Becoming X is the debut studio album by English electronic band Sneaker Pimps. It was first released on 19 August 1996 in the United Kingdom by Clean Up Records and on 25 February 1997 in the United States by Virgin Records. The album marked the only appearance of Kelli Dayton as lead singer before she was asked to leave the band; Chris Corner replaced her for the band's subsequent albums.
Becoming X was commercially successful in the United Kingdom, while "6 Underground" and "Spin Spin Sugar" would become hits in the United States. Fueled by the success of the former single, the album spent 23 consecutive weeks on the US Billboard 200.
Background and recording
Becoming X is an electronica and trip hop album, featuring alternative rock and orchestral elements and samples. The title comes from the fourth track on the album and, as explained by vocalist Kelli Dayton, "X meaning whatever you want it to mean. Also like generation X, X as a blank. It's a feeling. So it's really purposefully ambiguous, like the songs are. We've tried letting people use their imagination to make it more personal to them." This concept was later referenced into the name of Chris Corner's solo project IAMX.
The album was written by Corner and Liam Howe, with friend Ian Pickering contributing to the lyrics in what Corner calls "a total collaboration". The album's demos were recorded with Corner on vocals. However, the band felt the songs would work better with a female voice, so the band's manager and co-founder of the Clean Up label, Craig Mineard, sent the demos to Dayton, asking her to join the band as vocalist. Dayton liked the demos and agreed to join the band, on the condition of becoming a song-writing partner. As much of the writing for the album was already in place, Dayton went on to co-write the b-sides.
The album was recorded in Howe's bedroom studio in Elwick. The vocals were recorded in a cupboard that Howe made into a vocal booth. Possessing a higher vocal range than Corner, Dayton decided to record the tracks' vocals in a measured and subdued way to give them more emotional intensity.
"How Do", the last song on the album, is a cover of Paul Giovanni's "Willow's Song". It was also covered by Kelli Ali on her album Butterfly in 2009.
Release and promotion
Various iterations of the record exist with different artwork and track mixes. The first version features a cover with metal circuitry designed by Foxy Design and was released in UK and Europe on 19 August 1996, on vinyl, CD and cassette by Clean Up Records. The album was released in US on 25 February 1997 by Virgin featuring the Nellee Hooper remix of "6 Underground" as bonus track.
Due to the success of the singles "6 Underground" and "Spin Spin Sugar", the album was reissued in 1997 with artwork by Stéphane Sednaoui. The reissue, referred to as the limited edition, features the Nellee Hooper remix of "6 Underground", the radio mix of "Spin Spin Sugar" and the Flight From Nashville mix of "Post-Modern Sleaze". This is the version provided on streaming platforms. The limited edition track listing was used for the 2008, 2016 and 2020 vinyl reissues of the album, although the original 1996 artwork was supplied instead of the Limited Edition artwork. This caused confusion, but One Little Independent Records insisted it was correct when it indeed was an error.
Five singles were released from the album: "Tesko Suicide", "Roll On" and "6 Underground" in 1996, and "Spin Spin Sugar" and "Post-Modern Sleaze" in 1997. Music videos were made for the tracks "Tesko Suicide", directed by Liam Howe and Joe Wilson, "Six Underground" and "Spin Spin Sugar", both directed by Toby Tremlett, and "Post-Modern Sleaze", directed by Howard Greenhalgh. The videos were later released on the 2001 video compilation The Videos on DVD.