Yourself or Someone Like You is the debut album by American
rock band
Matchbox 20. It was released on October 1, 1996,[8] by
Lava Records and
Atlantic Records. Nine years after the album was released, Matchbox Twenty was sued by New York City resident Frank Torres, The Man on the front cover. The album was certified 12x Platinum By the
Recording Industry Association of America.
According to
Rob Thomas, the album's title was originally to be Woodshed Diaries. However, that changed when Thomas and Paul Doucette were at a woman's musical performance at
Café Largo when the singer said "this song is for you, or someone like you". They loved the phrase so much that they insisted on changing the album's title, despite the fact that 3,500 copies of the album with the original title had already been made. Their labels agreed, however the name change resulted in the album's release being delayed.[10]
The album sold a mere 610 copies in its first week, but eventually went on to sell several million copies in the United States. Yourself or Someone Like You became one of the few albums to achieve the prestigious
Diamond certification, and it was also certified multi-platinum in
Australia,
Canada and
New Zealand. To date, the album has sold more than 15 million copies worldwide.[11]
Artwork lawsuit
In 2005, almost a decade after the album's release, the band was sued by Frank Torres, the man on the album's cover. Torres claimed the band never asked for his permission to use his image on the sleeve. In the
litigation, Torres claimed the photo was taken as he was walking down the street after being asked to pose. He also claimed the photo had caused him emotional distress. Torres justified the delay in suing Matchbox 20 by claiming he had first seen the album photo within two years of the litigation.[12] Torres died in 2016 at age 73.[13]
Track listing
Original release
All tracks are written by
Rob Thomas except where noted