Anoraknophobia

Anoraknophobia is Marillion's 12th studio album, released in 2001.

Background

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:

Musical content

As exemplified by the press release issued by the band, Anoraknophobia was a deliberate attempt by Marillion to sound modern and distance themselves further from their neo-progressive rock past. In an interview with the BBC, Steve Hogarth talked about the band's new direction and the album's diverse influences. He said: "With this album there's been a massive invasion of black influence – there's rap, there's groove, there's funk, there's trip hop, blues, jazz, dub."