Dig Your Own Hole is the second studio album by English electronic music duothe Chemical Brothers. It was released on 7 April 1997 in the United Kingdom by Freestyle Dust and Virgin Records and in the United States by Astralwerks. The album was recorded between 1995 and 1997, and features Noel Gallagher of Oasis and Beth Orton as guest vocalists. The album became the duo's first to peak at number one in the UK, achieving this peak in April 1997. Five singles were released from the album, two of which reached number one in the UK: "Setting Sun", "Where Do I Begin", "Block Rockin' Beats", "Elektrobank", and "The Private Psychedelic Reel". The album has been included in several British magazines' lists of the best albums ever. The success of the album led The Chemical Brothers to be much sought-after remixers, and the duo released a mix album in 1998 titled Brothers Gonna Work It Out.
Content
The album stands as the duo's longest studio album, exactly fourteen minutes longer than the band's debut album Exit Planet Dust.
Artwork
The booklet for the album contains various pictures. The single covers of "Setting Sun", "Block Rockin' Beats" and "Elektrobank" are all featured, in addition to a picture of an orange, a photo showing the scene used for the cover of Exit Planet Dust except from behind, and various other images. This album was also the last album to use the original Freestyle Dust logo.
Background
After The Chemical Brothers' successful debut album, Exit Planet Dust, released in June 1995, the duo continued to tour but quickly sought to record new material. Following the release of "Life Is Sweet", the final single from that album, the duo had changed labels from Junior Boy's Own to Virgin, with Virgin getting credit on their album Exit Planet Dust as well under the liner notes. The duo released an EP, Loops of Fury in January 1996, consisting of new material and a remix of one of the band's earliest and signature tracks, "Chemical Beats". The songs "It Doesn't Matter" and "Don't Stop the Rock" were released in June 1996 on vinyl as "Electronic Battle Weapon 1" and "Electronic Battle Weapon 2" respectively as promos for DJs to test in clubs. The duo met up with Noel Gallagher. They were interested in collaborating for a track. The Chemical Brothers had reportedly given him an instrumental track and he then wrote lyrics for the track. The song was released as the single "Setting Sun" in October 1996. The song entered the UK Singles Chart at number one. Stereogum said that "the combination of rave sirens and psych-rock far-outness was probably what convinced people like Noel Gallagher and Mercury Rev to jump onboard". "Where Do I Begin" was released as a promotional single in early 1997. "Block Rockin' Beats" was released on 24 March 1997 and reached number one in the UK Singles Chart, becoming the duo's second number one single.
Release
Dig Your Own Hole was released on 7 April 1997 by record labels Virgin and Freestyle Dust. "Elektrobank" was released on 8 September 1997 and reached number 17 in the UK Singles Chart. "The Private Psychedelic Reel" was released on 1 December 1997. A numbered release, it was ineligible for the UK Singles Charts. Further physically released promotion for the album include a DJ mix and interview set. The album was certified platinum by the British Phonographic Industry on 21 January 2000. In 2004, the album was packaged with 1995's Exit Planet Dust in a limited editionbox set as part of EMI's "2CD Originals" collection. Dig Your Own Hole was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album, at the 40th Annual Grammy Awards.
Legacy
In 1998, Q magazine readers voted Dig Your Own Hole the 49th greatest album of all time, and was also included in Q TV's "Top 100 Albums of All Time" list in 2008. In 2000, the same magazine placed it at number 42 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever. NME ranked it at number 414 in its 2014 list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. Rolling Stone included it in their list of the "100 Best Albums of the Nineties", as did Spin.
Track listing
Note
As with all other albums by The Chemical Brothers, some of the tracks segue into the next. These are 2 into 3, 3 into 4, 6 into 7, 7 into 8, and finally 10 into 11. In the CD version's U.S. pressing has a slightly different time running of the songs, which track 10, "Where Do I Begin" finished at 6:51 and track 11, "The Private Psychedelic Reel" finished at 9:27.
Sample credits
"Block Rockin' Beats" contains samples of "Gucci Again", written and performed by Schoolly D.
