Album · The Smithereens
Especially for You by The Smithereens
Especially for You is an album by The Smithereens, released in 1986. 4 songs from it have charted on rock radio countdowns, with 90 countdown appearances in total. The biggest is “Blood and Roses”, on 40 lists with a best position of #5.
Especially for You, the Smithereens' first full-length album, came out on Enigma in July 1986, and it's a moody, jangling, hook-stuffed slab of guitar rock. Don Dixon produced it, and his co-production work on R.E.M.'s Murmur and Reckoning helped the record get noticed when it first came out.
Pat DiNizio sings and plays guitar, Jim Babjak adds more guitar, Mike Mesaros is on bass and Dennis Diken on drums, and they play like a band that knows exactly how much to leave out. "Blood and Roses" is a brooding, low-slung prowl, "Behind the Wall of Sleep" is jangling pop with a dark streak, and "In a Lonely Place" and "Cigarette" linger in the shadows.
"Blood and Roses" climbed to No. 14 on Billboard's Album Rock Tracks and has shown up in plenty of films and TV shows since, while "Behind the Wall of Sleep" reached No. 23. The album got to No. 51 on the Billboard 200 and No. 5 on the UK Indie Chart, went platinum, and is highly rated by critics today. Kurt Cobain counted it among his favorite albums, as he noted in his journal.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs from Especially for You on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Blood and Roses | 40 | #5 | – | 1986–2023 | |
| 2 | Behind the Wall of Sleep | 23 | #62 | – | 1986–2023 | |
| 3 | In A Lonely Place | 13 | #1350 | – | 2000–2014 | |
| 4 | Cigarette | 14 | #1498 | – | 1999–2014 |
Only songs that appear on at least one countdown are listed. Release data from MusicBrainz.