Blind Melon - So underrated.

doh xpost

There's this song on Soup that does the faster-and-faster-and-FASTER thing really well, it has this wicked feau-Indian violin on it, totally killer trip fodder.

Soup is fantastic.

What do you think of em Ned?

You got me there, Ned!

I am cruel and heartless and think little of them beyond That Song, I admit.

Which has nothing to do with the thread, really.

re: the timing, actually though I think there was a definite weird faux-hippy rock (not necessarily "jam band" stuff either) movement in the 90s - Rusted Root, Spin Doctors, etc. Sort've the badly-bearded seedy underbelly of the grunge movement.

I'd like to amend my comment upthread. Soup is, in many ways, very good. The playing and the songwriting is stellar. The lyrics, which my 15 yr old self thought nifty, are pretty cringeworthy. They're still better than 90% of the haircut bands currently on the NME-Letterman trajectory. Faint praise...

thx!">>

thx!

it occurred to me tonight Blind Melon are basically the hippie Polvo. that is all.

lol
saw these guys open for neil young in 1993. they sucked! stone temple pilots were up next -- they sucked too!

nowadays blind melon sound a hell of a lot better than stp's records do though. singer looks better too.
(yes i know blind melon have a new singer, but let me have my funny joke)

I always liked their second record, but it was stolen a long time ago and haven't heard it in probably 12 years.

lol Jamie -- guess that explains why i've never cared for polvo!

are this thread's posts being automatically italicized for anyone else? or am i going crazy.

I like this band, always have

never realised before but there's definite meat puppets influence going on on a lot of the first lp

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n38pOnwfkNI

Also, this is hilarious

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQIkU9aArp0&feature=related

You can see the drummer getting increasingly more frustrated with each take. LOL

Galaxie is my fuckin jam.

[/i]

Think it's time to finally give Soup a decent listen...

One of my best friends was a major proponent for the Nico album (Blind Melon's)

testtestmr.belvederetest

whoah all italics, did someone find a ~loophole~

italix

soup is a great record whoaaa whaaaat's happppeniiiiiing

[/I]I distinctly remember an excoriating review of Soup being my first realization that music reviewers might not always know what they're talking about.

Shannon Hoon sounds like Micky Dolenz, fyi.

deitalicised

[i]Aw man, that was the best thing about the thread">

Bring it back! :D

Sorry, I can't remember what the code fuckup was that I deleted.

Soup is good, but a little too dense for me. It's like a Tool album by hippies. I usually tune out around Car Seat and skip ahead to Mouthful of Cavities.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WMY-n9MF6o

That...is not an unapt description of Soup. Well done.

I'm in the 'underappreciated' camp. Something about the folksiness of 'No Rain' (and Hoon's image) always meant they wouldn't be taken seriously, but damn, the interplay of the guitars reminds of classic Fairport in places. 'St Andrew's Fall' is the track that gets me most often - something about the story of the guy jumping from the hotel and them watching from opposite, and the 'if I see you walking hand in hand in hand with a three armed man, you know I'll understand'. Ach. Love 'Soup' the track, too. And, fwiw, I always thought Shannon Hoon sounded like Karen Dalton.

Just finished the Hoon posthumous autodoc "All I Can Say"
https://allicansay.oscilloscope.net/
Hoon had been semi-obsessively videotaping himself since at least 1990 and the film is a semi-structured chronological edit of his home movies, from just-out-of-high-school to a few hours before his death. He comes off as a total doofus and a tragically sad figure who might've been able to figure things out if he had held out a few more years. It's a tough watch.

wow. yeah, i'd be interested in seeing it but...on another night.

it's on ilplex when yer ready

thanks - on the ever-growing list! hard to believe his daughter is 25 now.

Wow, thanks for the heads up, didn't know this existed! They used a lot of his footage in the Behind the Music episode, I can imagine this being hard to watch.

ugh sounds terrible, no thanks

signed, a blind melon fan

still kinda bumming me out today and it's my birthday!

All I can say is happy birthday

my life is pretty plain

Inspired by this thread I decided to listen to them as I only knew “no rain” and it’s alright so the rest of their songs could be good and what the hell? These are terrible songs.

betcha didn't see THAT plot twist coming!

I think the second album is an underrated gem, despite the fact that I've never listened to it

one of the likely unintended takeaways from the doc was that hoon was a very bad songwriter; his lyrics are consistently unintelligible. the band was signed by capitol with only three of four songs under their belt, presumably as insurance in case this teenage angst thing paid off well. then it did and then 'no rain' caught lightning in a bottle but you get the sense that hoon wasn't quite sure what to do from there other than be a rockstar.

I think the second album is an underrated gem, despite the fact that I've never listened to it

― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, August 3, 2020 11:06 AM bookmarkflaglink

lol

I mean he began in a hair metal act, didn't he? he certainly has that kind of voice

live footage suggests he had great energy as a live performer. the implication is that he got the contract because his sister knew axl and that got him doing back up vocals for "don't cry" and eventually put him in the video.

was hoping all of the high vocals were Hoon on all of the GNR albums and Rose was Milli Vanilli-ing them and when Hoon died he broke up the band

a+ conspiracy theory except hoon's voice live doesn't sound anywhere near as strong as axl's

still only seen the mega weird Woodstock performance

xp that's just part of the cover

another reason to watch this doc! tons of live footage and of him noodling on guitar. i will say that the band seems pretty solid.

Is there a thread for when bands with no street cred try to make "serious art"? I feel like Soup would fall in there, next to Recovering the Satellites and the time Matchbox 20 performed in black and white on Jay Leno.

I think I don’t like “no rain” anymore after listening to their other songs.

No, Shannon. Some rain. Some rain.

xp hahaha I don't remember there being anything good on the first record but I really love a bunch of the second one.

I won’t be fooled into listening to them twice!

it occurred to me tonight Blind Melon are basically the hippie Polvo. that is all.

― reallysmoothmusic (Jamie_ATP), Thursday, March 31, 2011 2:20 PM (nine years ago)

If any of their music sounds remotely like Polvo to you, please let me know the exact moment in which song and how many milliseconds it lasts.

"Tones Of Home" has a key change in the chorus that's a decent hook but the rest of it is like Spin Doctors covering Aerosmith with some dodgy scatting in the middle.

Managing to be equally mellow and introspective as well as rough and rocking, Blind Melon's 1992 self-titled debut remains one of the purest sounding rock albums of its era, completely devoid of '90s production tricks. While Blind Melon were never the toast of the critics, their self-titled 1992 debut has held up incredibly well over time, resembling a true rock classic. For reasons unknown, the late Shannon Hoon was, unfairly, usually the brunt of reviewers' criticisms, yet his angelic voice and talent for penning lyrics that examined the ups and downs of everyday life were an integral part of Blind Melon's sound, as well as the band's supreme jamming interplay. The most renowned song remains the uplifting hit "No Rain," but the whole album is superb -- the homesick rocker "Tones of Home," the desperate "I Wonder," the epic album closer "Time," and the gentle acoustic strum of "Change," which included lyrics that turned out to be sadly prophetic for Hoon. Other highlights are a song inspired by the homeless ("Paper Scratcher"), "Sleepyhouse," which describes the feeling of isolation the band felt recording the debut in a secluded residence, and the retro (yet refreshing) sounds of "Soak the Sin" and "Dear Ol' Dad." Although the album started out slow sales-wise, constant touring and the success of "No Rain" one year after the debut's initial release proved to be Blind Melon's breakthrough success, eventually almost topping the charts and going multi-platinum. (four stars)

I agree that they're underrated. I don't know about SO underrated, though. 'The Duke' is fukkin jam.

Isn't 5ive Style the hippie Polvo?

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=S3HE2UZYPUc&list=OLAK5uy_llLHrRIuhJw2zb0xaDHKw1oobAnyEy2Qg&index=1

They're at least the mathrocky Rusted Root

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=aeqquM9qBCs&list=OLAK5uy_kUrJcTLAp2Osz7PK1ZbJOa0f43zt7qFlc&index=1

That 1st 5ive STyle song is way too close to LZ's For Your Life for my liking.

Ok I’m seating in a restaurant and “no rain” is playing and I still think it’s a good song. Just don’t make me listen to anything else they recorded ever again.

"Galaxie" has always been my favorite song of theirs but I think the second half of "2x4" might be their best "moment":

https://youtu.be/mpm9XQd1p2Y

was up until 3am last night due to my next door neighbor blasting music that upon shazamming, turned out to be blind melon. i realized i think its the first time i've ever heard blind melon as the result of a private individual actively choosing to listen to them, as opposed to hearing them on mtv, piped into public places, etc.

also which one of you fuckers was it, fess up

Call the authorities if you must, but eleven is the only acceptable volume level for the Melon, mah dude.

https://thumbs.gfycat.com/ScientificCorruptGnatcatcher-size_restricted.gif

Inspired by this thread I decided to listen to them as I only knew “no rain” and it’s alright so the rest of their songs could be good and what the hell? These are terrible songs.

― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Monday, August 3, 2020 1:23 AM (one week ago) bookmarkflaglink

betcha didn't see THAT plot twist coming!

― XVI Pedicabo eam (Neanderthal), Monday, August 3, 2020 1:49 AM (one week ago) bookmarkflaglink

lol

after writing all this, i see some of this was covered already above, but anyway…

watched the All I Can Say movie on a long flight and I’d recommend it. I don’t know anything about this band other than No Rain. Shannon Hood filmed himself for the last seven or eight years of his life and Danny Clinch went through it all (?) to put together the film. Must’ve been a huge undertaking.

There’s no narration and it starts while he was in Indiana, a couple years before the band came together. Amazed they got signed so quickly, with only like five song written when Capitol picked them up. Lots of backstage shots, an impressive Woodstock vocal performance, etc. etc. heavy nineties vibes i don’t wish to relive…

There’s some really touching scenes with his niece and some rather sad scenes where he’s obv in very bad place. Funny scenes with random people. He had the camera in the corner of the room when his daughter was born. Lots of interesting quick cuts of whatever he saw…

Agree he may have been able to get himself out of his tailspin given some more time, but can’t quite say why.

I might check it out. Any footage from Riki Rachtman's Cathouse at all? Apparently, Hoon worked there for a bit before the band took off.

not that i saw, but could’ve missed it b/c of quick cuts and minimal context.

def recommend it remotely interested. i’d like to hear another opinion on it.

Soup is sounding pretty great today

I haven't heard that in years, but may need to give it a go. I didn't really like the first one, hated "No Rain", but thought this was really good and was kind of baffled that it was lambasted like it was.

(lol seeing upthread that it has now been 12 years since my last post about this album stating that I hadn't heard it in about 12 years at that point)

it's up and down but the good songs are pretty cool, weird hippie/alt rock fusion thing going on

it’s a very good album, love galaxie, driver’s seat, st andrews fall… alternative but hippies

I met up with some old friends recently and ended up talking about Blind Melon a fair bit. One dude in particular is a huge fan, the kind who looks in the middle distance and fills up when you discuss certain tracks (Porcupine, in this instance). I keep thinking I'll watch the documentary (it's on YouTube) but the time never seems quite right for so much sadness.