In the Pursuit of Leisure

In the Pursuit of Leisure
Studio album by Sugar Ray
Released	June 3, 2003
Recorded	2002–2003
Studio	Henson Studios, Hollywood, California
Genre	Pop rock[1]
Length	41:06
Label	Atlantic
Producer	David Kahne
Sugar Ray chronology
Sugar Ray (2001) In the Pursuit of Leisure (2003) The Best of Sugar Ray (2005)
Singles from In the Pursuit of Leisure
"Mr. Bartender (It's So Easy)" Released: April 28, 2003 "Is She Really Going Out With Him?" Released: 2003

In the Pursuit of Leisure is the fifth studio album by American rock band Sugar Ray, released in 2003. Singer-songwriter Esthero and reggae singer Shaggy both make guest appearances.

It features the single "Mr. Bartender (It's So Easy)", a song which includes samples from both Sweet's hit "Love Is Like Oxygen" and Midnight Star's hit "No Parking (On the Dance Floor)." That track was a success and reached the #20 spot on Billboard's Adult Top 40. A cover of Joe Jackson's new wave song "Is She Really Going Out With Him?" was released as the second single. It had similar success and reached the #29 spot on Billboard's Adult Top 40.^[2]

The single "Is She Really Going Out With Him" was originally released by Joe Jackson in 1978, when all the members were still only between the ages of 8 and 11. The idea to cover the song came in 2000, from John Rubeli, who worked at Atlantic Records. He came across "Is She Really Going Out With Him" and thought that Jackson sounded similar to McGrath in it, which led to him suggesting that Sugar Ray do a cover.^[3] It took him some time to get this idea out to the band, which is why it didn't appear on their 2001 self-titled album.^[3] McGrath said in 2003 that his band were still fans of Joe Jackson and other new wave musicians, despite not being the ones who thought of covering him. He said, "all those great songs from the '80s, be it from Duran Duran or Adam Ant or Joe Jackson, they were part of the soundtrack to our lives growing up."^[3] Sugar Ray had previously covered the 1981 new wave song "Stand and Deliver" by Adam and the Ants, with it appearing on their 1997 album Floored.^[3]

The back of the album features a photograph of a chimpanzee, which is wearing a baseball cap with the phrase "word!" on it. This chimpanzee is also in a group shot with the band in the album's booklet. The back of the album shows the song titles as if they were a digital menu with a programming guide for what was on television for the date of Saturday, October 24th.^[4]

To support the album in the summer of 2003, Sugar Ray embarked on a month long American tour with Michelle Branch, The Goo-Goo Dolls and Uncle Kracker. Sugar Ray had previously done American tours with The Goo-Goo Dolls and Uncle Kracker in 1999 and 2001.^[5] In 2003, they also shared bills with Franky Perez, Matchbox Twenty, Maroon 5, Tony C. and the Truth and Trapt, among others.^[6]

The album sold 135,000 copies, far less than the band's prior self-titled release, which had gone platinum.^[7] The album's commercial failure led to a six-year gap in releasing their next album, Music for Cougars.^[7] In 2004, McGrath got a role as host of entertainment news program Extra, and the band started only playing a few shows a year up until their comeback with Music for Cougars. McGrath reflected in 2009 that the pop radio scene was starting to shift at that time, saying "the Ushers and Lil Jons were moving in and I'm like, 'you know what, man? You've had a great run this first wave; let's see what else is going on'."^[8]

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	68/100[9]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[2]
Entertainment Weekly	B−[10]
Rolling Stone	[11]

Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic called it "another winning record by a band who has proven to be far more resilient than anybody could have guessed when 'Fly' flew to the top of the charts in 1997."^[2] Entertainment Weekly gave it a B− rating, saying that "nothing on this album is good for you, but you may find its saccharine charms difficult to resist."^[10]

Rolling Stone's Pat Blashill had a more negative review, saying that "Sugar Ray are a synthesis of everything that's dumb about pop music; like Prell shampoo, they make you feel bouncy, resilient and full of pep." Blashill also labelled the single "Mr. Bartender (It's So Easy)" as "a metal-pop song with a gratuitously silly rap chorus."^[11] Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine also had a negative review in 2003, saying that "Sugar Ray’s 1999 album 14:59 was such a blatant, no-apologies capitalist cash-in it was difficult not to admire it. But after their carbon copy self-titled follow-up, and now In the Pursuit of Leisure, their fifth album, Sugar Ray just seem downright lazy." He added that, "Sugar Ray has built an entire career out of creating summer anthems and now it seems they’re just treading pool water. The album, perhaps more appropriately titled In the Pursuit of Absolutely Nothing, is breezy and inviting but utterly unchallenging—for both the band and its audience."^[12]

• Sugar Ray – songwriting (1, 3–11)
  • Mark McGrath – lead vocals
  • Rodney Sheppard – guitar, backing vocals
  • Murphy Karges – bass, backing vocals
  • DJ Homicide – turntables, samples, programming; keyboards, backing vocals
  • Stan Frazier – drums, percussion, backing vocals

• In the Pursuit of Leisure at Metacritic