{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}} {{Infobox album | name = Make Yr Life | type = studio | artist = The Butchies | cover = Make Yr Life.jpg|border=yes | alt = | released = 2004 | recorded = | venue = | studio = | genre = Queercore, pop punk | length = | label = Yep Roc Records<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=USoEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA36|title=Reviews|work=CMJ New Music Monthly|date=December 10, 2004|publisher=CMJ Network, Inc.|via=Google Books}}</ref> | producer = Greg Griffith | prev_title = 3 | prev_year = 2001 | next_title = | next_year = }} '''''Make Yr Life''''' is the fourth album by the American lesbian queercore band the Butchies, released in 2004.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-butchies-mn0000631497/biography|title=The Butchies Biography, Songs, & Albums|website=AllMusic}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Singer |first1=Kristi |title=Femme n roll: The Butchies Make Yr Life sets them out on the road |work=Star-News |date=8 Apr 2004 |location=Currents |page=8}}</ref> It was the band's final album.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://indyweek.com/news/culture/music/butchies-move/|title=The Butchies move on|first=Grayson Haver|last=Currin|date=May 11, 2005|website=INDY Week}}</ref>

==Production== The album was produced by Greg Griffith; the band worked for two and half years on the songs, and spent 10 days recording them.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Higgins |first1=Polly |title=Band muses about love, sex and pronouns |work=Tucson Citizen |date=20 May 2004 |page=L18}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Devores |first1=Courtney |title=THE BUTCHIES |work=The Charlotte Observer |date=April 9, 2004 |page=15E}}</ref> The Butchies set out to make a poppier album.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Mervis |first1=Scott |title=BUTCH ROCK: THE BUTCHIES BRING GRRL POWER TO THE POP-PUNK SCENE |work=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |date=16 Apr 2004 |page=W34}}</ref>

The band had been playing "17" in concert for years, and recorded the song after it had become a fan favorite.<ref name=OS/>

==Critical reception== {{music ratings |rev1 = AllMusic |rev1Score = {{rating|4|5}}<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/make-yr-life-mw0000327872|title=Make Yr Life - The Butchies &#124; Songs, Reviews, Credits &#124; AllMusic|via=www.allmusic.com}}</ref> |rev2 = Robert Christgau |rev2score = {{Rating-Christgau|hm3}}<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?id=4466&name=The+Butchies|title=Robert Christgau: CG: The Butchies|website=www.robertchristgau.com}}</ref> |rev3 = ''Orlando Sentinel'' |rev3score = {{rating|3|5}}<ref name="OS">{{cite news |last1=Abbott |first1=James |title=EVOCATIVE THEMES FROM FAMILIAR SONGS |work=Orlando Sentinel |date=28 May 2004 |location=Calendar |page=9}}</ref> }} ''The Washington Post'' thought that "such thumping new songs as 'Trouble' and 'She's So Lovely' demonstrate that the band has lost none of its swagger, but overall this disc is the band's poppiest outing."<ref>{{cite news |title=THE BUTCHIES 'Make Yr Life' |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2004/04/16/the-butchies-make-yr-lif/2f7eb1c9-68aa-4520-8188-8c735e960362/ |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=10 December 2021}}</ref> ''The Advocate'' declared that "Kaia Wilson, Melissa York, and Alison Martlew are undisputed masters of the two- to three-minute power-punk anthem."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Coble |first1=Margaret |title=Dyke rock diehards |journal=The Advocate |date=Apr 27, 2004 |issue=913 |pages=60–61}}</ref> The ''Orlando Sentinel'' concluded that "even when the lyrics lean toward melodrama, Wilson's slashing guitar combines with the rumbling rhythms of bassist Alison Martlew and drummer Melissa York to make words inconsequential."<ref name=OS/>

The ''Chicago Reader'' wrote that "though York’s stick work is still hard and nimble, ''Make Yr Life'' feels a bit less punk than the Butchies’ first three records, as if they were dialing it back to show off their songwriting–which is chewier than ever."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://chicagoreader.com/arts-culture/butchies/|title=Butchies|first=Michaelangelo|last=Matos|date=September 16, 2004|website=Chicago Reader}}</ref> ''The Morning Call'' determined that "where some may have turned to a cover of The Outfield's 'Your Love' for its nostalgic value, The Butchies make it their own, providing the album with a sexually heated closing track that is deliriously dramatic."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Doolittle |first1=James |title=THE BUTCHIES 'MAKE YR LIFE' |work=The Morning Call |date=9 Oct 2004 |page=D6}}</ref>

AllMusic wrote that "the band's quiet, drastic reworking of the Outfield's 1985 pop hit 'Your Love' just may be the cover version of the year."<ref name="auto"/>

==Track listing== All songs composed by the Butchies, except as noted. #"Send Me You" #"Trouble" #"Make Yr Life" #"Second Guess" #"She's So Lovely" #"Everything + Everywhere" #"17" #"Lydia" #"Tell the Others" #"Your Love" (John Spinks)

==References== {{reflist}}

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Category:2004 albums Category:The Butchies albums Category:Queercore albums Category:Yep Roc Records albums