The album was recorded at various locations from 2003–2004, including Rancho De La Luna, Donner & Blitzen, 11 a.d., Del Boca Vista, Sound City, Stagg Street, Lethal, Sound Arts, and Kudzu Ranch. Tracks were mixed by Rick Will, Alain Johannes and Mathias Schneeburger, and recorded by Will, Johannes, Schneeburger, Tracey Chisholm, Jonas G., Aldo Struyf, David Catching, Brian Baker, Rick Miller, Rail Rogut and Pete Martinez. Photography for the album is credited to Anna Hrnjak, and art direction and design to Susan McEwoen. "Hit the City" was the second and last single from the album and features the English rock musician PJ Harvey. "Hit the City" peaked at 76 on the British singles chart and was Lanegan's first single to chart. The album title comes from a lyric in the song "Bombed." In his 2017 book I Am the Wolf: Lyrics & Writings, Lanegan recalls: Also in I Am the Wolf, the singer writes that he wrote the love song "Strange Religion" in a Tokyo hotel room. The song was used in season 6 of the Showtime television series Californication, as well as during the closing credits of a 2017 episode of Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown.
Release and reception
Upon its release in August 2004, Bubblegum peaked at #39 on the U.S. Independent Albums chart, #19 in Italy, #28 in Belgium, #30 in Norway, #35 in Finland, #36 in the Netherlands, #43 in the United Kingdom, #67 in Germany and #189 in France. It was Lanegan's first commercially successful album. The single "Hit the City" peaked at 76 on the British singles chart and is Lanegan's first charted single. AllMusic's Mark Deming described the album: "With the Screaming Trees an increasingly distant memory and his brief tenure with Queens of the Stone Age seemingly over and done, Mark Lanegan appears to have well and truly become a solo artist, and while the dark and blues-shot introspections of Whiskey for the Holy Ghost and The Winding Sheet felt like a respite from Lanegan's usual musical diet of the time, Bubblegum sounds like an effort to fuse the nocturnal atmospherics of his solo work with the impressive brain/brawn ratio of his better-known bands." Deming awarded the album four out of five stars. The Guardian's Alexis Petridis also awarded the album four out of five stars, writing: "Lanegan once called his bluesy solo work "death dirges". From its matte black cover inwards, Bubblegum never stints on the dark stuff. There is drug-induced despair and failed romance, with music to match: sibilant drum machines that recall 1970s art-punks Suicide, dolefully minimal guitar figures, shrieking feedback and the unmistakable wail of PJ Harvey on backing vocals. At its bleakest and least tuneful, Bubblegum is powerful enough to take your breath away. In every sense, Bubblegum is a staggering record". Pitchfork Media reviewer Matthew Murphy commented that "Throughout Bubblegum, Lanegan proves himself adroit at navigating the back alleys of Babylon, but after the record's umpteenth reference to loaded shotguns, '73 Buicks, and goin' cold turkey, one can't help but think he might eventually want to take a stab at some new material. So far, his voice has proven to be well-suited for whatever use he has put it to; hopefully next time he strays a little further afield to better stretch its limits." Stylus Magazine's Dave McGonigle: "It is, to be frank, one of the most remarkable and forward-looking rock albums that you will hear all year, and testament to Lanegan's ability to take desolate lyrics and fashion beautiful, redemptive tunes around them. This is the album that Lanegan always seemed about to make; forgive him his tardiness, and dive right in." CD Times's Karl Wareham: "'Bubblegum', on the whole, is something of a flawed classic. When it's good it's excellent, but there's one too many fillers to make it a perfect album. It's still one of the strongest albums released for quite a while. Slipping onto the shelves with hardly a hint of hype and that's OK, this is one album that shouldn't need it for it'll sell byword of mouth for years to come." Patrick Donovan of The Age awarded the album five stars and said: "It's hard to tell if the title is ironic, given the dark nature of the album, but perhaps he answers this on Bombed: "When I'm bombed I stretch like bubblegum." This album will resonate with listeners long after the storm has settled, the ice has melted and his words fade to black. A modern-day classic from one of rock's great survivors." Playlouder: "At times 'Bubblegum' is terrifying, exhilarating, intimate, sexy, weird, and downright wonderful. 'Bubblegum' is the sound of being loaded. 'Bubblegum' is highly addictive, so be careful."
Alain Johannes - lead guitar on 4, guitars on 11, 12, 13, 14, bass on 11, 12, 13, 14, drums on 11, 12, 13, 14, electronic drums on 11, 14 strings on 11, synthesizer on 11, background vocals on 12, keyboards on 12, 13, organ on 14
