Record deals were being handed out like Halloween candy to anything remotely resembling “alternative” in the post-Nirvana ’90s. It’s nearly impossible to imagine a band like art/math rockers Shudder to Think being signed to a conglomerate like Sony, but heck, they put out two albums on Epic Records.
Not only did Shudder to Think squeeze out two major-label discs during the alt-rock feeding frenzy, Shudder lead singer Craig Werden also produced Bruiser Queen, the second full-length album from Cake Like, an all-female trio fronted by Kerri Kenney, probably best known for her role on Reno 911! But at the time of Bruiser Queen’s release in 1997, she was a cast member on Comedy Central’s short-lived Viva Variety.
Signed to Neil Young’s Vapor label at the suggestion of Ric Ocasek, Cake Like trafficked in Pixies-ish melodies, with some Sonic Youth dissonance thrown in for good measure. Kenney’s near constant presence on MTV a few years earlier on The State gave the trio an inroad to some light rotation on Alternative Nation and 120 Minutes, with both shows airing the video for “Lorraine’s Car” (download).
How many members of the State can you spot, kids? Look closely. There are more than you think:
Sometimes I can forgive a band for anything if I love them enough. Even being featured in a Pringles ad or an Adam Sandler film.
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Morrissey was one of the earliest fans and champions of Britpop glumlords Suede, and it’s not too tough to figure out why. Besides owing quite a musical debt to Morrissey fave Bowie and even the Smiths themselves, Suede followed Moz’s tradition of tossing aside their most stellar compositions to inhabit B-sides and filler space on EPs.
I’ve had it up to here listening to a small segment of people trying to put down America. America’s the greatest land on Earth and we oughta be proud of what we have! I’m proud of America. I’m proud of our people, and I’m gonna prove it! We’re American and damn proud of it! Frankly, I’m getting a little ticked off. Go to Hell!
Is there such a thing as a casual Trash Can (or Trashcan, if you prefer) Sinatras fan?
Scottish trio One Dove found themselves branded with the trip-hop label after releasing their debut Morning Dove White in 1993. It wasn’t a label undeserved, really, since the group’s expansive, five-minute plus opuses tended to obscure the catchy hooks underneath layers and layers of shuffled beats, foggy synths, and in the case of the original “Guitar Paradise Mix” of the album’s lead single, “White Love,” squealing electric guitar.
Board games, candy, AWFUL boys, Nancy Drew books and girls who sing – these are a TON of my favorite things!
Combining shoegaze and dreampop with straight-ahead power pop, Washington D.C. indie-rock darlings Unrest were the brainchild of Mark Robinson, founder of the TeenBeat label. After a few post-punk experimental years, Unrest tamed their sound a bit (with plenty of more unorthodox tracks here and there) and snagged a distribution deal with famed 4AD Records, which was itself distributed in the U.S. by Warner Brothers. This is a roundabout way of basically saying their 1993 album, Perfect Teeth, was the first to get a major label push which resulted in the band getting some MTV play on “120 Minutes.”
Anyone who’s ever worked at a record store that buys and sells used CDs can tell you what titles they see over and over again. Jagged Little Pill, Cracked Rear View, the entire Cranberries catalog … these are discs that clog the bins coast to coast, as music buyers buy, absorb, and ultimately get sick of these huge mega-hits. The second type of disc you see a lot is the one-hit wonder album – Vanilla Ice’s To The Extreme or today’s featured artist’s album, Chumbawamba’s Tubthumper.
Naked Eyes, ABC, Belinda Carlisle, and the Human League are currently crisscrossing the country on the Regeneration Tour, an oldies-revival trek that thankfully isn’t entirely mired in nostalgia, since all the bands involved are performing more than just rote lists of hits. I caught the Regeneration Tour at the Gibson Amphitheater in Los Angeles a couple weeks ago, and I can say it’s definitely worth the time (three hours!) and money. Lost in the ’80s fans will appreciate the deep set lists that have liberal sprinklings of album cuts and even some new tracks.