Maps of Music

Sob Rock (2021)

Where the lyrics of Sob Rock take you, and where it was really made.

John Mayer called Sob Rock a shitpost meant to go against everything he had released before, and said the record was meant to implant false memories.

Key places

Where Sob Rock was engineered (2021)

Recording site A&M Recording Studios — The album was engineered at Henson Recording Studios in Hollywood, California, according to the release credits. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Sob Rock: eighth studio album by American singer-songwriter John Mayer
• Released July 16, 2021 by Columbia Records
• Final album on Columbia; in March 2022 Mayer announced he decided not to renew his recording agreement
• Lead single Last Train Home, released June 4, 2021, with guest vocals from Maren Morris
• Includes New Light (released May 2018), and I Guess I Just Feel Like and Carry Me Away (both 2019)
• Mayer toured the US with Dead & Company from August to October 2021, then went on a solo tour for the album in 2022
• Physical editions include different vinyl and cassette versions

Background

• Mayer has said the album was mostly born out of the COVID-19 pandemic
• Most songs were written after March 2020, when touring was shut down for many artists
• Goal: a 10-track album paying homage to songs Mayer heard growing up in the 1980s
• Mayer said the idea was meant to confuse listeners and implant false memories
• Three earlier singles (New Light, I Guess I Just Feel Like, Carry Me Away) were released from mid-2018 to late 2019 and were not originally intended for an album
• The release was first planned for mid-April 2021, then delayed to July 16
• Recorded between late 2017 and early 2021
• Clips of Last Train Home were posted to Mayer's TikTok account in late March 2021

Recording

• Engineered at Henson Recording Studios in Hollywood, California

Cover

• Cover art varies between streaming platforms; each platform has its own sticker in the upper right corner

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• John Clayton Mayer, born October 16, 1977, in Bridgeport, Connecticut, American singer, songwriter, and guitarist.
• Attended Berklee College of Music in 1997, then left for Atlanta with guitarist Clay Cook to form the short-lived duo Lo-Fi Masters.
• Released the independent EP Inside Wants Out (1999) and was later signed by Aware Records, a Columbia Records imprint.

Career

• Debut album Room for Squares (2001) produced hits including "Your Body Is a Wonderland", which won Best Male Pop Vocal Performance at the 45th Grammy Awards.
• Heavier Things (2003) peaked atop the Billboard 200.
• Shifted toward blues and rock, forming the John Mayer Trio; Continuum (2006) won Best Pop Vocal Album at the 49th Grammy Awards.
• Withdrew from public life in 2010 after controversial interviews; later albums include Born and Raised (2012), Paradise Valley (2013), The Search for Everything (2017), and Sob Rock (2021).
• Member of Dead & Company since 2015 alongside surviving Grateful Dead members.
• Ranked number 61 on Rolling Stone's 250 Greatest Guitarists of All Time (2023).
• Sold over 20 million albums worldwide by 2014.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Metacritic: average score of 70 from 9 reviews, indicating 'generally favorable' reception
• Music critics gave the album generally positive reviews
• The New York Times: Jon Caramanica wrote derisively that the record draws on 1980s nostalgia to sell new collectables from John Mayer, the brand

Reappraisal

• Guitar World readers' vote named it the best guitar album of 2021

Records

• Elected by Guitar World's readers as the best guitar album of 2021

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · pt.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Posters describing the album's sound appeared in cities around the world two months before it was announced, without explicitly naming Mayer
• A site called sobrock.net went up around the same time, with a newsletter sign-up and a copyright for 'John Mayer Enterprises'
• Mayer released Wild Blue as a single, with a music video on August 18, 2021
• Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Deezer, and YouTube each have unique stickers on the cover; physical copies have none
• Mayer said in an interview with Zane Lowe that the record was meant to go against everything he had released up to that point

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Maps of Ages ↗ (mapsofages.com)

Privacy · Contact