That's How It Sounded In Their Beginnings

 

In the early 90's, grunge reached its peak. A lot of new bands appeared and many of them wanted to sound like Nirvana or Pearl Jam. Really good new and innovative bands were hard to find. Fortunately, after releasing a few EP's, Pavement put out their debut album, Slanted and Enchanted, in 1992. 

Originally, Pavement was just another garage band from California, but Stephen Malkmus, the band's frontman, had bigger plans. He had a knack for hiding brilliant melodies behind a massive wall of noise. The guitars cut through the songs, the bass rumbles, and you’d think Moe Tucker was playing the drums. At first listen, it all sounds discordant, and Malkmus’ lyrics are so cryptic that I still don’t understand them to this day. But anyone who gives the music a chance will realize that this is a band that has far more to offer than just noise.

Pavement - Our Singer

Pavement - Zürich Is Stained

Pavement - In The Mouth A Desert

Pavement - Summer Babe

Singles Released This Week Years Ago

 

Enjoy this week's selection of a ride through various genres.

1958: Big Bopper

1970: Chicago

1978: Human League

1972: Seals & Croft

1991: Pearl Jam

1965: The Yardbirds

1978: Donna Summer

1958: Bo Diddley

1982: The Jam

1966: The Lovin' Spoonful

1969: John Lennon

1976: Blue Oyster Cult

1986: Run DMC

1989: Public Enemy

1974: Dobi Gray

1974: Stevie Wonder

1979: The B-52's

New Song On Sunday

 

For some time now, Wunderhorse, a British rock band, and their second album Midas have been haunting all the music magazines. At first I thought, well, this will probably be the next hype to popularize a band. 

Despite all my reservations, I listened to their new album and have to admit that the words of praise are not entirely unjustified. The mixture of simple guitar riffs, which are reminiscent of Pearl Jam in the broadest sense, and a sound that is somewhere close to Fontaine's D.C. and Americana, is really enjoyable. 

Why Wunderhorse named their album after the Turkish king who became famous for his greed and stupidity (he was given the gift by a god that everything he touched would turn to gold. He realized his mistake after he also touched his food and his daughter, which also turned to gold). This album is not gold, but neither is lead. A solid and good work - and that's something not everyone can do.

Splendid Racket Monday

In the mid 90's everybody talked about Grunge as the biggest thing around for ages. Bands like Pearl Jam and Soundgarden were praised to give us back rock music. For me these bands made some good albums and songs but originally they brought us back a combination of hard rock in new style. Most of them are like old wine in new bottles. But there were bands that was put in the same category and don't really belong to it. There were bands that took the spirit of punk and garage rock to play a new heavy guitar style and that came much closer to the music I preferred decades ago. I really enjoyed the noise bands like Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr. made and it is still a pleasure to listen to them again.

Sonic Youth - Teen Age Riot
Dinosaur Jr. - Freak Scene
Mudhoney  - Touch Me I'm Sick