Anoraknophobia

Anoraknophobia is Marillion's 12th studio album, released in 2001. Following the success of their previous North American tour, underwritten by the band's fans themselves, Marillion turned to their fans to finance the making of Anoraknophobia, asking them to pre-order the album before it was even recorded. This was as unprecedented as it was successful, as more than 12,500 fans pre-ordered it. All who pre-ordered the album received a special double-CD version. Everyone who pre-ordered the album before a set date also got their names printed in the booklet of the 2-CD version. The album title appears to be a portmanteau of "anorak" (or its slang equivalent) and "arachnophobia", although according to Steve Hogarth the point of the title is no fear of anoraks ("anorak no phobia"). To accompany the album, Marillion issued a press release which stated: “This is an important and contemporary album that is light years removed from anything the band have created in their past. It deserves to be reviewed in a manner that is both accurate and fair. So, our challenge to you is to firstly listen to the album. Then write a review without using any of the following words: 'progressive rock,' 'Genesis,' 'Fish,' 'heavy metal,' 'dinosaurs,' 'predictable,' 'concept album'. Because if you do, we'll know that you haven't listened to it." Anoraknophobia was the first of the band's studio albums to fail to chart at all in the UK. Its sole single, "Between You and Me", also failed to chart.