Stateside Indie, Alt Rock & Grunge
A change in tempo and a quick nip 'over the pond' for this post for several acts from back in the day that I really liked and still do.
Throwing Muses.
Bright Yellow Gun, a dip into Stateside Indie Rock with one of my favourite bands of that time Throwing Muses. I brought the album 'University' when it came out pretty much on a whim and a bit of a 'punt' as I hadn't heard any of their stuff prior to it's release. I have to say I wasn't disappointed, it was a really cool slightly edgy Grunge/Indie Rock style album with some knock out tracks as per the one below:
The album was released in 1995 on the U.K. Independent Label '4AD Records'
Throwing Muses actually started out in 1981, so had been going a while and had been picked up by those clever people at UK based Indie label 4AD. University was the bands 6th album and reached the dizzy heights of #10 in the UK Charts in 1995.
The Album Listing.
- Bright Yellow Gun
- Start
- Hazing
- Shimmer
- Calm Down, Come Down
- Crabtown
- No Way In Hell
- Surf Cowboy
- That's All You Wanted
- Teller
- University
- Snakeface
- Flood
- Fever Few
At the links above a couple of my favourites from the album. I seem to remember buying it as I was starting to get a deeper into an interest in Stateside Indie music thanks to a guy I used to work with who was an avid fan of indie rock from 'over the pond', previously I was getting into bands such as Pavement, Pixies and the more obvious sounds of Nirvana, Pearl Jam and finally also The Breeders.
The Breeders.
Cannoball, The Breeders
The Breeders were formed in Ohio in 1988 by Tanya Donnelly and Kim Deal, Donnelly was part of alt rock outfit Throwing Muses, whilst Deal was in band Pixies. The track 'Cannonball' was from the band's 2nd album 'Last Splash' and was released as a single in 1993 strangely only reaching #40 in the UK Charts, it reached higher positions in the French Charts of the day hitting #8 and has been used in plenty of T.V. shows.
Pixies.
Pixies kicked off in Boston in 1986, the initial line up was:
- Black Francis - Vocals, Guitar & Songwriting
- Joey Santiago - Lead Guitar
- David Lovering - Drums
- Kim Deal - Bass & Backing Vocals
As a band they produced some awesome sounds, I especially love tracks such as 'Gouge Away', have a listen to the live version at the link, it sends the hairs on my arms up as soon as that bassline kicks in and the guitar distortion gets underway. Also catch Pixies with another of my favourites 'Where Is My Mind?'
You can catch their latest release 'Dregs Of The Wine' from their album 'Doggerel' due to be released on 30th September 2022. Still sounding as good as ever!
Trigger Happy Music.
'Trigger Happy TV' kicked off in 2000 and as well as the surreal comedy also featured many different indie acts from across the globe including music in the same ilk as above, it also encapsulated 'Brit Pop', a tag I never quite felt comfortable with to be honest, but let's face it when it kicked off in the mid 90's, it was a breath of fresh air. It was filled with optimism, some kick ass attitude and to some degree in style at least for me, a trip down memory lane of the exuberance of youth with it's full on swagger and 'cocky-ness'. Don't get me wrong I absolutely loved the music, I just hated the 'tag'.
Trigger Happy T.V. Source: Tenor.com
I went to quite a few of the 'V Festivals' held in Chelmsford and Leeds and some of the line ups of the day were really good I managed to catch bands such as Blur, Shed Seven, The Charlatans, Massive Attack, Green Day, Pavement and Stereophonics to name but a few.
Video Thanks To
Picture Thanks
Photo by Jose Antonio Gallego Vázquez on Unsplash
Info Sources
Memories after having a furtle around in my record collection plus RateYourMusic.com, Discogs.com