So Long and Thanks for All the Shoes

1997 studio album by NOFX

So Long and Thanks for All the Shoes

Studio album by

NOFX

Released

November 11, 1997

Recorded

August 1997

Studio

Motor (San Francisco)

Genre

Punk rock^[1]^[2]
ska^[1]

Length

33:16

Label

Epitaph

Producer

Ryan Greene, Fat Mike

NOFX chronology

Fuck the Kids
(1996)

So Long and Thanks for All the Shoes
(1997)

Timmy the Turtle
(1999)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	^[2]
North County Times	B+^[3]
Sputnikmusic	^[1]

So Long and Thanks for All the Shoes is the seventh studio album by the American punk rock band NOFX. It was released on November 11, 1997, through Epitaph Records.

Overview

The title is inspired by the fourth book of Douglas Adams's The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series, So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish, and refers to the frequent occurrence of fans throwing footwear at the band during their live shows.^[4]

The album was recorded at San Francisco's Motor Studios in August 1997 and was produced by Fat Mike and regular Fat Wreck Chords producer Ryan Greene. The liner notes for the album claim it is 'arguably their third best album' (up to that point) although Fat Mike has referred to it as his favourite one on several occasions. Also therein the standard practice of including a photograph of each band member has been mocked, with members of other punk bands standing in for the four NOFX members:

Fat Mike is replaced by Serge Verkhovsky, bassist in Limp,
El Hefe is replaced by Otis Bartholomeu, vocalist and guitarist in fluf,
Eric Melvin (listed as just "Melvin") is replaced by 'Little John', roadie for Swingin' Utters,
Erik Sandin (listed as "Smelly") is replaced by Chuck Platt, bassist in Good Riddance.

Track 9, "Champs Elysées", is a cover version of the track "Les Champs-Élysées" by Joe Dassin.^[5]

The song "Kill Rock Stars" is written about musician Kathleen Hanna, referencing her by name: "Kill the rockstars? How ironic, Kathleen. You've been crowned the newest queen." The song's title is a reference to riot grrrl record label Kill Rock Stars. In response Hanna wrote "Deceptacon", included on Le Tigre's first album, which referred to the NOFX song "Linoleum": "Your lyrics are dumb like a linoleum floor, I'll walk on it, I'll walk all over you".^[6]

The final track, "Falling in Love", is reportedly a love song about a friend of Fat Mike and his friend's wife together in a plane in rapid descent, destined to crash. The track has a 'hidden ending' that starts at timecode 4:15. It is a recording of a segment from Howard Stern's radio show in which the host's DJ begins to play the track "Drugs Are Good", from the band's HOFX EP. Stern clearly dislikes the track and stops it after 36 seconds, effectively labelling it as disco before going on to rename the band 'No Talent'. The first pressing of the cd contains an extended bonus track: 8 min instrumental immediately after this radio show segment, that ends with a 10-second song "Congratulations, you made it through the song, I bet you never thought anyone could play something so wrong".

On the CD it bears the Warning "Unlawful Duplication May be Hazardous to your Health!". This warning might be a parody of Bad Religion albums because some Bad Religion albums (e.g., Suffer, No Control) carry this warning.

Track listing

All tracks are written by Fat Mike except where noted

No.	Title	Length
1.	"It's My Job to Keep Punk Rock Elite"	1:20
2.	"Kids of the K-Hole"	2:16
3.	"Murder the Government"	0:46
4.	"Monosyllabic Girl"	0:54
5.	"180 Degrees"	2:10
6.	"All His Suits Are Torn"	2:19
7.	"All Outta Angst"	1:53
8.	"I'm Telling Tim"	1:17
9.	"Champs Elysées" (Wilsh, Deighan, P Delanoë)	2:02
10.	"Dad's Bad News"	2:02
11.	"Kill Rock Stars"	1:33
12.	"Eat the Meek"	3:32
13.	"The Desperation's Gone"	2:24
14.	"Flossing a Dead Horse" (instrumental)	1:46
15.	"Quart in Session"	1:38
16.	"Falling in Love"	5:13
Total length:		30:04

Personnel

NOFX

Fat Mike – vocals, bass
Eric Melvin – guitar
El Hefe – guitar, trumpet
Erik Sandin – drums, percussion

Additional personnel

Serge Slovnik (Serge Verkhovsky) – tuba, trombone
Nate Albert – "chanky" guitar
Ryan Greene – tambourine
Spike Slawson – backing vocals

Production

Ryan Greene, Fat Mike – producers
Ryan Greene – engineer
Adam Krammer – second engineer

Charts

Chart performance for *So Long and Thanks for All The Shoes*
Chart (1997)	Peak position
Australian Albums (ARIA)^[7]	93
French Albums (SNEP)^[8]	51
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)^[9]	40
US Billboard 200^[10]	79

References

^ ^a ^b ^c Sputnikmusic review
^ ^a ^b AllMusic review
^ Wallace, Brian. "Music". North County Times. Archived from the original on December 12, 2000. Retrieved October 14, 2020.
^ "So Long and Thanks for All The Shoes | Albums | NOFX". Nofxofficialwebsite.com. Retrieved 2012-01-07.
^ "Ενότητα 2 - Les Champs Elysees". Xenios.cti.gr. Archived from the original on 2002-03-19. Retrieved 2012-01-07.
^ Laslow, Benjamin (September 27, 2006). "Le Tigre - Le Tigre (album review)". Sputnikmusic.
^ Ryan, Gavin (2011). Australia's Music Charts 1988–2010 (PDF ed.). Mt Martha, Victoria, Australia: Moonlight Publishing. p. 205.
^ "Lescharts.com – NOFX – So Long and Thanks for All the Shoes". Hung Medien. Retrieved September 3, 2022.
^ "Offiziellecharts.de – NOFX – So Long and Thanks for All the Shoes" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved September 3, 2022.
^ "NOFX Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved September 3, 2022.