Mean Business Explained

Mean Business
Type:studio
Artist:The Firm
Cover:The Firm Mean Business.jpg
Released:3 February 1986
Recorded:1985
Genre:Rock
Length:39:20
Label:Atlantic
Producer:Jimmy Page, Paul Rodgers and Julian Mendelsohn
Prev Title:The Firm
Prev Year:1985

Mean Business is the second and final studio album by The Firm, released by Atlantic Records on 3 February 1986. Repeating the same bluesy formula as on the first album, The Firm (1985), Mean Business did not achieve the same commercial success.

One of the album's tracks, "Live in Peace", was first recorded on Paul Rodgers' first solo album in 1983, Cut Loose. The versions differ in that Chris Slade played the drums at half tempo compared to the original version, apart from the ending. Paul Rodgers has recently played a new version on his new compilation album Live in Peace.

The album's title was intended to have a double meaning: that the music business is a hard one, and that the band was serious about its music ("The Firm mean business"). However, perhaps due to the lukewarm-at-best critical and financial success which the band met, Page and Rodgers decided to disband The Firm within months of this album's release.

The album peaked at #22 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. and at #46 on the UK Albums Chart. The single "All the King's Horses" spent four weeks at the top of Billboards Mainstream Rock Tracks chart.

"Fortune Hunter" was originally co-written by Page and Chris Squire for the aborted XYZ project in 1981. Squire was not credited on The Firm's version.

Personnel

Band

Other

Charts

Album

Chart (1986)Peak Position
US Billboard The 200 Albums Chart[1] 22
Canadian RPM Top 100 Chart[2] 37
Swedish Albums Chart[3] 43
UK Albums Chart[4] 46

Singles

YearSingleChartPosition
1986"All the King's Horses"US Billboard Album Rock Tracks[5] 1
1986"All the King's Horses"US Billboard Hot 100[6] 61
1986"All the King's Horses"US Cash Box Top 100 Singles[7] 67
1986"Live in Peace"US Billboard Album Rock Tracks[8] 21

Notes and References

  1. The Billboard 200 - 15 March 1986 . Billboard . 17 January 2009 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20140712033932/http://www.billboard.com/charts/1986-03-15/billboard-200 . 12 July 2014.
  2. RPM Albums Chart - 29 March 1986 . RPM . 17 January 2009 . https://web.archive.org/web/20131203025602/http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-119.01-e.php?&file_num=nlc008388.0651&volume=44&issue=1&issue_dt=March%2029%201986&type=1&interval=24&PHPSESSID=hrg50o22lgammqcogv27ve6d95 . 3 December 2013 . dead .
  3. Web site: Top 60 Albums - 2 April 1986 . Swedishcharts.com . 17 January 2009.
  4. Web site: Top 100 Albums - 5 April 1986 . . 19 January 2009 .
  5. Web site: [{{BillboardURLbyName |artist=the firm |chart=Mainstream Rock Tracks}} Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks - 22 February 1986 ]. billboard.com . 19 January 2009 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20070929124956/ . 29 September 2007 .
  6. Web site: Hot 100 Chart - 22 March 1986 . Billboard.com . 19 January 2009 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20140519154434/http://www.billboard.com/charts/1986-03-22/hot-100 . 19 May 2014.
  7. Web site: Top 100 Singles - 22 March 1986 . Cashboxmagazine.com . 19 January 2009 . https://web.archive.org/web/20071030074529/http://cashboxmagazine.com/archives/80s_files/19860322.html . 30 October 2007 . dead .
  8. Web site: [{{BillboardURLbyName |artist=the firm |chart=Mainstream Rock Tracks}} Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks - 5 April 1986 ]. billboard.com . 15 January 2009 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20070929124956/ . 29 September 2007.

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