Shut Your Mouth and Open Your Eyes

Shut Your Mouth and Open Your Eyes
Studio album by AFI
Released	November 11, 1997 (1997-11-11)[1]
Studio	Art of Ears, Hayward, CA
Genre	Hardcore punk[1][2]
Length	28:26
Label	Nitro
Producer	AFI
AFI chronology
Very Proud of Ya (1996) Shut Your Mouth and Open Your Eyes (1997) A Fire Inside EP (1998)

Shut Your Mouth and Open Your Eyes is the third studio album by American punk rock band AFI. It was released on November 11, 1997, through Nitro Records.

Overview

This is the first album to feature bassist Hunter Burgan, although he was not a permanent member of AFI at the time,^[3] as well as the final album to feature founding guitarist Mark Stopholese. Burgan was offered about $500 to play on the album, but he requested $666.^[3] Future band member Jade Puget performed backing vocals for the album as well, making the album the first to feature AFI's current lineup. Nick 13 from American psychobilly band Tiger Army is featured on the track "A Single Second", performing vocals on the chorus.

The phrase "a fire inside", the band's current moniker, is sung in the introductory track, "Keeping Out of Direct Sunlight". This is the first album to be copyrighted to A Fire Inside.^[4]

A music video directed by Darren Doane and Ken Daurio was made for the track "Third Season". It features the band sitting in a suburban town while a slew of children chase an ice cream truck. Besides this song, references to the number three are made in the names of three other tracks: "Three Reasons", "Three Seconds Notice" and "Triple Zero".

Artwork

The magic set the artwork was composited from

The album art was largely composited from a 1929 children's magic set.^[5] The band name appears in a Roman font, while the album title is italicized and stylized in lower case except the first letter of the first word. The black, yellow and reddish cover features the head and shoulders of a young man wearing a suit, a patterned red carpet over three stairs, above which a figure levitates between a pair of potted flames. At the bottom corner is a small crawling red devil.

Two red devils appear in the liner notes (one a human wearing a cape which also appears on the back cover). Beneath the lyrics are silhouettes of raised hands. A maniacally smiling man-devil's face appears on the red-and-black CD label. The inner edge of the album's CD case reveals the hidden message "a fire inside". Behind the CD tray is an achromatic illustration of a man in suit and shorts, illuminated in white, twisting a skeleton key to a huge lock, which has been keeping some dark doorway shut.

Reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Alternative Press	[6]
Punknews.org	[2]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[7]

Track listing

All lyrics are written by Davey Havok; all music is composed by Carson and Stopholese, except where noted

Standard Edition

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Keeping Out of Direct Sunlight (an introduction)"		0:58
2.	"Three Reasons"		1:33
3.	"A Single Second"		2:12
4.	"pH Low"		1:42
5.	"Let It Be Broke"		2:06
6.	"Third Season"		2:48
7.	"Lower Your Head and Take It in the Body"		1:46
8.	"Coin Return"		2:33
9.	"The New Patron Saints and Angels"		2:17
10.	"Three Seconds Notice"		1:35
11.	"Salt for Your Wounds"		2:24
12.	"Today's Lesson"	Filth	2:14
13.	"The Devil Loves You"		1:30
14.	"Triple Zero"		2:50
Total length:			28:26

Vinyl Bonus Track

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
15.	"Last Caress"	Glenn Danzig	2:00

Japanese Bonus Tracks

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Length
15.	"Self-Pity"	Mark Dave	Mark	0:56
16.	"Key Lime Pie"	Adam	Adam	0:37
Total length:				30:26

Personnel

Credits adapted from liner notes.^[4]

• AFI – producer
• Hunter Burgan – bass, programming, keyboards, backing vocals
• Adam Carson – drums, backing vocals
• Andy Ernst – engineer
• Davey Havok – lead vocals
• Mark Stopholese – lead guitar, backing vocals
• Nick 13 – backing vocals; harmony vocals (track: 3)
• Jade Puget – backing vocals
• Eddy Shreyer – masterering

Studios

• Recorded at Art of Ears, Hayward, CA
• Mastered at Oasis

References

1. "Shut Your Mouth & Open Your Eyes". All Media Network. AllMusic.
2. Shortychord (September 20, 2002). "Shut Your Mouth and Open Your Eyes (1998)". Punknews.org.
3. "Backspin: AFI on 'Shut Your Mouth and Open Your Eyes'". Yahoo!. February 17, 2017. Archived from the original on December 12, 2021. Retrieved December 18, 2020 – via YouTube.
4. Shut Your Mouth and Open Your Eyes (Liner notes). AFI. Nitro Records. 1997. 15815-2.
5. "Vintage 1929 Complete Master Magic Kit by Knapp Electric / Sherm's Tricks Devil | #431515031". Worthpoint. Retrieved August 8, 2022.
6. "AFI Shut Your Mouth And Open Your Eyes". Alternative Press. June 22, 2010. Retrieved July 31, 2017.
7. Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian, eds. (2004). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). New York: Fireside Books. p. 10. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.