As this is very obscure band, there is next to nothing online but I did find this live performance “Where the Wild Things Are” (not on Living in the Mirror) from ’87 at the now gone but not forgotten and also infamous O’Cayz Corral (Madison):

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I love this whole album and it’s completely wrapped up with the sensory memories of my shitty Madison apartment, blasting this on my JVC cd boombox while getting ready to go out to bars since I was finally legal. My top songs include the four singles Sonic Youth released from Dirty: “100%” (#4 on the US alternative chart, #28 UK) about the murder of their roadie Joseph Cole in ’91; the video was directed by Tamra Davis and Spike Jonze and features Jason Lee skateboarding, pre-acting days; “Youth Against Fascism” (#52 UK) which features Minor Threat/Fugazi’s Ian MacKaye on guitar and the still-resonant lyric “I believe Anita Hill; “Sugar Kane” (#26 UK) – its video is the first screen appearance by Chloe Sevigny; and “Drunken Butterfly” – I don’t know if it charted but the video was a result of a 120 Minutes contest and the song’s lyrics are composed entirely from Heart song names and lyrics. I also like the punk grrrl growl of “Orange Rolls, Angel’s Spit,” the super-short, super-punk’d Untouchables cover “Nic Fit,” and “Purr” which has a late 80’s grungy Seattle feel in the vocals and guitar. The track “Stalker” is not on the CD version, it was added in 2003 when the record was released on vinyl in the US.

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Blokes You Can Trust was their third release; it’s got some super-heavy production in the line of its contemporary grunge releases; it was recorded and mixed at Smart Studios in Madison, WI and Butch Vig is one of the producers so that sound makes total sense. (Also: another amazing recording done in Madison while I was living there and had absolutely no clue that was happening practically down the street!) My top tracks are “Loser,” a sort of classic punk theme and sound, the super-speed angry punk’d “Nightshift” that also has a ton of dark heavy metal elements, “Hooray Fuck” is a hilarious grungy punk anthem and another punk-meets-metal rager “Never Grow Old.” I’d say that this album sounds like a dead-ringer for Mudhoney but Cosmic Psychos, who first got together in ’85 but were playing in punk bands since the early 80’s, predates that whole grungy scene.

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Nevermind hit #1 on the album charts in the US and the top 10 in many other countries, with four charting singles: “On a Plain” (#25), “Lithium” (#64), “Come as You Are” (#32) and the monster “Smells Like Teen Spirit” (#6). Probably my favorite song on Nevermind is the non-single acoustic “Polly” (originally written in 1989 and titled first “Hitchhiker” and then “Cracker’), which is a truly disturbing track inspired by a 1987 rape and abduction of a 14 year old girl. It’s one of the few tracks on the record that I can parse all the lyrics, despite a million or so listenings to the album, due to Cobain’s famous mumbling delivery (perfectly lampooned by Weird Al’s “Smells Like Nirvana”). My brain doesn’t retain lyrics like it used to so I’m still following along, this 1,000,001 time hearing “Smells Like Teen Spirit.”

Load up on guns
Bring your friends
It’s fun to lose and to pretend
She’s overboard, self assured
Oh no I know, a dirty word

Hello, hello, hello, how low
Hello, hello, hello

With the lights out, it’s less dangerous
Here we are now, entertain us
I feel stupid and contagious
Here we are now, entertain us
A mulatto, an Albino
A mosquito, my libido, yeah

Hey, yay

I’m worse at what I do best
And for this gift, I feel blessed
Our little group has always been
And always will until the end

Hello, hello, hello, how low
Hello, hello, hello

With the lights out, it’s less dangerous
Here we are now, entertain us
I feel stupid and contagious
Here we are now, entertain us
A mulatto, an Albino
A mosquito, my libido, yeah

And I forget just why I taste
Oh yeah, I guess it makes me smile
I found it hard, it was hard to find
Oh well, whatever, nevermind

Hello, hello, hello, how low
Hello, hello, hello

With the lights out, it’s less dangerous
Here we are now, entertain us
I feel stupid and contagious
Here we are now, entertain us
A mulatto, an Albino
A mosquito, my libido

A denial, A denial, A denial, A denial, A denial
A denial, A denial, A denial, A denial

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Gish is Smashing Pumpkin’s debut release, named after silent screen star Lillian Gish, and it eventually was certified platinum. Filled with swirling psychedelic sounds, heavy guitar and pain, Gish’s recording and production was notable for its time and budget, long and big, for an indie label and studio (Smart Studios). My favorite track is “Bury Me” which has sound that basically sums up early 90′s music. (and the clip I’ve linked below is sooo 90′s: Ben Stiller and Janeane Garofalo introduce it).

Reading about the recording and production of Gish, along with all the other albums Vig worked on at Smart Studios in Madison, WI in the late 80′s and early 90′s always weirds me out a bit. I was living a block from the Capitol in Madison at that time while going to UW-Madison and very likely hung out at bars (I heard that Vig hung out at Cafe Montmartre which was around the corner from my apartment) and went to shows (like at R&R Station on Park St.) where members of Smashing Pumpkins, L7, Nirvana and Killdozer were hanging out (or not, but it’s fun to imagine).

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