Fair Warning

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Work

Fair Warning was released in April 1981 as the band's fourth album, on Warner Bros. Records. The cover shows parts of The Maze, a painting by the Canadian artist William Kurelek about his hard childhood. The sleeve also contained a photograph of a wall with broken windows and a line from the opening song Mean Street, as graffiti.

The record reached number 5 on the Billboard 200, but it was the lowest-selling of the Roth years, and the single So This Is Love? did not make the Hot 100. The critical response was mostly positive. Robert Christgau heard a rhythm section that could handle punk speed, and Stephen Thomas Erlewine called it a dark, dirty and surly album with some of the hardest music the group ever made. Rolling Stone remarked that the synthesizer at the end of the record would return on later albums.

Listening

Track list

1. 1Mean Street5:00Apple Music ↗
2. 2"Dirty Movies"4:07Apple Music ↗
3. 3Sinner's Swing!3:08Apple Music ↗
4. 4Hear About It Later4:32Apple Music ↗
5. 5Unchained3:29Apple Music ↗
6. 6Push Comes to Shove3:49Apple Music ↗
7. 7So This Is Love?3:05Apple Music ↗
8. 8Sunday Afternoon In the Park1:59Apple Music ↗
9. 9One Foot Out the Door1:00Apple Music ↗

30-second previews via Apple Music. Listen to the whole album on Apple Music ↗

See also

• Van Halen