Destination Failure by Smoking Popes

Destination Failure is the third album by the Chicago-based pop punk band the Smoking Popes, released August 26, 1997 by Capitol Records. It was their second, and final, album for Capitol and their last before their nearly seven-year hiatus; their covers album The Party's Over was rejected by Capitol and the Smoking Popes disbanded in December 1998, reuniting in November 2005 to record At Metro. Destination Failure was not as successful as the band's previous album Born to Quit; it failed to chart despite the release a single and music video for "I Know You Love Me". The album was recorded at the Chicago Recording Company and at Conway Studios in Hollywood with producer Jerry Finn and recording engineer Phil Bonnet. Bonnet had worked with the band since early in their career, engineering and producing their EPs Break Up and 2 as well as Born to Quit. The songs "Let's Hear It for Love" and "Can't Find It" are new recordings of songs from the Get Fired. The Destination Failure version of "Can't Find It" is slower than the original version. "I Know You Love Me" references singer and guitarist Josh Caterer's newfound interest in Christianity, while "You Spoke to Me" refers to Blake Schwarzenbach of Jawbreaker and Jets to Brazil, who the Smoking Popes had toured with. "Paul" is about enduring an ex-lover's affection for her new man. Destination Failure also includes a cover version of "Pure Imagination", a song from the musical film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.