| Operation: Mindcrime | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | May 3, 1988 | |||
| Recorded | 1987–1988 | |||
| Studio | Kajem/Victory Studios,Gladwyne, Pennsylvania Le Studio,Morin Heights, Quebec, Canada | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 59:14[1] | |||
| Label | EMIManhattan | |||
| Producer | Peter Collins | |||
| Queensrÿche chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Operation: Mindcrime | ||||
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| Audio sample | ||||
"I Don't Believe in Love" | ||||
Operation: Mindcrime is the third studio album by Americanheavy metal bandQueensrÿche. Originally released on May 3, 1988, the album was reissued on May 6, 2003, with two bonus tracks, and again in 2006 as a deluxe box set.
Operation: Mindcrime is aconcept album and arock opera.[7][8][9] Its story follows Nikki, adrug addict who becomes disillusioned with the corrupt society of his time and reluctantly becomes involved with arevolutionary group as an assassin of political leaders.[10] In January 1989, it ranked at No. 34 onKerrang! magazine's "100 Greatest Heavy Metal Albums of All Time".[11]
Operation: Mindcrime was Queensrÿche's breakthrough album, reaching number 50 on theBillboard 200 while its last two singles "Eyes of a Stranger" and "I Don't Believe in Love" served as the band's first charting hits in the United States.[12][13] The album wascertified by the RIAA as gold in early 1989, and was certified as platinum two years later.[14] A sequel,Operation: Mindcrime II, was released on April 4, 2006.
Operation: Mindcrime took almost two years to produce, with pre-production beginning as early as the spring of 1987.[15] The album was recorded digitally on aSony 24-track digital tape machine, and was also mixed and mastered in the digital format.[16]
The band shot a one-off promotional video in 1988 for the song "Speak" using performance footage. It did not include adramatization of any of the story's concepts.
During the tour promoting the 1990 albumEmpire,Operation: Mindcrime was performed in its entirety. The stage show featured video, animation and guest singerPamela Moore as Sister Mary. A recording was released asOperation: Livecrime. The story was initially explored in a series of video clips forMTV in the 1989VHS video,Video: Mindcrime.
In 2006,Operation: Mindcrime was re-released as a deluxe box set, containing the 2003remaster, a live CD with the album played in its entirety at theHammersmith Odeon on November 15, 1990, and a bonusDVD containing the 1989Video: Mindcrime and bonus clips.
The idea for the album came toGeoff Tate after moving to Montreal, Canada, and listening to the loose talk of members of the militantQuebec separatist movement who had grown friendly with him, some of whom were in organizations which engaged in bombing and terrorism. He also incorporated some of his memories of friends who had become derelicts due to heavy drug use. While working on the basic storyline behind the album, Tate had to convince the rest of his bandmates on a one-on-one basis.Chris DeGarmo soon shared his enthusiasm for the project and the rest of the band eventually became interested.[17][18]
The album begins with the protagonist, Nikki, in a hospital. He lies in a near catatonic state, unable to remember anything but snippets from his past. Suddenly, Nikki's memories come flooding back in a torrent ("I Remember Now"). He remembers how, as a heroin addict and would-be political radical frustrated with contemporary society due to theeconomic inequality, corruption and hypocrisy around him, he was manipulated into joining a supposed secret organization dedicated to revolution ("Anarchy—X", "Revolution Calling"). At the head of this organization is a mysterious political and religiousdemagogue known only as Dr. X, who manipulates Nikki through a combination of his heroin addiction and brainwashing techniques to become an assassin. Whenever Dr. X uses the word "mindcrime", Nikki becomes his docile puppet, a state which Dr. X uses to command Nikki to undertake any murder that the Doctor wishes ("Operation: Mindcrime").[16]
As his position within Dr. X's organization grows, so does Nikki's ego and adherence to his master's vision of the future ("Speak"). Through one of Dr. X's associates, a corrupt priest named Father William, Nikki is offered the services of a teenage prostitute-turned-nun named Sister Mary ("Spreading the Disease"). Through his friendship and growing affection toward Sister Mary, Nikki begins to question the nature of what he is doing, seeing that Dr. X has his own nefarious agenda ("The Mission"). Dr. X takes notice and, seeing a potential threat in Mary to hiscult of personality, orders Nikki to kill both her and the priest. Nikki goes to Mary's church and kills the priest, but, after confronting Mary, he fails to comply with the command to murder her ("Suite Sister Mary"). He loves Mary and decides to leave the organization with her, so Nikki goes to Dr. X to tell him that they are out. Dr. X, however, reminds Nikki that the alternative is to go back to his bleak life as a self-loathing but helpless addict ("The Needle Lies"). Nikki leaves, conflicted and uncertain, and he returns to Mary only to find her dead ("Electric Requiem").[16]
Nikki cannot cope with the loss, as well as the possibility that he himself may have killed her without knowing it (it was later revealed on theMindcrime at the Moore DVD that Mary killed herself after Dr. X threatened to kill Nikki)[19] and he begins to succumb to insanity. He runs through the streets calling her name ("Breaking the Silence"). The police arrive and attempt to subdue him. A gun is found on Nikki, and they take him into custody under suspicion of Mary's murder and the murders he committed for Dr. X ("I Don't Believe in Love"). Suffering from an almost complete loss of memory, Nikki is put into a mental hospital, where he retraces in his mind his last moments with Mary ("Waiting for 22", "My Empty Room"). Back in the present in the hospital room at the beginning of the story Nikki has regained his memory, but now stares at his image in a mirror, unable to recognize who he is and what he has become ("Eyes of a Stranger").[16]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [20] |
| Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal | 9/10[21] |
| Kerrang! |  [22] |
| Metal Forces | 9.5/10[23] |
| Rock Hard (GER) | 9.5/10[24] |
The album received widespread critical acclaim upon its release. Contemporary critics praised the band's musicianship,Geoff Tate's voice, the complex and well-developed storyline andPeter Collins' production.[22][23][24]Rock Hard reviewer remarked how Queensrÿche's music featured "clever breaks, unusual song structures and ingenious arrangements", which was "an unmistakable sign that the band (did) not aim to the taste of the masses, but primarily (wanted) to publish intelligent, artistically demanding albums."[24] Derek Oliver ofKerrang! found some flaws only in the apparently incomplete storyline and wondered if the "highly socio-political" topic could "be enough to clinch the continued support of their existing fan base and turn on a whole lot more".[22] Bernard Doe ofMetal Forces stated thatOperation: Mindcrime "deserves to stand alongside the likes ofThe Who'sQuadrophenia andPink Floyd'sThe Dark Side of the Moon for its conceptual brilliance" and lauded Queensrÿche for "injecting new blood into old ideas and stamping their own authority over them."[23]
In 2011,LA Weekly ranked the album at No. 14 on their Top 20 Hair Metal Albums Of All Time calling it "Queensyche's magnum opus" and "a masterpiece".[25]
Modern reviews are equally positive.AllMusic's Steve Huey was sometimes taken aback by the lyrics and political observations "too serious and intellectual for their own good", but wrote that it is "a testament to Queensrÿche's creativity and talent that they can pull off a project of this magnitude."[20] Canadian journalistMartin Popoff appreciated how "the involved, heavy-handed storytelling" was paired "with the band's most urgent, up-front metal display since theQueensrÿche EP", which he considered "quite an accomplishment for a concept record wrapped up in drugs and religion."[21]
The song "I Don't Believe in Love" was nominated for aGrammy Award in 1990 in the category "Best Metal Performance".[26]
In the United States, the album wascertified Gold on April 14, 1989, and certified Platinum two years later.[14]
In 2016,Classic Rock named it among the "10 essential progressive metal albums".[27] In January 2017,Loudwire rankedOperation: Mindcrime as the best heavy metal album of 1988.[28] In June 2017,Rolling Stone placed it 67th on their list of 'The 100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time.'[29]
Operation: Mindcrime has been cited as an influence byAvenged Sevenfold[30] andBen Weinman ofthe Dillinger Escape Plan.[31]
A sequel,Operation: Mindcrime II, was released on April 4, 2006, withRonnie James Dio taking over the role of Dr. X. The subsequent tour consisted of the band performing bothOperation: Mindcrime and its sequel in their entirety, back-to-back, with actors, props, an elaborate stage set, and a video screen. The live act from that tour also portrayed Mary's death clearly for the first time. It was later released on the 2007 DVDMindcrime at the Moore, which included a recording of Dio's only live performance of "The Chase".
All credits adapted from the original releases.[32]
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "I Remember Now" | Chris DeGarmo | 1:17 |
| 2. | "Anarchy—X" (instrumental) | DeGarmo | 1:27 |
| 3. | "Revolution Calling" | Geoff Tate,Michael Wilton | 4:42 |
| 4. | "Operation: Mindcrime" | DeGarmo, Tate, Wilton | 4:43 |
| 5. | "Speak" | Tate, Wilton | 3:42 |
| 6. | "Spreading the Disease" | Tate, Wilton | 4:07 |
| 7. | "The Mission" | DeGarmo | 5:45 |
| 8. | "Suite Sister Mary" (first track of side 2 on LP and some cassette pressings) | DeGarmo, Tate | 10:41 |
| Total length: | 36:25[nb 1] | ||
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9. | "The Needle Lies" | Tate, Wilton | 3:08 |
| 10. | "Electric Requiem" | Scott Rockenfield, Tate | 1:22 |
| 11. | "Breaking the Silence" | DeGarmo, Tate | 4:34 |
| 12. | "I Don't Believe in Love" | DeGarmo, Tate | 4:23 |
| 13. | "Waiting for 22" (instrumental) | DeGarmo | 1:05 |
| 14. | "My Empty Room" | Tate, Wilton | 1:25 |
| 15. | "Eyes of a Stranger" | DeGarmo, Tate | 6:39 |
| Total length: | 22:39[nb 2] | ||
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 16. | "The Mission" (live at theHammersmith Odeon, London, UK on November 15, 1990) | DeGarmo | 6:11 |
| 17. | "My Empty Room" (live at theAstoria Theatre, London, UK on October 20, 1994) | Tate, Wilton | 2:43 |
Queensrÿche
Cast
Production
| Chart (1988) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Canada Top Albums/CDs (RPM)[33] | 75 |
| Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[34] | 29 |
| Finland (The Official Finnish Charts)[35] | 13 |
| German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[36] | 40 |
| Japanese Albums (Oricon)[37] | 64 |
| Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[38] | 25 |
| Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[39] | 21 |
| UK Albums (OCC)[40] | 58 |
| USBillboard 200[41] | 50 |
| Chart (2021) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[42] | 111 |
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| United States (RIAA)[43] | Platinum | 1,000,000^ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. | ||
| Publication | Country | Accolade | Year | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kerrang! | UK | The 100 Greatest Heavy Metal Albums of All Time[11] | 1989 | 34 |
| Decibel | US | Hall of Fame[44] | 2011 | 80 |
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