THE GREATEST ALBUM EVER…THIS WEEK……”MER DE NOMS,’ THE DEBUT FROM A PERFECT CIRCLE, RELEASED TWENTY YEARS AGO THIS WEEK. WATCH THE STORY HERE!

A PERFECT CIRCLE WAS CONCEIVED BY BILLY HOWERDEL…WHO WORKED AS A GUITAR TECHNICIAN FOR NINE INCH NAILS, SMASHING PUMPKINS…AND….TOOL. THAT’S WHEN HE MET MAYNARD JAMES KEENAN, TOOL’S FRONTMAN.

HOWERDEL EVENTUALLY MOVED INTO MAYNARD’S NORTH HOLLYWOOD HOME, WHERE HE SHARED A FEW DEMOS. MAYNARD SAID, “I CAN HEAR MYSELF SINGING THOSE SONGS.” …AND A PERFECT CIRCLE WAS BORN.

THE BAND CONSISTED OF HOWERDEL AND MAYNARD, AS WELL AS BASSIST AND VIOLINIST PAZ LENCHANTIN, FORMER FAILURE GUITARIST TROY VAN LEEUWEN, AND DRUMMER JOSH FREEZE, FRESH FROM WORKING ON THE GUNS N ROSES ALBUM “CHINESE DEMOCRACY.”

THEY MADE THEIR LIVE DEBUT AT THE VIPER ROOM IN L.A., IN 1999, FOLLOWED BY AN APPEARANCE AT COACHELLA, AND PLANS FOR RECORDING FRIST ALBUM WERE WELL UNDERWAY.

MOST OF THE ALBUM’S LYRICS WERE DEDICATED TO VARIOUS PEOPLE THAT MAYNARD JAMES KEENAN ACTUALLY KNEW—REFLECTED IN SONG TITLES SUCH AS “JUDITH,” “ROSE,” “THOMAS,” AND ‘MAGDALENA.”  AND THEY TITLED THE ALBUM, “MER DE NOMS,’ WHICH IS FRENCH FOR “SEA OF NAMES.”

PRIOR TO ITS RELEASE, A PERFECT CIRLE EMBARKED ON A TOUR WITH NINE INCH NAILS, AND THE ALBUM OFFICIALLY DROPPED ON MAY TWENTY-THIRD, TWO-THOUSAND. IT HIT THE CHARTS AT NUMBER-FOUR--WHICH WAS THE HIGHEST DEBUT EVER FOR A ROCK BAND—AND IT WENT PLATINUM BY OCTOBER, STAYING ON THE CHARTS FOR 51 CONSECUTIVE WEEKS.

NME, AMONG OTHERS, PRAISED THE ALBUM, SAYING “A PERFECT CIRLCE HAVE CREATED A WORK OF MORBID BEAUTY. IN TERMS OF DARKNESS, IT ECLIPSES NEARLY EVERYTHING ELSE.”

AND THAT’S WHY “MER DE NOMS’ IS OUR GREATEST ALBUM EVER…THIS WEEK.