Music for Men

Music for Men is the fourth studio album by American indie rock band Gossip. It was released on June 19, 2009, by Columbia Records.^[2][3]

Music for Men
Studio album by Gossip
Released	June 19, 2009 (2009-06-19)
Studio	Shangri-La Studios (Malibu, California)
Genre	Indie rock garage rock dance-punk
Length	43:27
Label	Columbia
Producer	Rick Rubin
Gossip chronology
Standing in the Way of Control (2006) Music for Men (2009) A Joyful Noise (2012)
Singles from Music for Men
"Heavy Cross" Released: April 28, 2009 "Love Long Distance" Released: September 13, 2009 "Pop Goes the World" Released: March 8, 2010 "Men in Love" Released: October 29, 2010[1]

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	69/100[4]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[5]
BBC Music	Favorable[6]
Drowned in Sound	5/10[7]
The Guardian	[8]
The Independent	[9]
Pitchfork	6.4/10[10]
Planet Sound	4/10[11]
Spin	[12]
The Times	[13]
Uncut	[14]

Music for Men received generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has received an average score of 69, based on 26 reviews.^[4] In 2010, Music for Men earned Gossip a nomination for Outstanding Music Artist at the 21st GLAAD Media Awards.^[15]

Commercial performance

Music for Men was successful in Europe, with sales of 280,000 copies in France alone, where it spent 138 weeks on the chart.^[16][17] It sold 42,000 copies in the United States as of December 2012.^[18]

Track listing

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Dimestore Diamond"	3:16
2.	"Heavy Cross"	4:06
3.	"8th Wonder"	3:17
4.	"Love Long Distance"	4:26
5.	"Pop Goes the World"	3:27
6.	"Vertical Rhythm"	3:50
7.	"Men in Love"	3:41
8.	"For Keeps"	4:08
9.	"2012"	3:51
10.	"Love and Let Love"	3:32
11.	"Four Letter Word"	3:49
12.	"Spare Me from the Mold"	2:28

All tracks are written by Gossip

Deluxe edition bonus tracks

No.	Title	Length
13.	"Pop Goes the World" (James Ford version)	3:26
14.	"Heavy Cross" (Fred Falke Remix)	8:08

European edition bonus tracks

No.	Title	Length
13.	"Heavy Cross" (Fred Falke Remix radio edit)	3:49
14.	"Heavy Cross" (Burns remix)	7:36
15.	"Love Long Distance" (Fake Blood remix)	4:36

US/Zune Marketplace release

No.	Title	Length
13.	"The Breakdown"	3:41

German extended edition bonus tracks (released October 22, 2010)

No.	Title	Length
13.	"The Breakdown"	3:41
14.	"Heavy Cross" (NRJ session)	4:16
15.	"Pop Goes the World" (NRJ session)	3:47
16.	"Listen Up" (NRJ session)	4:34
17.	"2012" (NRJ session)	3:39
18.	"Love Long Distance" (NRJ session)	5:25
19.	"Men in Love" (NRJ session)	3:01
20.	"Standing in the Way of Control" (NRJ session)	4:42

German extended edition bonus DVD (released October 22, 2010)

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Heavy Cross" (video)
2.	"Love Long Distance" (video)
3.	"Pop Goes the World" (video)
4.	"Four Letter Word" (video)
5.	"Heavy Cross" (Rock am Ring 2010 live performance)
6.	"Love Long Distance" (Rock am Ring 2010 live performance)
7.	"Pop Goes the World" (Rock am Ring 2010 live performance)
8.	"Men in Love" (Rock am Ring 2010 live performance)

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of Music for Men.^[19]

Gossip

• Beth Ditto – vocals
• Hannah Billie – drums, illustration, percussion
• Brace Paine – art direction, bass, guitar, keyboards, sampler percussion

Additional personnel

• Jeri Lynn Beard – art direction
• Lee Broomfield – photography
• Lenny Castro – percussion
• Greg Fidelman – additional percussion, mixing, recording
• Meghan Foley – art direction
• James Ford – original drum elements (on "Pop Goes the World")
• Jason Gossman – editing
• Sara Lyn Killion – additional engineering
• Eric Lynn – additional engineering
• Vlado Meller – mastering
• Dana Nielsen – additional recording, editing, saxophone
• Rick Rubin – production
• Mark Santangelo – mastering assistance
• Andrew Scheps – additional mixing

Charts

Weekly charts Chart (2009–10) Peak position Australian Albums (ARIA)[20] 13 Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[21] 4 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[22] 3 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[23] 13 Croatian International Albums (HDU)[24] 27 Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[25] 31 European Albums (Billboard)[26] 15 Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[27] 32 French Albums (SNEP)[28] 5 German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[29] 10 Irish Albums (IRMA)[30] 27 Italian Albums (FIMI)[31] 29 New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[32] 28 Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[33] 34 Scottish Albums (OCC)[34] 26 Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[35] 100 Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[36] 12 UK Albums (OCC)[37] 18 US Billboard 200[38] 164 US Heatseekers Albums (Billboard)[39] 8

Year-end charts Chart (2009) Position Australian Albums (ARIA)[40] 77 Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[41] 57 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[42] 28 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[43] 73 European Albums (Billboard)[44] 67 French Albums (SNEP)[45] 28 German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[46] 55 Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[47] 55 Chart (2010) Position Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[48] 33 European Albums (Billboard)[49] 36 French Albums (SNEP)[50] 34 German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[51] 24 Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[52] 35

Certifications and sales

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[53]	Gold	35,000^
Austria (IFPI Austria)[54]	Platinum	20,000*
Belgium (BEA)[55]	Gold	15,000*
France (SNEP)[56]	2× Platinum	280,000[16]
Germany (BVMI)[57]	2× Platinum	400,000‡
Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland)[58]	Platinum	30,000^
United States	—	42,000[18]
Summaries
Worldwide	—	1,000,000[59]
* Sales figures based on certification alone. ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. ‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

References

1. "Men in Love: Gossip". Amazon (Germany (in German). Retrieved March 2, 2012.
2. Amazon – Music For Men
3. Gossip Official Website Archived 2009-05-04 at the Wayback Machine
4. "Music For Men – Gossip". Metacritic. Retrieved May 27, 2018.
5. Music for Men at AllMusic
6. BBC review
7. "Drowned in Sound review". Archived from the original on 2009-07-15. Retrieved 2009-06-22.
8. "Alexis Petridis reviews the Gossip's new album, Music for Men". The Guardian. 2009-06-11. Archived from the original on 2022-06-28.
9. The Independent review
10. Pitchfork Media review
11. Planet Sound review
12. Spin review
13. The Times review^{[dead link]}
14. Uncut review Archived 2009-07-04 at the Wayback Machine
15. "21st Annual GLAAD Media Awards – English Language Nominees". Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. 2010. Retrieved February 21, 2010.
16. "Gossip – Music For Men +4 Titres Bonus". Charts in France (in French). Retrieved December 27, 2012.
17. C, Jas (2019-03-29). "Gossip Announce Reunion Tour to Celebrate 10th Anniversary of "Music For Men"". Hot Pop Today. Retrieved 2024-03-14.
18. Cubarrubia, RJ (March 13, 2012). "Gossip Announces New Album: Hear First Single 'Perfect World'". Billboard. Retrieved January 27, 2018.
19. Music for Men (liner notes). Gossip. Columbia Records. 2009. 88697 06230 2.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
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24. "Top Stranih [Top Foreign]" (in Croatian). Top Foreign Albums. Hrvatska diskografska udruga. Retrieved May 6, 2012.
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34. "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved May 27, 2018.
35. "Spanishcharts.com – Gossip – Music for Men". Hung Medien. Retrieved May 6, 2012.
36. "Swisscharts.com – Gossip – Music for Men". Hung Medien. Retrieved May 6, 2012.
37. "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved May 27, 2018.
38. "Gossip Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved May 27, 2018.
39. "Gossip Chart History (Heatseekers Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved May 27, 2018.
40. "ARIA Charts – End Of Year Charts – Top 100 Albums 2009". Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved October 2, 2014.
41. "Jahreshitparade Alben 2009" (in German). austriancharts.at. Retrieved May 27, 2018.
42. "Jaaroverzichten 2009 – Albums" (in Dutch). Ultratop. Retrieved May 6, 2012.
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49. "Year End Charts – European Top 100 Albums". Billboard. 2010. Archived from the original on June 23, 2012. Retrieved May 6, 2012.
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52. "Swiss Year-End Charts 2010". swisscharts.com. Retrieved May 27, 2018.
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54. "Austrian album certifications – Gossip – Music for Men" (in German). IFPI Austria. November 16, 2010.
55. "Ultratop − Goud en Platina – albums 2009". Ultratop. Hung Medien. September 25, 2009.
56. "French album certifications – Gossip – Music for Men" (in French). Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique. July 8, 2010.
57. "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (Gossip; 'Music for Men')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie. Retrieved February 15, 2023.
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59. Hurst, Elizabeth (October 2, 2010). "Backbeat". Billboard. Vol. 122, no. 39. p. 46. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved May 27, 2018 – via Google Books.