Blue is the second studio album by American rock band Third Eye Blind, released on November 23, 1999. The album's creation was difficult, mainly due to power struggles and arguments between frontman Stephan Jenkins and lead guitarist Kevin Cadogan, leading to a quick but isolated recording experience between members. The album was generally well received by critics, and was certified platinum by the RIAA, but performed below the band's prior album, the multi-platinum Third Eye Blind. While managing to stay together for the creation of the album, shortly after its release, the band fired Cadogan, touring in support of the album with replacement guitarist Tony Fredianelli. Background Writing and recording The band enjoyed extensive success in 1997 with their first album, Third Eye Blind, which eventually went platinum six times. The band maintained popularity into 1998 through extensive touring and a number of singles that performed well in the charts, including "Semi-Charmed Life", "How's It Going to Be", "Graduate", "Losing a Whole Year", and "Jumper", but by the end of the year, the band looked to start working on new material. Dedicated work on the album began right away in January 1999. In promoting the album, frontman and lead vocalist Stephan Jenkins recounted a pleasant experience in recording the album, referring to it as "too much fun and feeling like...a complete recording group for the first time...We had these jam sessions that were fun". He also commented that it had been more collaborative than their prior album; bassist Arion Salazar became more involved in the writing and production, while drummer Brad Hargreaves was involved in the creative process for the first time, as he had joined the band late into their sessions for the first album. However, in retrospect, Jenkins painted a much more grim picture, citing time constraints, label pressure from Elektra Records, and isolation between members, stating: "We did the last album in six months, we just whipped it out, and there's some things on that album, on the second album, that I'm so proud of...but the second album suffered from a kind of coldness almost. That's done in part because we were never in the studio at the same time, never rehearsed the songs together, never played them together. I did my best to, to produce that record and it was very hard to do. Then we succumbed to the time pressures from Elektra to get the