Siren Song of the Counter Culture

Siren Song of the Counter Culture
Studio album by Rise Against
Released	August 9, 2004
Recorded	2004 at Plumper Mountain Sound in Gibsons, British Columbia and The Warehouse Studio in Vancouver
Genre	Melodic hardcore, hardcore punk, punk rock
Length	40:54
Label	Geffen B0002967-02
Producer	Garth Richardson
Rise Against chronology
Revolutions per Minute (2003) Siren Song of the Counter Culture (2004) The Sufferer & the Witness (2006)
Singles from Siren Song of the Counter Culture
"Give It All" Released: 2004 "Swing Life Away" Released: 2005 "Life Less Frightening" Released: 2005 "Paper Wings" Released: 2005

Siren Song of the Counter Culture is the third album by American punk rock band Rise Against, released on August 10, 2004. It is the band's first release on a major label.

The album sold very well, mainly due to the success of its single, "Swing Life Away", which reached #12 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks, making it the band's highest-charting single at the time. Also faring well were the album's other three singles, "Give It All" (#37) and "Life Less Frightening" (#33) and "Paper Wings". While the album was commercially successful, Siren Song of the Counter Culture is not Rise Against's highest charting album on the Billboard 200, peaking only at #136; subsequent albums The Sufferer & The Witness and Appeal to Reason both charted higher, peaking at #10 and #3 respectively. The album has been ceritified gold by the RIAA and platinum by the CRIA.

Writing and production

Siren Song of the Counter Culture was recorded in 2004 at Plumper Mountain Sound in Gibsons, British Columbia and The Warehouse Studio in Vancouver with producer Garth Richardson.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
Pitchfork Media	2.9/10[2]
Punknews.org	[3]
Sputnikmusic	[4]

Siren Song of the Counter Culture was released on August 10, 2004 and is the first Rise Against album distributed via Geffen Records. The album peaked at number 136 on the Billboard 200 album chart^[5] and reached #1 on the Top Heatseekers chart.

Track listing

All lyrics written by Tim McIlrath, all music composed by Tim McIlrath, Joe Principe, Brandon Barnes and Chris Chasse, except "Swing Life Away" by Tim McIlrath and Neil Hennessy.

No.	Title	Length
1.	"State of the Union"	2:19
2.	"The First Drop"	2:39
3.	"Life Less Frightening"	3:44
4.	"Paper Wings"	3:43
5.	"Blood to Bleed"	3:48
6.	"To Them These Streets Belong"	2:49
7.	"Tip the Scales"	3:49
8.	"Anywhere But Here"	3:38
9.	"Give It All"	2:50
10.	"Dancing for Rain"	4:01
11.	"Swing Life Away"	3:20
12.	"Rumors of My Demise Have Been Greatly Exaggerated"	4:14
Total length:		40:54

Bonus tracks
No.	Title	Length
13.	"Obstructed View"	2:01
14.	"Fix Me" (Black Flag cover, Japanese & German bonus track)	0:55

Personnel

Rise Against Tim McIlrath – Lead vocals, rhythm guitar Joe Principe – Bass, backing vocals Chris Chasse – Lead guitar, backing vocals Brandon Barnes – Drums, percussion Artwork Shepard Fairey – Cover illustration Lisa Johnson – Photography Studio Number One – Album Design[6] Additional musicians Neil Hennessy – Additional backing vocals Nicholas Simons – Cello[7]

Production Garth Richardson – Producer Dean Maher – Engineer Bryan Gallant – Assistant engineer Lee Robertson – Assistant engineer Steve Sisco – Assistant Scott Ternan – Assistant engineer Andy Wallace – Mixing Ben Kaplan – Digital editing John O'Mahoney – Digital editing Ron Handler – A&R Graham Martin – A&R coordinator Richard Leighton – Guitar technician Eric "Wilcard" Bonny – Stage technician Chris Crippen – Drum technician

Charts

Album

Year	Chart	Peak position
2004	The Billboard 200[5]	136
2005	Top Heatseekers[5]	1

Singles

Year	Song	Chart	Position
2004	"Give It All"	US Modern Rock Tracks	37
2005	"Swing Life Away"	US Billboard Hot 100	117
		US Modern Rock Tracks	12
		US Pop 100	95
	"Life Less Frightening"	US Modern Rock Tracks	33

Certifications

Country	Certification	Sales
Canada	Platinum[8]	100,000+
United States	Gold[9]	500,000+

References

1. ^ Allmusic review
2. ^ Pitchfork Media review
3. ^ Punknews.org review
4. ^ Sputnikmusic review
5. ^ ^{a b c} "Siren Song of the Counter Culture - Rise Against". Billboard. http://www.billboard.com/album/rise-against/siren-song-of-the-counter-culture/643069#/album/rise-against/siren-song-of-the-counter-culture/643069. 
6. ^ http://studionumberone.com/
7. ^ "NDP MLA Nicholas Simons strikes hardcore gold record". The Georgia Straight, September 3, 2009.
8. ^ "CRIA database". Canadian Recording Industry Association. http://www.musiccanada.com/GPSearchResult.aspx?st=siren%20song&ica=False&sa=rise%20against&sl=&smt=0&sat=-1&ssb=Cert.%20Date. 
9. ^ "RIAA Database Search Results". Recording Industry Association of America. http://riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?&artist=Rise&20Against.