#3 Modern Rock Hits: The mid-90's heyday

I have no use for Everclear after Sparkle & Fade. Everything after that was so repetitive and dull, cynically mining his dysfunctional family life for a buck. It probably was from the start, but "Santa Monica" and "Summerland" were the right songs at the right time for me, and they're too wrapped up in nostalgia for me to look at them critically.

Voted "Malibu" because that was the song Courtney Love was basically born to sing. Well, that and "Celebrity Skin."

this list of songs made me shudder

watch the world die

It was a huge revelation to see Beck doing "New Pollution" on SNL with his Devo/Kraftwerk-aping keyboard player. Everything else was pretty much miserable.

it would be hard for me to defend "wonderful" but i would try

Did I tell you I didn't cry? Well I lied. I lie-lie-lie-lie-lie-lie lied

''Wonderful'' was just such a dramatic ''well, these guys are straight up out of material'' moment for me. And then they followed up with ''AM Radio,'' which...christ.

lol i forgot about that one

If you squint at the video you can see the other bandmates repeating to themselves that the paycheck is worth it, the paycheck is worth it.

Everclear also noteworthy for their recent records consisting mostly of re-recorded versions of their older, more popular songs.

― intheblanks, Tuesday, January 7, 2014 10:13 AM (4 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

bahahahahahaha

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51Xt0QnQ3-L._SY300_.jpg

I wish I could forget "AM Radio."

so much for the afterglow has one of my favorite guitar tones of all time, sounds like fifteen guitars piled on each other all of the time. lots of weird threads of ambition anchored into three-minute three chord songs on that record.

HAHAHA

Track Listing:
1. Santa Monica
2. Wonderful
3. Father Of Mine
4. I Will Buy You A New Life
5. Everything To Everyone
6. I Won t Back Down
7. Unemployed Boyfriend
8. The Joker
9. I Will Follow You Into The Dark
10. Every Breath You Take
11. AM Radio
12. Brown Eyed Girl

well of course i have to listen to this now

also lol/wtf at "Wonderful" actually being their highest-charting Hot 100 single, surely this is just an artifact of "Santa Monica" et al not benefiting from airplay under Billboard rules at the time?

sounds like fifteen guitars piled on each other all of the time.

it's the post-Vig nineties sound. Celebrity Skin too.

surely this is just an artifact of "Santa Monica" et al not benefiting from airplay under Billboard rules at the time?

Non-sales singles couldn't chart on the Hot 100 until 1998 (wow, coincidence??).

Anyone else have a sweet spot for "You Make Me Feel Like a Whore"?

wow, surprise surprise, this album sucks, total contract-filling crap. Was hoping Art would have tried to show his reflective thoughtful side by redoing "Santa Monica" as a slow acoustic ballad, or with a guest rapper or something. They even fake the Jean Knight sample for "AM Radio"!

"Santa Monica" actually did have a physical single though, and it did chart (#29 on the Hot 100)...

oops, wait, my bad - not released in the US, I guess that would kill it, huh?

it's the post-Vig nineties sound. Celebrity Skin too.

yep, but i also like how well it applied to everclear songs. gave it a punchier, brighter feel

Check that Wikipedia footnite:

A ^ "Santa Monica" did not enter the Billboard Hot 100, but peaked at number 29 on the Hot 100 Airplay chart.

ahhhh, got it got it. My bad. Man, what a rip. It doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things, but I hate the way it totally distorts band's picture/narrative/legacy. Also, picturing upstart "Wonderful" fans trying to lord its "biggest hit" status over the historical record.

I still think "Awful" is the best thing to come out of Celebrity Skin but it always seems to get overlooked...

"Wonderful" was by far their biggest adult contempo crossover hit, though, so for a lot of people it is their biggest song

I wonder why Capitol approved Alexakis' idea to do a Use Your Illusion-style double record, but with the second entry released four months later.

re: "Wonderful" as the "these guys are straight up out of material" moment, I think most people who liked or kind of liked Everclear probably felt the same way. The second "Songs From an American Movie" record debuted at #66 and has sold 100K, after the first one hit #9 and is platinum.

The Fuddy/Duddy Experience

it was their "New Jersey"

i never even HEARD the single from the 2nd 'American Movie' album, only a 5-second clip in commercials for the movie Antitrust

Yeah, looking at Everclear's wikipedia page, it seems like Capitol said, "Sure, release another record, whatever, but we're only going to promote the one you released a few months ago"

It really does seem baffling in hindsight, given all the failed alt-rock records we've discussed from several years earlier. Could any band just have walked up and gotten two records in one year? Yeah, no promotion, but somebody paid for a video for "When It All Goes Wrong Again." Granted, it has some movie clips, but otherwise it seems to be mostly Art mugging just like the ones before.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdQjqY9JDmI

The idea, IIRC, was that this was the "rock" side to the previous "pop" album.

I recall at the time they were supposedly loved by critics and marketed as some kind of modern The Who (intelligent power pop?) but I never really cared for them.

Maybe Capitol thought that this was the one that was really going to break them big, maybe move them from successful double-platinum alternative band to giant rock stars

Like it'd be their Mellon Collie, or something. Still don't understand why they'd approve releasing the albums months apart, though

I got So Much For The Afterglow, Celebrity Skin, and The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill in 1998 from cdnow for $1 each, new. those were the days

Songs From an American Movie, Vol. 1: Learning How to Smile [Capitol, 2000]

All doubts as to Art Alexakis's punk bona fides are hereby laid to rest--he doesn't have any. Instead he chooses to whup Dave Grohl, the jerk from the Verve Pipe, and if there's any justice Rob Thomas in postgrunge's Bryan Adams sweepstakes. The corn he indulges on this fondly detailed end-of-a-marriage song cycle has nothing to do with abstracted teen agony and everything with classic Garth Brooks, except that Garth never waxed nostalgic for the days he and his honey whiled away watching porn and eating Chinese. Laying on strings, horns, synths, and backup vocals to a fare-thee-well, it makes honest peace with a pop moment when honest pop is the toughest artistic challenge there is. Volume two will supposedly return to the guitar-o-rama of his roots--without any loss of principle, one trusts. A-

*rubs temples*

anyway harvey danger no contest

it's very tempting to vote for either of the Jack Irons-era Pearl Jam tracks or the Counting Crows rocker that was better than it had a right to be, but i can't bring myself to vote for anything other than "Everlong," legit song of the decade contender.

― some dude, Monday, January 6, 2014 9:46 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

song of the bizarro decade maybe, the mirror universe 90s where the world was so hellish that it could only be represented by a foo fighters song

'98 was def the beginning of the sea change--i think follow the leader coming out that year and getting radio play told me everything i needed to know

― call all destroyer, Monday, January 6, 2014 11:32 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

yeah, it told u that the dark ages of rock were over and the combination renaissance & enlightenment (99-02) had begun http://i.imgur.com/l65mwLC.gif

balls, have you read this long blog by Sean Demery detailing the rise and fall of 99X from his perspective? He's a little vague in key places but it's got some telling moments.

― Doctor Casino, Monday, January 6, 2014 11:47 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

thanks for this btw, how'd u find it

i need to not be the only person listening to the weird spoken bits in this everclear cover of "the joker" right now

H4A, found it by accident trying to find a list of all the Big Day Out festivals. Did not find.

I moved to Atlanta in '97 at age 14 and remember thinking 99X was at least a semi-OK replacement for KROQ for about a year. Fits in pretty well with the above. I used to think it was just that my own tastes were changing, but in retrospect it's clear that there was other, bigger stuff going on.

KROQ's Top 20 of the year 1998:

1. Beastie Boys - Intergalactic
2. Harvey Danger - Flagpole Sitta
3. blink-182 - Dammit
4. Sublime - Bad Fish
5. Green Day - Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)
6. Everclear - I Will Buy You a New Life
7. Marcy Playground - Sex and Candy
8. Hole - Celebrity Skin
9. Goo Goo Dolls - Iris
10. Garbage - I Think I'm Paranoid
11. The Smashing Pumpkins - Perfect
12. Save Ferris - Goodbye
13. Everclear - Father of Mine
14. The Offspring - Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)
15. 311 - Beautiful Disaster
16. Fastball - The Way
17. Beastie Boys - Body Movin'
18. Korn - Got the Life
19. Eve 6 - Inside Out
20. Everlast - What It's Like

I still think "Awful" is the best thing to come out of Celebrity Skin but it always seems to get overlooked...

― Doctor Casino, Tuesday, January 7, 2014 3:05 PM (3 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

"Awful" has always been my favorite song from that album!

4. Sublime - Bad Fish
12. Save Ferris - Goodbye
15. 311 - Beautiful Disaster

^^^ the hell? I heard "Beautiful Disaster" a few times, but there were bigger songs on that album, and I don't think I ever heard those other two. I guess KROQ is kind of its own thing.

Heard "Father of Mine" in the coffee shop yesterday. Still hits pretty hard IMO, I think it's his most successful attempt to do that kind of therapy grunge rock catharsis thing.

Reception

Consequence of Sound commented that "Beautiful Disaster" may be 311's greatest hit and states that it has one of most recognizable intro in any song.[2]

Nah I live on the east coast and hear "Beautiful Disaster" weekly, it's kinda gradually become one of their biggest songs, whereas I haven't heard "Transistor" or "Come Original" or any of their other late 90s singles in years.

I ... hear "Beautiful Disaster" weekly

I feel bad for you...

I got 311 problems

I should clarify, I hear its Most Recognizable Intro and then change the station weekly. I try to be not like that, some songs really suck.

I was a sophomore in high school when "Beautiful Disaster" came out, and IIRC it had a slow-build into its (very relative) success. Granted none of the singles off "Transistor" were anywhere near as successful or ubiquitous as the big two from the previous 311 album. "Beautiful Disaster" was third single, and it just kind of stuck around, got played a lot on 120 Minutes, got covered by at least two high school bands in my hometown in rural Illinois.