The Connells - '74-7'5 vs Soul Asylum - Runaway Train

Probably the audience more than anything else. They strike me as the literal definition of late-80s college rock (which seemed to mean "played on college radio" back then). I saw them a couple times at Marquette in ~89-91 and the crowds at their shows were different from any other band's that I saw at the time. People who wouldn't show up for, I dunno, like, even Poi Dog Pondering, would be stoked for The Connells. Coulda been the Counting Crows! See also Euler's comment upthread

But I mean... they SHOULD have been the Counting Crows! They appealed to the same people and were way better!

I would describe them, at least in 1989 (and this is in fact how I learned about them in college) as "the band that the one guy in the fraternity who liked REM in high school is into now that REM is really popular and everybody in the fraternity likes them."

In a similar vein, the Judybats also should have been the Counting Crows, but the Judybats were a little too weird even to be the Connells. Similar vibe in some ways though!

yeah totally I still stand by what I wrote before, but I wanted to press more on what attracted that audience. The crowds were pretty male and coded to me as straight but the band seemed more fluid than that, at least live the lead singer was pretty...flamboyant? But fratty is pretty homoerotic. nb I was in a frat

Apparently, 74-75 was huge in Europe, which probably explains why it has 100x more plays on Spotify then their next most popular song:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%2774%E2%80%93%2775#Charts_and_certifications

i agree with enoch, i like Boylan Heights but this song was their absolute moment, but then also it occurs more and more that goodness is more a question of what you hear when than anything else

74-75 was a bad jam. never heard another note of this band's music. probably never will

btw, enoch, you're exactly right when you say they sound like some college's favorite local band. They weren't local to me, but I felt way that at the time. I felt like listening to Let's Active and The Connells were the same. Southern college rock or whatever you want to call it.

yeah I mean they were such a part of my « southern » experience in hs that I was shocked when I heard 74-75 in a hostel in the south of France, like, how did *this* escape of all things? If it was universal enough to break in Europe, then what about the rest of their oeuvre? It wasn’t a departure. And if it *was* that universal, then what was southern about it? Just how they were distributed down south?

like, I’ve never heard the Smithereens except that one song « A Girl Like You » I think but I figured why, that’s for kids in upper ny or whatever, and I’m from the south and we’ve got the Connells, and at some level it’s all the same thing but we can keep our regional variants

I didn't ever knowingly hear the Connells until early in the 2000s, outside of their appearance on the PCU soundtrack - which I surely heard many times. I don't recall even "74-75" getting play on the central Illinois alternative station in the '90s, which seems weird in retrospect. This would have been right up their alley at the time, but maybe Cracker ate up their playlist slots for "southern" leaning college rock.

That Connells song is pretty good, I've literally never heard it before. Sounds a bit like Metallica's "The Unforgiven."

> yeah totally I still stand by what I wrote before, but I wanted to press more on what attracted that audience.

I dunno...clean-cut, college-aged guys who dressed preppy and played wholly unoffensive guitar-based music? There's nothing weird, aggro or angular about the Connells. My high school had at least two versions of this band that broke up when everyone went to college.

>what was southern about it? Just how they were distributed down south?

They toured like crazy there, no? Am I wrong to think I didn't really hear much "Southern" in them as I listened to them today? Could be from Ann Arbor or Burlington or Lincoln or Boulder, etc.

Also, didn't know that Lou Giordano produced Ring!

There are some surprises he's done. Like, he's worked with the Bats on at least a couple of records,

I should really go back and dig into this band, they were a little before my time but my 11th grade English teacher was the guitarist’s sister.

Giordano's done a variety of great albums and had a super interesting career arc. Back in the Ring era he had a hot hand. I think he'd just come off of Sugar's debut?

I'm glad someone mentioned the Judybats. A couple years ago I had the idea for a totally fictional camp melodrama screenplay about The Judybats and The Connells in an all out war to be kings of the southeast club circuit ca. 1989-92. The audience would sooooooo niche, but I think it could wind up being hilarious.

giordano also produced largely disrespected nc triangle act dillon fence's second album around that time

not sure why the connells didn't quite break through with boylan heights or fun & games, but by the time of one simple word (which i think is better), chapel hill -- and the more, um, ~angular~ polvo/archers/superchunk -- was the 'next seattle' and the connells were passé

Their first lp Darker Days got flak for being too much like the Smiths and it does sound more like mid-80s college rock. But at their core they always had more widespread appeal and more pop instincts than anyone in the Triangle in that era...they weren't really much part of that Chapel Hill scene, ever. Raleigh boys to the end I guess.

Good nod to Dillon Fence!

also, check out this artifact:

https://www.discogs.com/Pink-Floyd-The-Connells-Wish-You-Were-Here-Live-74-75/release/5183771

wau

A couple years ago I had the idea for a totally fictional camp melodrama screenplay about The Judybats and The Connells in an all out war to be kings of the southeast club circuit ca. 1989-92.

what, are you me

It would be a gentler, less druggy "Dig!"

YES!

lol never encountered, before dandydon, someone who'd heard of dillon fence that didn't immediately shit on them -- and they actually did, apparently, have a hootie connection

I absolutely love the Connells' video. It may be one of my favorite videos ever.
For those who do not know, it was directed by the fairly legendary Mark Pellington.
It shows graduates of a Raleigh High School in their yearbook photos and twenty years later.
It's just super poignant and the expressions on everyone's faces tell so much about the subjects - where they were and where they thought maybe they would have been.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9iVZwGLUn0

While looking for it just now, I came across a 2015 video that brought everyone together another two decades later.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6l3Lh2cb_g

Although it lacks the punch the initial video had on me back in the day, it was still awesome to watch.

I would spend some time in Raleigh in the mid '90s and I worked at TVT Records a few years before that so I have a serious soft spot for the band in general, but this is a masterpiece.

that sounds awesome and also depressing as fuck and i'm scared to watch it

It's both of those things but I think the scale tips to awesome.

lol never encountered, before dandydon, someone who'd heard of dillon fence that didn't immediately shit on them -- and they actually did, apparently, have a hootie connection

Yes they did have a connection. I spent a lot of time in the SE seeing bands in small clubs, particularly from 90-99. I was a huge fan of the Connells from the beginning and remain so--like someone else upthread, I was in Europe on my honeymoon when 74-75 broke over there and it was stunning because they really weren't getting any more airplay than normal here in the states.

I grew up in VA and probably saw the band live over 10 times in high school. They were super popular. I also remember that they played '74-'75 as the deboarding music on Virgin or British Air once and me being really mystified. Fun and Games is tops. People used to go crazy when Inside My Head was played live.

I think I got a Dillon Fence record once because Black Eyed Susan kind of reminded me of the Posies was I was pretty meh on them.

also people who thought The Connells were too popular would listen to Guadalcanal Diary.

and Don Dixon produced both Guadalcanal Diary and One Simple Word.

The only other Connells song I now is this one, which I like.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZjU0lxZUPA

When I lived in N. Va. my boss was a graduate of William & Mary and she was a big fan, apparently they had a huge base there.

yeah, that's the general area I grew up. They played every 3 months there either for free or $5. That area was great for shows. So many all ages venues of all sizes, lots of schools and huge military population.

My wife is from NoVA, she's a big fan of the Judybats but I don't think has ever mentions the Connells ...

The Connells I always assumed were like another regional analog to the BoDeans or something, but it sounds like the band had a lot more going on.

Fuck, that 2015 video hit me pretty hard.

xpost it's more around the Tidewater region, not NoVa.

I feel like NoVa was more towards, DC, Dischord, TeenBeat etc.

I just checked and the Connells, decades later, are STILL hitting the southeast club circuit pretty hard!

05/16/19 - Wilson, NC - Vollis Simpson Whirlygig Park

05/31/19 - Durham, NC - Motorco

06/21/19 - Norfolk, VA - The NorVa

06/22/19 - Charlottesville, VA - The Jefferson Theater

07/12/19 - Charlotte, NC - The Fillmore

07/13/19 - Atlanta, GA - Variety Playhouse

08/29/19 - Raleigh, NC - Red Hat Amphitheater

09/20/19 - Greensboro, NC - The Blind Tiger

09/21/19 - Asheville, NC - Tour De Fat

12/06/19 - Charleston, SC - Music Farm

12/07/19 - Cayce, SC - Steel Hands Brewing

12/13/19 - Chapel Hill, NC - Cats Cradle

I saw them this past summer and they were pretty much the same as they've always been

Fuck, that 2015 video hit me pretty hard.

Same.

Discovered them on the More Mondo comp of North Carolina bands. "Darker Days" really struck me and I tracked down the album, which never really clicked. Need to figure out if the MM recording is different than the album.

I'm fairly certain that the MM version is the same. BUT.

There is a UK and a USA version of Darker Days. I have them both but I don't think they were remixed (different track sequence, and if memory serves, maybe an added song on one or the other).

I was in Louisiana at the time and we had Cowboy Mouth and Better Than Ezra doing the college circuit. I was so envious of the south east to have better bands than we had. I'd take the worst Connells song over the best songs from either of those two bands.

There is a UK and a USA version of Darker Days. I have them both but I don't think they were remixed (different track sequence, and if memory serves, maybe an added song on one or the other).

TVT reissued it in the US when Boylan Heights came out.

Can confirm this song was a massive hit here in Germany. I and everyone I know has never heard anything else by the Connells tho.

Sorry I was living in the UK when this was released, so it was certainly a huge hit there.