Sponge - Rotting Pinata

Rotting Piñata is the debut album by American rock band Sponge, released in 1994 on Work Records. Hit singles from this album, such as "Molly (16 Candles Down the Drain)" and "Plowed," helped launch the band's career and pushed the album to Gold.

Contents

1 Title meaning
2 Critical reception
3 Track listing
4 Band members
5 Additional personnel
6 Chart Positions
6.1 Album
6.2 Singles
7 Trivia
8 References

Title meaning

The name of the album came from a conversation the band had regarding shock punk singer GG Allin. Allin claimed he would commit suicide while on tour and wanted his corpse to be shown at the remainder of the shows on the schedule. Furthermore, he wanted the fans to be able to throw objects at his deceased body. The band joked that if he did, the corpse would be like a "rotting piñata."
Critical reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic 3/5 stars[1]

Rotting Piñata received mostly positive reviews. Allmusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine gave it three stars out of five and said that "Sponge's sense of alternative rock goes back as far as Pearl Jam, or maybe only Stone Temple Pilots, judging from the hit single 'Plowed.' For an STP ripoff band, they're very adept -- the chords cluster together, vocalist Vinnie sings directly from his gut, and the whole thing barrels ahead, ignoring whatever's in its way."

Rotting Piñata is one of Sponge's most successful albums to date and their only album to be certified gold by the RIAA. Although released in August 1994, the album did not enter the Billboard 200 until May 1995, following the success of its first single "Plowed". Rotting Piñata peaked at number 58 and remained on the chart for 40 weeks.
Track listing

All songs written by Sponge (Dombroski, J. Mazzola, Michael Cross, Tim Cross) and produced by Sponge and Tim Patalan.
No. Title Length
1. "Pennywheels" 4:36
2. "Rotting Piñata" 4:00
3. "Giants" 5:20
4. "Neenah Menasha" 6:03
5. "Miles" 4:11
6. "Plowed" 3:17
7. "Drownin'" 4:40
8. "Molly" 3:35
9. "Fields" 4:55
10. "Rainin'" ("Candy Corn" is a hidden track in the gap between tracks 10 and 11. When listening to the CD on a computer, it appears as part of track 10 and begins at the 7:03 mark.) 12:57
11. "Untitled" 0:03

A special edition included a bonus CD featuring Sponge live at Rock am Ring Nürburgring on June 2, 1995.

All songs written by Sponge except where noted.
Live at Rock am Ring
No. Title Length
1. "Neenah Menasha" 4:42
2. "Rotting Piñata" 4:15
3. "I Hate Myself" (Introduced as "I Hate Myself When I'm With You" Written by, Dombroski, M. Cross, J Mazzola, T. Cross) 5:43
4. "Molly (16 Candles Down the Drain)" 3:41
5. "Rainin'" 5:29
6. "Plowed" 3:26
7. "Fields" 4:02
8. "Big Girl" (Introduced as "I'm a Big Girl") 2:48
Band members

Vinnie Dombrowski - vocals
Michael Cross - guitar, backing vocals
Tim Cross - bass
Joe Mazzola - guitar, backing vocals
Jimmy Paluzzi - drums, backing vocals

Additional personnel

Andy Patalan - production assistant
Tim Palmer - mixing
Mark O'Donoughue & Brandon Harris - mixing assistants
Tim Patalan - mixing on "Rotting Piñata", "Neenah Menasha", "Miles" and "Molly"
Stuart Griffen - Talent agent
Pablo Mathiason - A&R
Howie Weinberg - mastering
David Coleman - art direction
Michael Halsband - photography

Chart Positions
Album
Year Title US Billboard 200 US Heatseekers
1995 Rotting Piñata 58 4
Singles
Year Title US Hot 100 US Modern Rock US Mainstream Rock
1995 Plowed - 5 9
Molly (16 Candles Down the Drain) 55 3 11
Rainin' - 34 18
1996 Neenah Menasha - - -
Trivia

Neenah and Menasha are two cities in Wisconsin
The vocals for "Molly" were re-recorded for the single release, retitled "Molly (16 Candles Down the Drain)" The song was inspired by a story a bandmember had heard about a 16-year old girl who'd fallen in love with her teacher and attempted suicide after he rejected her advances.
Track number five, "Miles", includes the last two lines of Robert Frost's poem "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" ("And Miles to go before I sleep... And Miles to go before I sleep..."