It was all of our own soul brothers and we would share gear. Limiting the series to 50 Chicago Artists Who Changed Popular Music is completely arbitrary it could have been 100, or 1,000 and Im leaving other genres such as jazz and country to other critics and fans. Pop/Rock, Alternative Pop/Rock, Alternative/Indie Rock, Post-Grunge, Punk Revival A New January 1990s - 2000s Who are we going to play with? Oh, youre going to open for Alex Chilton and Jody Stephens. And we fucking lost our shit, because thats Big Star. Also, the industry was transitioning, too. Josh from the Popes left the band for a little while. Because they had such a young crowd, I remember Colin saying they were the Richard Scarry of rock n roll. Brown Betty, Fig Dish, Liz Phair, Local H, Menthol, Pumpkins, Veruca Salt, and there was the Red Red Meat kind of scene. If it wasnt fun, we wouldnt do it. Rick Rizzo. Collected Musings on the Alternative Music Explosion of the 90s, The current lineup performed and talked about that long and rich career on Sound Opinions last April, 50 Chicago Artists Who Changed Popular Music Rock In The 60s And 70s, 50 Chicago Artists Who Changed Popular Music Soul And R&B, 50 Chicago Artists Who Changed Popular Music Chess Records, Meet the artist whose bold portraits have dressed up Chicago bus shelters, 150 years later, Dixon bridge tragedy among nations worst, Why were launching The Democracy Solutions Project, Linda Lenz, who kept generations of CPS parents informed through her nonprofit publication Catalyst, is dead at 77. When I look back on it, its like, Oh, wow, we were perilously close to being a one-and-done kind of thing. I think it was just the speed in which we were able to turn around and make another record. They were like the first wave of bands that started to get notice and started getting signed to major label deals, and that was before the big alt-rock explosion. Though the dwindling and nostalgic few who still hold them dear disagree, the Pumpkins were best when they were paring back and giving us less, most notably on the less ironic, more heartfelt Adore in 1998. The Top Ten. Its a little bit primitive, its a little bit lo-fi, but you listen to those records now and they still sound great. Click here for Part Three in this series, Gospel. He was blatantly ambitious and blatantly wanted to be signed to a major label and blatantly wanted his songs on the radio. I saw a lot of that, and I really hated it. When we met, I knew it was something serious It wasnt like falling into it for me. Whereas Billy Corganthat was his ambition all along and he made no bones about it and it was pilloried for it. I really dont think I was very good at [recording], with some exceptions, until later on in the 90s. It was super hard work. Veruca Salt broke up shortly there after. They certainly made Metro their laboratory, their hub. That was insane. And Jodys all nice, hes like, Hey man, Alex is going to use your amps and everything. I didnt see Alex anywhere. But you know something, everyone thought that was an overnight success, and it wasnt. When there's loose money around, everybody feels like a winner. In one of those silly insider feuds so ubiquitous in the 90s, Albini turned from best buddy to mortal enemy after Urge split from the local indie Touch and Go and took a boatload of money to sign to Geffen Records. Jim Ellison was hated by a lot of people in this town. In late 1991, Nirvanas Nevermindwas on its way to becoming a full-blown cultural phenomenon, sending label representatives cool-hunting in marginal hubs of artistic activity across the U.S. in search of the next Seattle and the next big payday. Click here for Part Six in this series, House Music. This home outdoor projector supports a 50-250" projection size, allowing you to enjoy the joy of a large screen whether indoors or outdoors. That band ruled. Id go over and fly on the wall kind of stuff. But then I did. But he was hilarious and said a bunch of really stupid stuff. He now manages bands like The Damnwells, Old 97s, and Soul Asylum at Red Light Management in New York. Gold Star or something like that, because it was neighborhood. Casey came on board and I think his schedule filled up. Which is why I think Jim Ellison, like, Material Issue and Urge Overkill, people either loved them or hated them, because for a lot of people, it was like, These guys are cocky and confident and clearly want stardom, and people mistrusted that. So it was hard to wade through that shit, and we probably didnt do a great job if it, I dont know if anybody could do a great job of it, you just kind of get lucky. If someone wanted to do a show in a house or in some unconventional space, he would pull his PA system there on a skateboard and just set it up., That sense of freedom, improvisation, and playfulness carried over to the more rock-oriented Lounge Ax, which Albini calls the greatest live music club there ever was, and McCombs calls my favorite venue in the entire world. It's where lounge revivalists the Coctails had accomplished jazz improvisers sit in with them, and where Shrimp Boat played, according to McCombs, this totally skronky, weird, idiosyncratic music with pop songs on top of it. That was one of the big things. We liked how he made records. Is Blake or [guitarist] Rick [Ness] there? And I was like, Get the fuck out! and hung up the phone. Remember that moment? She did a really nice job, except she didnt put the important information on it. I was looking forward to living in L.A., traveling back to Chicago to make a couple records a year, and also make records out here using the thousands and thousands of recording studios out here. 50 Chicago Artists Who Changed Popular Music Alternative Rock , I often look for bands that don't sound like anyone else, and Scissor Girls were kind of like that. 2018 Cond Nast. So many great people in town right now doing hip hop and R&B.