I’ve had blogs before, but it’s been a while since I’ve written in one regularly. I was thinking of some potential topics and a few of them seemed like they’d be more interesting with input other than my own. It dawned on me that I have a lot of really intelligent friends with lots of varying interests. Why not create a blog where they can join in the conversation and share their views and expertise? With each post on the Crowd Source Collaboration, I’ll choose a topic that interests me and open it up to a friend or colleague with intimate knowledge of or strong opinions on the subject. I’ll write and they’ll write and we’ll see what comes out.
I plan on writing about some deeper and perhaps more controversial topics in the future, but for the first entry I wanted to keep it simple and provide a structure. I decided to write about my Top Five Most Under-Rated Bands of the 90’s and I asked my friend Dan Rankin to come along for the ride. Dan's post is up first:
It was posed to me to come up with a list of the top 5 most under-rated bands of the 90s. Though I lived through the 90’s, I actually back filled the era of music. To me 90-97 were the golden years of modern music. Nothing touches it. Stone Temple Pilots, Pearl Jam, RHCP, Smashing Pumpkins, Spin Doctors, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Blessed Union of Souls, Counting Crows, Alice in Chains, Bush, Live, Our Lady Peace, Silverchair, Blues Traveler, Sister Hazel, Soundgarden, Collective Soul, Guster, Presidents of the USA, Oasis, 311, Rage Against the Machine, Beck, Spoon, The Verve Pipe, Days of the New, Foo Fighters, Death Cab for Cutie, G. Love & Special Sauce, Gin Blossoms, Soul Asylum, and on and on. Where do I start in such an era of music? I will take the perspective of not how much success they had, but if they should still have buzz and don't, if the mainstream has forgotten about them.
I struggle to narrow the list. I will say, that Death Cab for Cutie flew under my radar, as did Spoon, but I feel that both bands have really come into their own and gotten some recognition in the last couple of years. I would have to say, ignore closing time, and the first under-rated band for me is Semisonic. Their album Feeling Strangely Fine is an album I can listen through. It is rare for me to crave an album, and this is one of them. Released in '98, it missed my declared golden ear of modern music, but “Singing in My Sleep” was an intoxicating single to me. “Closing Time” very quickly annoyed me due to how cliché it became. “Secret Smile” is a song of love, singing of the way she looks at him when they are alone. “Made to Last” is a bit of a ballad. “Never You Mind” has a funky feel to break things up a bit, but has a nifty vibe. “Completely Pleased” is just dirty, but humorous. “This Will Be My Year” is an anthem for the depressed. “All Worked Out” is fun, and “Gone to the Movies” is a deeply moving song about being in a rut in life, and not being able to help yourself- what a great story song. “Another fool would go down to the only place she'd go to loose herself...she’s gone to the movies now and she’s not coming back.”
Third Eye Blind would have to be the second. The B side to “Semi-Charmed Life” is named “Tattoo of the Sun” and is just wide open. Their music is all about sex, relationships, and getting wrapped up into drug addictions. There is a reality to their music. I thought their debut self-titled album was fair, Blue was the album where they found themselves. “Wounded” is one of those perfect songs. “We used to speak so easy but you’re afraid to talk to me, it’s like walking with the wounded/concrete pulled you down so hard/I never claimed to understand what happens after dark/But my fingers catch the sparks at touching you when you’re wounded.” “10 Days Late” is about the dawning of the idea that he will be a father. The whole album is a play through. We would be fine and still on 8-track if more bands cut albums like this. No need to skip around. Just push play. All of their albums have been quality to me, though I have yet to hear the recent two, and now the band has a new lineup apparently.
Better Than Ezra differs because I love a handful of their songs enough to put them on the list. They have changed their sound as a group substantially. Singles like “Good,” “In the Blood,” “King of New Orleans,” “Desperately Wanting,” “At the Stars” always get me. Especially the last two, they are so iconic to me.
The Black Crowes make the list. Endorsed by Jimmy Page himself this band seemed to have 40 years behind them before they ever started. Shake Your Money Maker was nearly perfection. So many of these songs are iconic singles. “Twice as Hard,” “Jealous Again,” “Sister Luck,” “Seeing Things,” “Hard to Handle,” “She Talks to Angels.” Honestly, rock in the 90s knows few better than these guys, but they have the soul of a late 60’s early 70’s band, and I think that left them under-rated because the mainstream wasn't ready for them.
Barenaked Ladies will be the last on the list. Barenaked's album Gordon debuted in '92. These guys demonstrate the variety that music has lost. These guys are cool, humorous, fun, and great on acoustic. They tell a great story. “Hello City” is a great story song. “Grade 9” is a wacko song about being picked on in school. They admonish if all else fails you can “Blame It On Me”, and let their lover know what they would do with a million dollars in, “If Had a Million Dollars.” Songs like “Jane” offer a bit of honesty, as does “The Old Apartment.” “These Apples” brings in a little bit of crazy, as does most of their work, including “Life, In a Nutshell.” Stunt offers a bit more polished and mature band, dealing with some deeper issues, but offers the same playfulness in “Some Fantastic.” They are also, definitely worth an extended spin.
Thanks, Dan.
I turned 10-years-old in 1990. It took me a few years after that to really get into popular music and move beyond the Oldies station (a great place to start, by the way). And it took me a few more years to really cement my taste in music. I can still remember taping videos off of MTV and having some good stuff that I still enjoy like Nirvana, Stone Temple Pilots, and Green Day, but also having some dreck like Madonna’s “Take a Bow” or “You Gotta Be” by Des'ree. While there were certainly a few missteps, it’s safe to say that the ‘90’s were the decade I came of age, both musically and otherwise. It was a fertile time for music with Alternative Rock coming to the forefront commercially before becoming a meaningless buzzword. While there were a lot of great bands out there, inspired by pioneers like REM and The Pixies, many of them got signed to large record contracts only to fly under the radar in a pre-internet world. All of the bands that I chose for my list achieved some sort of critical or commercial success, but they never quite managed to get the attention they deserved.
Formed in 1993, the Matthew Good Band became one of the most successful bands of the decade in Canada. Despite a very radio-friendly sound that alternated between folky, stream-of-consciousness acoustic ballads and edgy Power Pop, they never achieved the same success in the US. I only heard of them because a Canadian girl I met in a chat room recommended them. I downloaded a few tracks from Napster and was quickly hooked. Songs like “Symbolistic White Walls,” “Hello Time Bomb,” “Anti-Pop,” and “Everything is Automatic” are catchy and fun. If haunting ballads are more your taste, check out “Apparitions,” “Strange Days,” or “Advertising on Police Cars.” The band broke up in 2002 and their front man, named Matthew Good coincidentally, has achieved some success in his homeland, but still hasn’t managed to cross over into the American charts at all. Now that we have the world at our fingertips, there’s no reason to miss out.
Another band that could fit under the Power Pop label is Chicago’s Veruca Salt. The female-fronted band achieved a modicum of mainstream success with their singles “Seether” and “Volcano Girls” receiving airplay, but they never really garnered respect from the critics who derided their sound as too commercial. In the ‘90’s, it was de rigueur to criticize bands with a big guitar sound and polished hooks, but I think that as we look back now we can appreciate those characteristics as strengths rather than weaknesses. The bands first album, American Thighs, received better reviews, but I recently re-listened to both albums and I think their second, Eight Arms to Hold You, holds up a little better with its commitment to shiny, bouncy Rock in the vein of Weezer or OK Go. Both albums sound very ‘90’s, but in a comforting, soothing way. They’re certainly worth re-examining.
At the Drive-In is a band that I didn’t discover until after the ‘90’s. The group bridged the gap between the burgeoning Emo and Hardcore scenes and produced three critically acclaimed full-length albums of blistering, socially conscious Rock. Their best and most successful album, Relationship of Command, wasn’t released until 2000, so I may be cheating a bit by including them on the list, but I couldn’t leave them off. The lead track, “Arcarsenal,” features just a bit of the Latin American feel that Cedric Bixler-Zavala and Omar Rodríguez-López are known for in their current band while the partially spoken-word “Invalid Litter Dept” deals with the Juárez murders that took place near the bands hometown and criticizes the local police for their lack of response. “One-Armed Scissor” is just a straight-ahead rocker that makes no apologies. I don’t necessarily agree with all of At The Drive-In’s political opinions, but there’s no denying their passion or talent. After the band broke up in 2001, former members went on to form Sparta and the hugely successful Mars Volta. Each band took an element of the At the Drive-In and continued to let it evolve. If you’re a music fan, you’ve most likely heard of At the Drive-In and certainly the Mars Volta, but give Relationship of Command and the other At the Drive-In albums another listen and see if you don’t like what you hear.
I discovered Refused when their video for “New Noise” was featured on 120 Minutes. While I was blown away, I didn’t have a way of finding out more, so it wasn’t until years later that I purchased their landmark album, The Shape of Punk to Come: A Chimerical Bombination in 12 Bursts. Nearly perfect and extremely influential, The Shape of Punk to Come combines Punk, Hardcore, Electronica, and Jazz in a potent cocktail of awesomeness. Music critic Blake Butler said of the album, “Refused are pure innovation and passion spouting Nation of Ulysses-esque doctrine while fusing together the bite and flavor of fist-raised, Dillinger Escape Plan-style hardcore with ambient textures, jazz breakdowns, and other such deviations.” Make no mistake about it: This isn’t Punk in the Green Day/Blink 182 sense of the word. That’s not to say, however, that the album is without hooks. Songs like the aforementioned “New Noise” and the Clash-aping “Liberation Frequency” are melodic and fun at times before transitioning into bludgeoning Hardcore. Refused broke up in 1998 before touring to support the album, which probably didn’t help sales a whole lot, but their legacy and influence is far-reaching and undeniable.
Finally, there’s my favorite of the bunch, Local H. Like the others, Local H was not without success. Their 1996 single “Bound for the Floor” was a radio staple for a while and I remember seeing the video for the album’s second single, “Eddie Vedder” on MTV a couple of times. The band soon faded into obscurity, however, with few really digging into their albums. Primarily known for their unorthodox, two-man lineup, Local H began as a Nirvana sound-alike second wave Grunge band. They polished their sound on their second release, As Good as Dead, and produced a dark and mopey, but endlessly listenable album that still holds up. Their final release of the ‘90’s, 1998’s Pack up the Cats, added a bit more polish and Pop to the mix, while retaining their Metal and Grunge-influenced sound. Songs like the album’s lead single “All the Kids Are Right” and “She Hates My Job” show off singer Scott Lucas’s wry, self-deprecating since of humor while “Lucky Time” and “What Can I Tell You” prove he can write serious tunes as well. The band changed drummers, but continued producing solid albums after the ‘90’s, releasing another dark record called Here Comes the Zoo in 2002 and adding more Stoner Rock influence to their sound on Whatever Happened to PJ Soles? in 2004. While it’s outside of the purview of this post, I can’t help but assert that the band’s latest offering, 12 Angry Months, is their masterpiece. A concept album about the break-up of Lucas’s marriage, the album ebbs and flows between vitriol, humor, yearning, and wistfulness, sometimes within the same track. Check out “The One with ‘Kid’” and “The Summer of Boats” for a taste. I think there’s a part of every music fan that wants the less well-known bands he loves to stay underground, but I’ll let you listen to Local H. Just promise that you won’t tell everyone.
So there you have it. Two top 5 lists with something for everyone. I’d feel remiss if I didn’t mention a few of my favorite forgotten 2000’s bands: Blindside, Finch, The Juliana Theory, and Guano Apes. Maybe that’s a topic for another day. In the meantime, thanks for reading and if you would like to write a future post with me or suggest a future topic, you’re more than welcome to do so. Signing off for now.
