Tilt (The Lightning Seeds album) focusing on subjects such as the Liverpool dockers' strike, self-loathing pop stars and general disillusionment. Preceded in release a week by the single "Life's Too Short", "Tilt" was released by Epic Records in November 1999. A unique billboard campaign was developed to promote the album. The album was a commercial failure, only reaching number 46 on the UK Albums Chart. Its two singles also fared badly in the UK Singles Chart. Broudie was later unsatisfied with the album, and took the band on hiatus in 2000. After the Lightning Seeds had been a solo project for Ian Broudie, the project
The Hot Rock (album) to enter the charts. After its release, the band supported the album with a tour across the United States, sharing stages with various bands including Sonic Youth, Guided by Voices, Bratmobile, and Superchunk. As of July 1999, the album has sold 42,000 copies in the U.S. according to Nielsen SoundScan. As of February 2015, "The Hot Rock" has sold 97,000 copies. Two songs from the album, "Get Up" and "A Quarter to Three", were released as singles on January 22, 1999, and April 6, 1999, by Kill Rock Stars and Matador Records respectively. The first single features an outtake, "By