gordon of Orgy)	Shellshock, Mazur, Miller, Epique, Gordon, Bernard Williams	5:02
6.	"Butterfly" (sampled Red Hot Chili Peppers)	Shellshock, Mazur, Anthony Kiedis, Flea, Chad Smith, John Frusciante	3:36
7.	"Only When I'm Drunk" (Tha Alkaholiks Cover)	Tash, J-Ro, E-Swift	2:47
8.	"Hollywood Babylon" (featuring Mad Lion)	Shellshock, Mazur, Mad Lion	4:23
9.	"Face the Music"	Shellshock, Mazur	3:24
10.	"Lollipop Porn"	Shellshock, Mazur, Nicole Lorenzo	3:54
11.	"Revolving Door" (sampled Siouxsie and the Banshees)	Shellshock, Mazur	3:40
12.	"Players (Only Love You When They're Playing)" (featuring Jenny Sipprelle)	Shellshock, Mazur, Williams, Anthony Valli	4:13
13.	"B-Boy 2000" (featuring KRS-One)	Shellshock, Mazur, KRS-One, Williams, Valli, Miller, Epique	4:27
14.	"Outro"		1:19
15.	"The Gift of Game"
32.	Untitled (Hidden track)		0:55

Certifications

Country	Certification	Date	Sales
Australia	Gold[10]	2001	35,000+
Canada	Platinum[11]	July 11, 2001	100,000+
Finland	Gold[12]	2001	20,933
U.K.	Gold[13]	June 6, 2014	100,000+
U.S.	Platinum[14]	February 6, 2001	1,500,000+[7]

Singles

Year	Single	Peak chart positions
		US [15]	US Alt. [15]	US Main. [15]	AUS [16]	NLD [17]	NZL [18]	FIN [19]	GER [20]	SWI [21]	UK [22]	SWE [23]	NOR [24]
1999	"Toxic"	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
2000	"Darkside"	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
	"Butterfly"	1	1	21	4	8	2	2	1	1	3	2	1
2001	"Revolving Door"	—	—	—	76[25]	71	—	19	26	43	23	46	—
"—" denotes a single that didn't chart

Personnel

Crazy Town

• Bret Mazur – vocals, keyboards
• Shifty Shellshock – vocals
• DJ AM – turntables
• James Bradley Jr. – drums
• Rust Epique – guitars
• Anthony Valli – guitars
• Doug Miller – bass

Additional personnel

• Troy Van Leeuwen – guitars on "Darkside"
• Jay Gordon – keyboards on "Darkside", refrain in "Black Cloud"
• Stephen Costantino – guitars on "Revolving Door" and "Hollywood Babylon"

References

1. "Winging It: a profile on the band Crazy Town". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved July 5, 2015.
2. Long, April (April 13, 2001). "Crazy Town : The Gift Of Game". NME. Retrieved May 29, 2014.
3. The Gift of Game at AllMusic. Retrieved April 13, 2013.
4. "Guitar World Presents Nu-metal". Guitar World. Retrieved July 5, 2015.
5. "Crazy Town - Bio". MTV. Retrieved May 29, 2014.
6. "Crazytown - Darkhorse". Melodic (magazine). Retrieved May 29, 2014.
7. Jeckell, Barry (January 10, 2002). "News on Crazy Town, Nelly, NY Metropolis Fest". Billboard (magazine). Retrieved May 28, 2014.
8. Edwards, Gavin (March 15, 2001). "Q&A: Shifty Shellshock of Crazy Town". Rolling Stone. No. 864. p. 35.
9. "The Gift of Game – Limp Bizkit: Se Opp!". panorama.no. Retrieved May 29, 2014.
10. ARIA album chart – 2001
11. Canada certifications (Retrieved April 26, 2009)
12. Finland certifications (Retrieved September 21, 2010)
13. UK Charts Search ' Crazy TOWN'
14. U.S. certifications riaa.com (Retrieved April 26, 2009)
15. "Artist Chart History – singles". Billboard charts. Retrieved 2008-04-01.
16. Australian Singles Charting
17. Dutch Singles Charting
18. New Zealand Singles Charting
19. Finnish Singles Charting
20. German Singles Charting
21. Swiss Singles Charting
22. UK Charting Search for: "Crazy Town"
23. Swedish Charts – Crazy Town
24. Norway Charts – Crazy Town
25. "ARIA Report Issue 597 – Week commencing 6th August 2001" (PDF). Pandora Archive. Retrieved April 13, 2013.