What Would the Community Think is the third album by American singer-songwriter Chan Marshall, also known as Cat Power. It was released in 1996 on Matador Records, and was produced by Sonic Youth drummer Steve Shelley. The album has been noted for its array of musical styles, ranging from alternative rock to folk and blues. Though not a commercial hit, the album received unanimous critical acclaim and has been named as one of Cat Power's "masterpieces".
History
What Would The Community Think...
What Would the Community Think is the third album by American singer-songwriter Chan Marshall, also known as Cat Power. It was released in 1996 on Matador Records, and was produced by Sonic Youth drummer Steve Shelley. The album has been noted for its array of musical styles, ranging from alternative rock to folk and blues. Though not a commercial hit, the album received unanimous critical acclaim and has been named as one of Cat Power's "masterpieces".
History
What Would The Community Think marked Cat Power's third studio release, and has been noted for its blend of blues, alternative rock, and country tracks, as well as for its largely melancholy lyrical subject matter.
The album's lead single, "Nude as the News" was Cat Power's first song to receive an official music video in 1997, directed by Brett Vapnek. In retrospect, Marshall has divulged that the ambiguous lyrics to the song were written about an abortion she had in 1992, and the names "Jackson" and "Jesse" in the song are references to Patti Smith's two children.
The cover artwork for the album was created by Chan Marshall out of a postcard: "I just needed a cover and I had this postcard that I've had for a long time. It's this woman from the '70s in New York and they did this collage of cigarette ads and she whited out the eyes and instead of a cigarette she had a whistle. It's no big deal, I just cut out the center of her face and put mine on top. It made it look more real." Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.
