10,000 Maniacs
David French said…
10,000 Maniacs
I listened to all of "In My Tribe" on my morning commute, and I had
forgotten how darn earnest Natalie Merchant was/is. In that one album she takes on illiteracy ("Cherry Tree"), alcoholism ("Don't Talk"), child abuse ("What's the Matter Here?"), militarism ("Gun Shy"), and greed ("A Campfire Song").
The latter is my favorite. She attacks greed through a person who's identified as evil through coal mining, diamond mining, fishing, logging, and failing to clean his plate when he eats (I'm not making this up).
I half expected to hear songs decrying adult-onset diabetes and supporting the use of cloth diapers.
I could be wrong about this, but it feels like even alternative music is much less idealistic these days. Back in the 1980s and 1990s -- when alt music was alt music -- everything was earnest. If you were going to listen to something other than hair bands or Janet Jackson, you were going to get preached at. Then Nirvana happened, alt went mainstream, and all the idealism was sucked right out. In one stroke, Nirvana killed the fun (bye bye Bon Jovi) and the self-righteousness, leaving only grim-faced chicks in flannel shirts. It was a lousy time to be in law school.
But back in Paris, Tennessee, Nancy was oblivious to it all . . . rocking the big mall hair all the way through Pearl Jam's fourth album.
Posted Mon, Aug 8th @ 11:00am