Track Listing

1. Girlfriend
2. I Can Do Better
3. Runaway
4. The Best Damn Thing
5. When You're Gone
6. Everything Back But You
7. Hot
8. Innocence
9. I Don't Have To Try
10. One Of Those Girls
11. Contagious
12. Keep Holding On

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1633 in Music
• Released on: 2007-04-16
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: CD
• Dimensions: .22 pounds

Amazon.co.uk Review
The first clue to the sound of Avril Lavigne's third CD, The Best Damn Thing, comes in the form of her kickoff single, "Girlfriend," which is filled with singing, clapping, and cheerleader-style chanting. The song is quite a sonic contrast to her previous disc, Under My Skin, which was considered to be Lavigne's more mature follow-up to her 16 million-selling debut CD, Let Go. Like that debut, The Best Damn Thing will be largely and deeply embraced by teenage girls, and is packed with songs that will create enthusiastic sing-alongs in concert. There are a handful of numbers that will appeal to a wider audience; "Innocence" and disc closer "Keep Holding On" would both fit perfectly in a Gray's Anatomy episode, while the sultry message and solid harmonies in "Hot" will appease ears of many ages. Lavigne's husband, Sum 41 frontman Deryk Whibley makes an appearance as producer and instrumentalist on a handful of tracks; their union, however, seems to have bred more than love. "I Don't Have to Try" and "Everything Back But You" both have a frenetic pace and chorus that is so eerily Sum-like that if they weren't married, a copyright lawsuit might ensue. That aside, the record oscillates between lyrically acerbic fare ("One of Those Girls," "I Can Do Better") and fluffy sugar-pop melodies ("Contagious," "The Best Damn Thing") delivering far more spunk rock than punk rock. --Denise Sheppard

CD Description
'The Best Damn Thing' is the third album from Canadian pop rocker Avril Lavigne. Produced by Dr. Luke (Kelly Clarkson),Rob Cavallo (Green Day, My Chemical Romance) and her husband, Sum 41 member Deryck Whibley, Lavigne has continued with the unique mix of pop, rock and punk that helped her carve out a career as the missing link between girl pop and frat boy punk rock. The single 'Girlfriend' is also included.

Customer Reviews

Censorship
Not a bad album, but be warned, this is a censored version. In order to get the explicit version you have to pay a few pounds more and get the "special edition". I'm not the world's biggest fan of unnecessary profanity, but I find silence in the middle of lyrics annoying.

Just be aware of this fact...

Avril's best album to date!
Right, I'm not female and I'm not a teen but I for one find this the most entertaining and refreshing of all Avril's albums with a more up-to-date sound. I think it has more of a punky feel than previous albums: it is ruder and more `shouty'. Great to listen to in the car, in the club or just when trying to write a difficult essay like I am now!
Having said all that, DO NOT buy this version! Look for `The Best Damn Thing [Explicit Lyrics]' (or in stores the one with the parental advisory on the front!) That is the real deal and the one I'm listening to. Steer clear of this annoyingly sanitised `clean version' - why release this censored crud as the main version? I guess that's just the world we live in - definitely not very punk rock!

Mrs Whibley's career has gone a bit Whobley
As a fan of Avril's for 6 years straight, I could rate this run-of-the-mill album with 5 stars, but, if I were to do such a thing, I'd seem superficially biased and insincere.

Of course I'm not going to, because I don't want to lie.

Predictably, this album is light years away from Whibley's first two. Another unsubtle notice is that, I, personally prefer those two exceedingly astonishing albums, as they both had a seminal moto which, although were both eminently altered, they slotted nicely into an inspired division.

Now, I'm not saying this album is "awful" or down to expectations, because that's not how I see it. It has it's good moments and, well, it has it's plain duff moments. Quite impartially, I found this album to be one of the many guilty pleasures stored on my iTunes library.

The album begins with the frightfully cringe-worthy "Girlfriend"- not the best way to open the album as it is ironically the worst track on the album, but reasonably it's richest tops, as it's a nice little warm-up for what's to come (which is fortunately much better).

Woefully, in songs such as "The Best Damn Thing", "I Can Do Better" and "I Don't Have To Try", after the second chorus, the Middle 8 is made up of Avril either witlessly shouting, screeching, winging or just downright and unimaginatively, well, er, talking.

Graciously, in songs such as "Hot", "Innocence", "Keep Holding On" and "Contagious", the Middle 8 is sung in actual verses which generate a different melody- something that mostly the rest of the album doesn't seem to do.

The album's made up of three power ballads, "Keep Holding On", "Innocence" and "When You're Gone". On the contrary, these three songs are by far the most superior on the whole album. Of course, if you buy the Limited Edition version of the album, there's a Bonus Track called "I Will Be", another spectacular ballad.

"Runaway" is reminiscent of "Mobile", which was on Whibley's 2002 LP, with that track and "Contagious" probably being the only two on the disc which signal any trace of Avril's long-lost "Angry-Punky-Teen-Sk8er-Girl" days of "Let Go" and "Under My Skin".

"Every Back But You" and "I Can Do Better" are like two squishy peas in a pod. Featuring the same metal-influenced electric-guitar-riffs blaring as Avril whines about how much "guys are lame" and how much she wants to "PUUUKE" everytime she gawps at her man's mug (I think this young lady needs anger management).

Mrs Whibley bangs on about how much Mr Whibley makes her wanna scream in "Hot". Yes, the mono-sounding intro and outro are retrospective of "My Happy Ending". Lyrically, the song is about as impudent as one of Madonna's unreleased 1991 "Erotica" soft-porn audio demos. The only heroine which savours the whole catastrophe is the balanced chorus, which proves as fetching.

Despite the tired and lazy lyric, "One of those Girls" is a mellow demonstration of how mainstream bubblegum Pop should be presented. The satisfactory production is spot-on, same as the giggly, "tehee" vocals passing from Lavigne's throat.

Most surprisingly, the unchaining holy terror of "I Don't Have To Try" ain't half bad at all! Yes, once again the lyrical status is so imp that even a 12-year-old brat could believably be thought responsible for penning such lurid blog of "I-want-this-and-I-want-that" nonsense, but the catchy chorus and verses invent a solid tune.

All in all, "The Best Damn Thing" isn't Mrs Whibley's greatest addition. Yes, she's done better! Her first two scorchers could easily fit nicely into the frying pan, while TBDT has no room to belong and falls off the pan, onto the floor! WHAM! WHAM! WHAM!

Okay, we've been through this before- it's not her best, but it'll do (for now).

It's not dreadful or unpleasant to heed, it just simply isn't up to Lavigne's expected standards as seen previously. She has the talent- I'm sure every Whibley spectator knows it!

The album's ballads are evidently the highlights.

Best Vocals- "Innocence"
Best Lyrics- "Keep Holding On"
Best Music - "When You're Gone"

Now, in time for Lavigne's fourth studio album, I'd have expected her to have stepped out of her comfort zone. Fair enough, she's switched her skateboard for Pom-poms and exchanged dickey-bow ties for dickey-bow ribbons- now all she needs to do is de-Spears herself and put her clothes back on (Yes, she's posed half nude for Blender mag- it wasn't a pleasant sight at all).

As for the "anti-male" songs, I can assure all males that it's not as bad as some have descirbed (boys, you can stop hiding in your closet now).

It's rather bazaar to think that a once self-proclaimed "Sid Vicious of our generation" and notorious member of the "Anti-Britney" campaign has evolved into a deprecated Spears impostor herself!

What we want is Avril bloody Lavigne! Not some bleeding power-puff clone who's on the periphery of enrolling her local cheer-leading squad to lure attention to an unsettled public (surprise, SURPRISE)!

Quite frankly, this is hardly the album of 2007. I'd say you've got to either LOVE (yes, LOVE) all the singles from this album or be a real die-hard fan of Lavigne's to purchase this album. Otherwise, you're in for a shocker... a disappointing shocker at that!