Come On Die Young

Come On Die Young is the second studio album by Scottish post-rock band Mogwai. The album was released on 29 March 1999 by Chemikal Underground.

Come On Die Young
Studio album by Mogwai
Released	29 March 1999 (1999-03-29)
Studio	Tarbox Road Studios (Cassadaga, New York) CaVa Studios (Glasgow, Scotland)
Genre	Post-rock[1] noise rock[2] space rock[1] indie rock[1]
Length	67:32
Label	Chemikal Underground Matador
Producer	Dave Fridmann
Mogwai chronology
Mogwai Young Team (1997) Come On Die Young (1999) EP (1999)

Overview

Songs for Come On Die Young were written by the band members at home or together in the rehearsal room.^[3] Wanting a sparser sound, Mogwai drew influences from Seventeen Seconds by The Cure and Spiderland by Slint^[4] as well as Low, Nick Drake and The For Carnation.^[5] The songs "Christmas Steps" and "Ex-Cowboy" had been played live by the band during the tour for Mogwai Young Team.^[3] The album was recorded in three weeks^[3] at Tarbox Road Studios in Cassadaga, New York with producer Dave Fridmann^[6] and was the first Mogwai recording to feature multi-instrumentalist Barry Burns.^[7] The original intended running time of the album was extended after Mogwai's record label, Chemikal Underground, persuaded them to include more of the songs they had recorded.^[3] Come On Die Young is somewhat different from the rest of Mogwai's work because of its reserved tone. The album's second track "Cody" is much more like a traditional pop song than most of the band's repertoire. Still slow and sinuous, it features an uncharacteristically distinct melody, slide guitar and relatively prominent vocals. Much of Come On Die Young consists of slow, quiet, drum-driven tracks containing tense, feedback-laden crescendos and occasionally ambient textures. Near the end of the album, the bombastic "Christmas Steps" breaks away from this quiet tension and displays a return to Mogwai's more well-known distortion-heavy dynamics. The album's title derives from a Glasgow gang of the same name.^[8]

Song information

• "Punk Rock:" samples a speech made by Iggy Pop during an interview with Peter Gzowski on the CBC, broadcast on 11 March 1977.^[9]
• The album cover, which features the face of Dominic Aitchison, was inspired by Captain Howdy from The Exorcist.
• The song "Cody" featured in the second episode of the first series of teen drama Skins.
• The post-black metal band Deafheaven covered "Punk Rock" and "Cody" for the 2012 split EP Deafheaven / Bosse-de-Nage.
• The original version of the song "Helps Both Ways", commonly referred to as the "Madden version", featured John Madden's commentary on the first quarter of the American Football National Football Conference championship game between the San Francisco 49ers and the Green Bay Packers, played on January 11, 1998, at 1 pm PST at San Francisco's Candlestick Park. As its use was unauthorized, the commentary track was replaced by another American Football commentary track.

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[2]
The Guardian	[10]
The Independent	[11]
Melody Maker	[12]
NME	8/10[13]
Pitchfork	8.3/10[14]
Q	[15]
Rolling Stone	[16]
Spin	7/10[17]
The Village Voice	C[18]

Come On Die Young received a somewhat muted reception when compared to Mogwai Young Team. Stephen Thomas Erlewine, writing for AllMusic, wrote that "perhaps Come On Die Young wouldn't have seemed as disappointing if it hadn't arrived on the wave of hype and expectation, but the truth is, it pales in comparison to their own work."^[2]

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Punk Rock:"	Stuart Braithwaite	2:09
2.	"Cody"	Braithwaite	6:33
3.	"Helps Both Ways"	Dominic Aitchison	4:53
4.	"Year 2000 Non-Compliant Cardia"	Braithwaite Martin Bulloch	3:26
5.	"Kappa"	Aitchison Braithwaite	4:53
6.	"Waltz for Aidan"	Aitchison Braithwaite	3:44
7.	"May Nothing But Happiness Come Through Your Door"	Aitchison Braithwaite Barry Burns	8:30
8.	"Oh! How the Dogs Stack Up"	Burns	2:04
9.	"Ex-Cowboy"	Aitchison	9:09
10.	"Chocky"	Bulloch Burns John Cummings	9:23
11.	"Christmas Steps"	Aitchison Braithwaite	10:39
12.	"Punk Rock/Puff Daddy/ANʇICHRISʇ"	Braithwaite	2:14
Total length:			67:38

2014 re-release bonus tracks (Vinyl LP + CD releases)

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Nick Drake"	3:14
2.	"Waltz for Aidan" (Chem19 Demo)	3:40
3.	"Christmas Steps" (Chem19 Demo; available on vinyl LP version only)	6:41
4.	"Rollerball" (Chem19 Demo)	3:51
5.	"7:25" (Chem19 Demo; available on vinyl LP version only)	6:37
6.	"Untitled" (Travels in Constants, Vol. 12 EP)	6:07
7.	"Quiet Stereo Dee" (Travels in Constants, Vol. 12 EP)	4:07
8.	"Arundel" (Travels in Constants, Vol. 12 EP)	2:59
9.	"Cody" (CaVa Sessions)	5:58
10.	"Ex-Cowboy" (CaVa Sessions)	9:12
11.	"Spoon Test" (CaVa Sessions)	6:29
12.	"Punk Rock:" (CaVa Sessions)	2:12
13.	"Helicon 2" (CaVa Church Live)	3:05
14.	"Satchel Panzer" (CaVa Church Live)	1:24
15.	"Kappa" (CaVa Church Live)	4:38
16.	"Helps Both Ways" (Original Version)	5:22
17.	"Hugh Dallas"	8:31

Personnel

Mogwai

• Stuart Braithwaite – guitar, vocals on "Cody"
• Dominic Aitchison – bass guitar
• Martin Bulloch – drums
• John Cummings – guitar
• Barry Burns – piano, keyboard, guitar, flute

Additional musicians

• Richard Formby – lap steel guitar on "Cody"
• Luke Sutherland – violin
• Wayne Myers – trombone on "Punk Rock/Puff Daddy/ANʇICHRISʇ"
• Dave Fridmann – various instruments

Production

• Dave Fridmann – production

Charts

Chart (1999)	Peak position
Scottish Albums (OCC)[19]	24
UK Albums (OCC)[20]	29
UK Independent Albums (OCC)[21]	6

References

1. Klein, Joshua (29 March 1999). "Mogwai: Come On Die Young". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
2. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Come on Die Young – Mogwai". AllMusic. Retrieved 9 February 2011.
3. Tucker, Simon (10 July 2014). "Louder Than War Interview: Stuart Braithwaite of Mogwai". Louder Than War. Retrieved 8 November 2018.
4. Pattinson, Louis (27 June 2014). "Mogwai – Come On Die Young Deluxe Edition". Uncut. Retrieved 8 November 2018.
5. Amorosi, AD (21 September 2015). "MAGNET CLASSICS: MOGWAI'S "COME ON DIE YOUNG"". Magnet. Retrieved 8 November 2018.
6. Thompson, Ben (19 March 1999). "Come on, feel the noise". The Independent. Retrieved 8 November 2018.
7. Laing, Dave and Phil Hardy. "Mogwai". Book Excerpt (2001). Mogwai. Rock's Backpages. Accessed November 8, 2018. http://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/mogwai
8. Douglas Wolk (May 1999). "The Scottish Scoundrels in Mogwai Give Glasgow a Good Name". CMJ New Music Monthly. No. 69. p. 27. Retrieved 9 February 2011.
9. "Iggy Pop, punk pioneer, on Peter Gzowski's 90 Minutes Live". CBC News.
10. O'Reilly, John (2 April 1999). "Tunespotting". The Guardian.
11. Perry, Tim (27 March 1999). "Pop: Album Reviews". The Independent. Retrieved 7 March 2020.
12. Kulkarni, Neil (3 April 1999). "Dead from the Neck Down". Melody Maker: 110.
13. Williams, Simon (23 March 1999). "Mogwai – Come On Die Young". NME. Archived from the original on 17 August 2000. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
14. Berman, Stuart (18 June 2014). "Mogwai: Come On Die Young". Pitchfork. Retrieved 18 June 2014.
15. "Mogwai: Come On Die Young". Q (152): 110. May 1999.
16. Gross, Joe (15 April 1999). "Mogwai: Come On Die Young". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 15 February 2009. Retrieved 16 January 2017.
17. Kun, Josh (May 1999). "Mogwai: Come On Die Young". Spin. 15 (5): 154. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
18. Christgau, Robert (30 November 1999). "Consumer Guide: Turkey Shoot". The Village Voice. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
19. "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 18 June 2018.
20. "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 18 June 2018.
21. "Official Independent Albums Chart Top 50". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 17 July 2018.

External links

Come On Die Young at Discogs (list of releases)