Heave Media

Takin' You Back

Takin' You Back turns indie.

Yeah, 1992 seems like it wasn’t very long ago for old guys like me. However, I realized yesterday that kids born in 1989 will be graduating high school and going off to college or getting real jobs or some such nonsense. Since these children missed out on the good stuff from the early nineties and only remember grunge (No offense meant, I like Soundgarden, too), this is my contribution towards educating the youth of America.

Pavement – Zurich is Stained – Slanted & Enchanted was released in 1992 by the then three piece comprised of Stephen Malkmus, Scott Kannberg and Gary Young. There was no bass player during the sessions, in fact, there was no bass recorded at all. Although it is not terribly discernable on the recordings, a guitar using the low e string was run through a bass amp to fill the sonic space. Amazingly, it worked. Pavement went on to recruit an actual bass player, added a percussion player and kicked out Gary Young to replace him with Steve West. The rest, as they say, is history.

Sonic Youth – Wish Fulfillment - Dirty was the less accessible follow up to Goo. The funny thing about Sonic Youth is that tons of teenagers were tricked into wearing Sonic Youth shirts because they loved so-called grunge bands like Nirvana, Soundgarden and Stone Temple Pilots. I will never know how the marketing execs at DGC were able to turn the Sonic Youth name into such a strong brand. For example, in the period between 1991 and 1994 I would see Sonic Youth shirts two or three times a week at school. I knew exactly one person who Sonic owned Youth albums back then, and he owned none of the band’s shirts.

Guided By Voices – Quality of Armor – Former high-school English teacher Robert Pollard was just hitting his stride in the early nineties. A couple years later, the band would sign with Matador Records and crank out Bee Thousand, Alien Lanes and many other classics. Propeller was later packaged with the equally lo-fi Vampire on Titus. There’s nothing wrong with GBV’s later, slick, highly produced sound, but back when they were just beer drinking dudes from Ohio with a four-track is what the kids need to know about.

STREAM: Pavement - Zurich Is Stained

STREAM: Sonic Youth - Wish Fulfillment

STREAM: Guided By Voices - Quality of Armor

Posted by Greg Herald on Feb 07, 2008 @ 12:00 am