Operation: Mindcrime

"Mindcrime" redirects here. Not to be confused with thoughtcrime.
This article is about the album. For the band featuring former Queensrÿche singer Geoff Tate, see Operation: Mindcrime (band).

Operation: Mindcrime
Studio album by
Queensrÿche
ReleasedMay 3, 1988
Recorded1987–1988
StudioKajem/Victory Studios, Gladwyne, Pennsylvania
Le Studio, Morin Heights, Quebec, Canada
Genre
Length59:14[1]
LabelEMI Manhattan
ProducerPeter Collins
Queensrÿche chronology
Rage for Order
(1986) 		Operation: Mindcrime
(1988) 		Empire
(1990)
Singles from Operation: Mindcrime
  1. "Eyes of a Stranger"
    Released: 1988
  2. "I Don't Believe in Love"
    Released: 1989
Audio sample
"I Don't Believe in Love"

Operation: Mindcrime is the third studio album by American heavy metal band Queensrÿche. Originally released on May 3, 1988, the album was reissued on May 6, 2003, with two bonus tracks, and again in 2006 as a deluxe box set.

Operation: Mindcrime is a concept album and a rock opera.[2][3][4] Its story follows Nikki, a drug addict who becomes disillusioned with the corrupt society of his time and reluctantly becomes involved with a revolutionary group as an assassin of political leaders.[5] In January 1989, it ranked at No. 34 on Kerrang! magazine's "100 Greatest Heavy Metal Albums of All Time".[6]

Operation: Mindcrime was Queensrÿche's breakthrough album, reaching number 50 on the Billboard 200 while its singles "Eyes of a Stranger" and "I Don't Believe in Love" served as the band's first charting hits in the United States.[7][8] The album was certified by the RIAA as gold in early 1989, and was certified as platinum two years later.[9] A sequel, Operation: Mindcrime II, was released on April 4, 2006.

  1. ^ CD with EAN 077774864022, time given without pregap
  2. ^ "Queensrÿche - Operation: Mindcrime - Reviews - Encyclopaedia Metallum: The Metal Archives".
  3. ^ "QUEENSRYCHE - We Will Rock Opera You".
  4. ^ "Metal Gets Mental". Chicago Tribune.
  5. ^ "Reply Declaration of Geoff Tate in Further Support of Motion for Preliminary Injunction" (PDF). court declaration. June 12, 2012. Retrieved December 8, 2012.[permanent dead link]
  6. ^ Wilding, Phil (January 21, 1989). "Queensrÿche 'Operation: Mindcrime'". Kerrang!. No. 222. London, UK: Spotlight Publications Ltd.
  7. ^ "Queensrÿche Chart History: Billboard 200". Billboard.com. Billboard. Retrieved May 8, 2018.
  8. ^ "Queensrÿche Chart History: Mainstream Rock". Billboard.com. Billboard. Retrieved May 8, 2018.
  9. ^ "RIAA Searchable Database: search for Queensryche". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved January 13, 2017.