― rogermexico (rogermexico), Thursday, 26 May 2005 16:12 (nineteen years ago) link
― A Viking of Some Note (Andrew Thames), Thursday, 26 May 2005 16:14 (nineteen years ago) link
― A Viking of Some Note (Andrew Thames), Thursday, 26 May 2005 16:15 (nineteen years ago) link
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 26 May 2005 16:15 (nineteen years ago) link
― jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 26 May 2005 16:15 (nineteen years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 26 May 2005 16:17 (nineteen years ago) link
― jackie onadsauce, Thursday, 26 May 2005 16:17 (nineteen years ago) link
Toad The Wet Sprocket have always sucked swamp ass
― Roger Fidelity (Roger Fidelity), Thursday, 26 May 2005 16:19 (nineteen years ago) link
― Randy Reiss (undeadsinatra), Thursday, 26 May 2005 16:24 (nineteen years ago) link
You, sir, have taken leave of your senses.
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 26 May 2005 16:25 (nineteen years ago) link
― kyle (akmonday), Thursday, 26 May 2005 16:27 (nineteen years ago) link
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 26 May 2005 16:28 (nineteen years ago) link
― Huk-L, Thursday, 26 May 2005 16:31 (nineteen years ago) link
― Huk-L, Thursday, 26 May 2005 16:32 (nineteen years ago) link
― miccio (miccio), Thursday, 26 May 2005 16:35 (nineteen years ago) link
Heh. Per Miccio above, it's a relative measure. The Blossoms clearly liked and listened to Let It Be more than Toad did.
― rogermexico (rogermexico), Thursday, 26 May 2005 16:37 (nineteen years ago) link
Gin Blossoms, fer sure. The other "Miserable Experience" singles were no pox on "Hey Jealousy."
― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Thursday, 26 May 2005 16:37 (nineteen years ago) link
It's close. For me Toad had slightly artier ambitions, and fewer rock-solid catchy songs. I would have said TTWS five years ago, but I'll say GBs now (much as I'm leery of the bandwagon).
Next up: Barenaked Ladies v. Counting Crows? Or Goo Goo Dolls vs. Blues Traveler?
― The Mad Puffin, Thursday, 26 May 2005 16:37 (nineteen years ago) link
― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Thursday, 26 May 2005 16:38 (nineteen years ago) link
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 26 May 2005 16:39 (nineteen years ago) link
― miccio (miccio), Thursday, 26 May 2005 16:39 (nineteen years ago) link
― miccio (miccio), Thursday, 26 May 2005 16:40 (nineteen years ago) link
― A Viking of Some Note (Andrew Thames), Thursday, 26 May 2005 16:42 (nineteen years ago) link
― miccio (miccio), Thursday, 26 May 2005 16:43 (nineteen years ago) link
― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Thursday, 26 May 2005 16:43 (nineteen years ago) link
― 088b, Thursday, 26 May 2005 16:44 (nineteen years ago) link
(x-post)
― miccio (miccio), Thursday, 26 May 2005 16:45 (nineteen years ago) link
― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Thursday, 26 May 2005 16:47 (nineteen years ago) link
― miccio (miccio), Thursday, 26 May 2005 16:48 (nineteen years ago) link
― The Mad Puffin, Thursday, 26 May 2005 16:52 (nineteen years ago) link
― Jockey, Thursday, 26 May 2005 16:55 (nineteen years ago) link
― gygax! (gygax!), Thursday, 26 May 2005 16:59 (nineteen years ago) link
― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Thursday, 26 May 2005 17:01 (nineteen years ago) link
― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Thursday, 26 May 2005 17:02 (nineteen years ago) link
LOUCHE NINETIES WUSSROCK S/D
― The Mad Puffin, Thursday, 26 May 2005 17:02 (nineteen years ago) link
Soul Asylum don't belong in there. True, they started to suck in the same way those other bands did, but once upon a time, they were a Twin-Tone band who actually rocked (something those other bands -- Goo Goo Dolls included -- could never do).
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 26 May 2005 17:03 (nineteen years ago) link
― miccio (miccio), Thursday, 26 May 2005 17:08 (nineteen years ago) link
― gygax! (gygax!), Thursday, 26 May 2005 17:08 (nineteen years ago) link
― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Thursday, 26 May 2005 17:10 (nineteen years ago) link
― Lord Custos Omicron (Lord Custos Omicron), Thursday, 26 May 2005 17:34 (nineteen years ago) link
― kornrulez6969 (TCBeing), Thursday, 26 May 2005 18:53 (nineteen years ago) link
They had dinner, arrived in the middle of Chevelle's set, figured that the Gin Blossoms would go on last.
Gin Blossoms had actually gone on first. Like at 5:00 PM.
That is what they've been reduced to: opening for Guster.
― The Mad Puffin, Thursday, 26 May 2005 18:56 (nineteen years ago) link
I love you, gygax.
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 26 May 2005 19:00 (nineteen years ago) link
Yeah, I am. I had the album whereupon they covered both "A Million Miles Away" by the Plimsouls (an amazing song they managed to make shitty) and some Prince tune.
They sucked then. They suck now. They will suck for all time.
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 26 May 2005 19:22 (nineteen years ago) link
― katie, a princess (katie, a princess), Thursday, 26 May 2005 19:30 (nineteen years ago) link
As The Mad Puffin said, Toad were rated the more serious act at the time (paceAlex in NYC - this is, again, relative), produced their share of inescapable radio hits and had the more durable career. So someone somewhere must be willing to make the case.
Sprocketheads to thread?
― rogermexico (rogermexico), Thursday, 26 May 2005 20:04 (nineteen years ago) link
― jotai, Thursday, 26 May 2005 20:09 (nineteen years ago) link
― rogermexico (rogermexico), Thursday, 26 May 2005 20:12 (nineteen years ago) link
― jedidiah (jedidiah), Friday, 27 May 2005 16:44 (nineteen years ago) link
― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Friday, 27 May 2005 16:45 (nineteen years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 27 May 2005 17:27 (nineteen years ago) link
TS: Toad the Wet Sprocket vs. Toadies
― Ian Riese-Moraine's Plateau Rouge! (Eastern Mantra), Friday, 27 May 2005 18:14 (nineteen years ago) link
― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Friday, 27 May 2005 18:15 (nineteen years ago) link
you mean MARCHING BAND? 'cause that'd be AWESOME
― Morley Timmons (Donna Brown), Saturday, 28 May 2005 14:18 (nineteen years ago) link
― Lupton Pitman (Chris V), Monday, 11 July 2005 11:44 (eighteen years ago) link
― Lyra Jane (Lyra Jane), Monday, 11 July 2005 11:51 (eighteen years ago) link
― Aaron A., Monday, 11 July 2005 12:39 (eighteen years ago) link
Bump for 90s night...
― Passenger 57 (rogermexico.), Wednesday, 10 December 2008 05:13 (fifteen years ago) link
found out about you is a tune
GBs for sure
― thereminimum chips (electricsound), Wednesday, 10 December 2008 05:26 (fifteen years ago) link
Gin Blossoms resurfaces memories in my head of the type of music you'd hear in the mid-90s for a "Party of Five" promo (or any generic Fox drama that appealed to teens). Waiting for the Simpsons' to come on and seeing promos for Fox shows accounts for a sadly significant part of what I remember about mid-90s music and television.
― Cunga, Wednesday, 17 December 2008 08:08 (fifteen years ago) link
yup Found Out About You is one of the prettiest Byrds rips ever.
― insufferably annoying (Drugs A. Money), Wednesday, 17 December 2008 18:32 (fifteen years ago) link
Goo Goo Dolls > Soul Asylum > Gin Blossoms > Toad The Wet Sprocket
you've gotta be kidding me
― billstevejim, Wednesday, 17 December 2008 18:39 (fifteen years ago) link
My loud neighbor played Hey Jealousy tonight. It ruled.
― Allen (etaeoe), Monday, 4 August 2014 05:52 (nine years ago) link
gin blossoms are criminally overlooked. not kidding. maybe in a couple decades after everyone is able to jump over the mental hurdle of having lump them in with terrible shit like goo goo dolls and toad the wet sprocket, everyone will realize it. start with their first album, Dusted.
― Poliopolice, Monday, 4 August 2014 12:16 (nine years ago) link
Poliopolice OTM. Poor Doug Hopkins.
― Your Favorite Album in the Cutout Bin, Monday, 4 August 2014 18:16 (nine years ago) link
i think in a lot of respects they channeled the spirit of Big Star way better than Teenage Fanclub or any of the other ersatz 'power-pop' rip-off artists who worshiped Big Star. There's actually a palpable sense of defeat, melancholy, loneliness, and failure embedded in most of GB's songs, which, mixed with jangle, is basically the Big Star template.
― Poliopolice, Monday, 4 August 2014 21:26 (nine years ago) link
^^ good call imo
― resulting post (rogermexico.), Monday, 4 August 2014 23:21 (nine years ago) link
terrible shit like goo goo dolls and toad the wet sprocket
I prefer either one of these bands to Gin Blossoms. THE WEAKEST SHIT IN THE NINETIES.
― Johnny Fever, Monday, 4 August 2014 23:27 (nine years ago) link
Throw Matchbox 20 in that equation as well. STILL more listenable than Gin Blossoms.
― Johnny Fever, Monday, 4 August 2014 23:29 (nine years ago) link
so RONG (and I even like that one mb20 song)
― resulting post (rogermexico.), Monday, 4 August 2014 23:30 (nine years ago) link
Better Than Ezra is probably less enjoyable than Gin Blossoms, but then again...I like the way the singer makes a totally unnatural noise ("wanh hanh") in "Good".
― Johnny Fever, Monday, 4 August 2014 23:32 (nine years ago) link
Alison Road is a nice tune
― sinister porpoise (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, 4 August 2014 23:36 (nine years ago) link
that's all I'm sayin'
― resulting post (rogermexico.), Tuesday, 5 August 2014 00:29 (nine years ago) link
There's a lot of venom to go along with the "defeat, melancholy, loneliness, and failure" in Big Star's songs. Humor, too. Neither exist in GB's music.
― rip van wanko, Tuesday, 5 August 2014 01:06 (nine years ago) link
the toad the wet sprocket song reminds me of ELP's "lucky man"
― brimstead, Tuesday, 5 August 2014 01:10 (nine years ago) link
you don't hear venom in "Found Out About You"?
― Now you're messing with a (President Keyes), Tuesday, 5 August 2014 01:30 (nine years ago) link
no humor in gbv???????? ok....
― brimstead, Tuesday, 5 August 2014 01:31 (nine years ago) link
jesus christ, the humor is at least half the point of the early 90s gbv stuff that is so well loved!
― brimstead, Tuesday, 5 August 2014 01:32 (nine years ago) link
oh god. GB. nevermind, SB away
― brimstead, Tuesday, 5 August 2014 01:33 (nine years ago) link
gb > gbv
― linda cardellini (zachlyon), Tuesday, 5 August 2014 01:43 (nine years ago) link
otm
― iatee, Tuesday, 5 August 2014 01:45 (nine years ago) link
like i said, SB away
― brimstead, Tuesday, 5 August 2014 01:51 (nine years ago) link
sorry, i'm still experiencing hallucinations after having read accounts of people listening to toad the wet sprocket songs OTHER THAN the one that sounds like "lucky man".
― brimstead, Tuesday, 5 August 2014 01:58 (nine years ago) link
toad the wet sprocket were from my hometown so I may have a skewed perspective but they had like 4-5 radio songs
― iatee, Tuesday, 5 August 2014 02:15 (nine years ago) link
dishwalla also from my hometown, historians will look back at this as some cultural renaissance
― iatee, Tuesday, 5 August 2014 02:16 (nine years ago) link
yeah they had several big hits though looking over a list i could only remember two of them - 'walk on the ocean' (which i guess is the one that sounds like 'lucky man') and 'all i want'.
― balls, Tuesday, 5 August 2014 02:18 (nine years ago) link
Heard "Fall Down" more than "Walk on the Ocean."
― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 5 August 2014 02:20 (nine years ago) link
Gin Blossoms wrote good pop hooks... I only wonder why Geir never expressed love for them.
― Loud guitars shit all over "Bette Davis Eyes" (NYCNative), Tuesday, 5 August 2014 02:28 (nine years ago) link
Just heard "Alison Road" in the grocery store and I thought of this thread. The querulousness of the vocal - a little bit fuzzy, a little anxious - is of its times in a way that I cannot adequately describe but I know it when I see it.
And holy chimichangas it is almost ten years old. I have children who are younger than this thread.
Why oh why did I neglect Counting Crows in the group including Gin Blossoms, Toad TWS, Goo Goo Dolls?
The category "90s louche rock" is far far larger than these. Hootie, Marcy Playground, Smashmouth, Rembrandts.
If it's 1992 and your age begins with a 2, and more than 20% of your band is currently wearing a trenchcoat, and your lead singer hasn't shaved in approximately three days, you are Louche Rock.
A while ago I happened to be at a show given by a 90s tribute band (Bayside Tigers). Every song sounded like it could have been the theme to "Friends." And, in a way, they all were.
― Ye Mad Puffin, Monday, 8 June 2015 20:34 (nine years ago) link
the thing with the Gin Blossoms is that they were almost sorta cool at the beginning of their career and have unfairly been lumped in with the likes of Tonic and Marcy Playground
they were a bunch of alcoholic-lowlifes from Arizona singing the praises of Westerberg and writing jangly, perfectly good pop rock. the difference between them and Teenage Fanclub or something is that they were careerists who wanted to make money
any interview i've listened to with the lead singer he just gives off a really terrible vibe
― hackshaw, Monday, 8 June 2015 20:41 (nine years ago) link
including Counting Crows would have obfuscated things, somehow. They were something different.
― rip van wanko, Monday, 8 June 2015 20:41 (nine years ago) link
and of course they ripped that poor dude off who wrote all their hits. that's another way to make your career go downhill fast
i'd love to see an article that reaffirms their legitimacy
― hackshaw, Monday, 8 June 2015 20:44 (nine years ago) link
Maybe some CC is different. Maybe "Mr. Jones" is something different.
But "Round Here," "Omaha," "Cannonball," "Raining in Baltimore," elicit a particularly 90s anxiety, one that I also hear in "Sex and Candy," "Found Out About You," "Let Her Cry," "Iris," and "Alison Road."
There's a wobble in the vocal that I hear as a fuzzy wired fear - someone who's just barely holding his shit together.
I mostly hated this music at the time, but in retrospect I feel it was appropriate, because that's exactly how I felt.
― Ye Mad Puffin, Monday, 8 June 2015 20:54 (nine years ago) link
Dulcinea is a pretty good album, really won me over to Toad The Wet Sprocket after disliking their first couple hits.
― fetty wap, kombucha, where to trap queen (some dude), Monday, 8 June 2015 20:55 (nine years ago) link
smoking on stage = pretty louche
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNGWozPjihk
― hackshaw, Monday, 8 June 2015 21:12 (nine years ago) link
"Something's Always Wrong" at CVS this morning. Good song!
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 22 November 2015 13:17 (eight years ago) link