The Cat Heads were an indie rock band from San Francisco. The band formed in 1985 with a later line-up recording as The (ex) Cat Heads.
The original line-up of the band was former Love Circus and Leaches singer Mark Zanandrea (vocals, guitar), former Ophelias guitarist Sam Babbitt, former X-tal bassist Alan Korn, and Donner Party drummer Melanie Clarin. [1] [2] They signed to Enigma/Restless, and released their debut album, Hubba (produced by Matt Piucci of Rain Parade), in 1987, described as a mix of "punk, post-punk, folk-rock, and country". [1] [3] They followed this in 1988 with Submarine, this time with David Lowery producing. [1] Zanandrea and Clarin then left, to be replaced by Barry Hall and John Stewart, continuing as The (ex) Cat Heads, although Clarin returned to guest (on "Anti-song") on their 1989 album Our Frisco. [1] [4] Clarin and Zanandrea, meanwhile had joined It Thing. [1] Zanandrea and Babbitt later worked together in The Androgynauts. [1] Babbitt and Korn re-emerged in The Mudsills. [1] [2]
The band have reunited a few times since, including opening for Camper Van Beethoven at the latter's 25th anniversary reunion gig at The Fillmore in 2008.
Indie rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the music they produced and was initially used interchangeably with alternative rock or "guitar pop rock". In the 1980s, the use of the term "indie" started to shift from its reference to recording companies to describe the style of music produced on punk and post-punk labels. During the 1990s, grunge and punk revival bands in the US and Britpop bands in the UK broke into the mainstream, and the term "alternative" lost its original counter-cultural meaning. The term "indie rock" became associated with the bands and genres that remained dedicated to their independent status. By the end of the 1990s, indie rock developed several subgenres and related styles, including lo-fi, noise pop, emo, slowcore, post-rock, and math rock. In the 2000s, changes in the music industry and the growing importance of the internet enabled a new wave of indie rock bands to achieve mainstream success, leading to questions about its meaningfulness as a term.
Galaxie 500 was an American alternative rock band that formed in 1987 and split up in 1991 after releasing three albums: Today, On Fire and This Is Our Music. The band was made up of guitarist/vocalist Dean Wareham, drummer Damon Krukowski and bassist Naomi Yang.
45 Grave are an American punk rock band from Los Angeles, California formed in 1979. The original group broke up in 1985, but vocalist Dinah Cancer subsequently revived the band.
The Lords of the New Church were an English/American supergroup with a line-up originally consisting of four musicians from 1970s punk bands. This line-up comprised vocalist Stiv Bators, guitarist Brian James, bassist Dave Tregunna and drummer Nick Turner. Launched in 1981, the band released three studio albums prior to their dissolution in 1989. During this time, they underwent several line-up changes.
The F.U.'s are a hardcore punk band from Boston, Massachusetts. They formed in 1981 as a three-piece band, released two records and appeared on the compilation This Is Boston, Not L.A. before changing their name to Straw Dogs in 1986 to market themselves as a heavy metal act. In 2010 The F.U.’s reformed under their original moniker.
Wipers was a punk rock band formed in Portland, Oregon, in 1977 by guitarist and vocalist Greg Sage, along with drummer Sam Henry and bassist Dave Koupal. The group's tight song structure and use of heavy distortion were hailed as extremely influential by numerous critics and musicians. They are also considered to be the first Pacific Northwest punk band.
American rock has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, rhythm and blues, and country music, and also drew on folk music, jazz, blues, and classical music. American rock music was further influenced by the British Invasion of the American pop charts from 1964 and resulted in the development of psychedelic rock.
Prison Bound is the second studio album by Social Distortion, released in 1988. It was the first album with bass guitarist John Maurer and drummer Christopher Reece. It expands the punk rock sound of the band's first album, Mommy's Little Monster (1983), by adding influences from country music and blues rock.
Swingin' Utters is a Californian punk rock band that formed in the late 1980s. After a seven-year hiatus, the band reformed in 2010 and have since released four more records.
John Strohm is an American musician, singer, and lawyer. He began his musical career playing drum set in Indiana's punk rock scene, then moved to Boston in 1985 and switched to guitar. With Juliana Hatfield and Freda Love he co-founded the indie rock trio Blake Babies in 1986. In 1994 the band Velo-Deluxe with Strohm as the frontman released their only album Superelastic through Mammoth Records. Strohm also played drums in The Lemonheads from 1987 - 1989 and guitar during the years 1993-1994 and 1996-1997. He led the indie rock band Antenna and released his first solo album, Vestavia, in 1999. In 2007 Strohm released another full-length album, Everyday Life.
Doughboys were a Canadian alternative rock band founded in 1987 that were active in the late 1980s and early/mid-1990s. The band was renowned for its musical blend of punk and pop-style melodies.
The Donner Party was a San Francisco–based indie rock band, performing between 1986 and 1989. The band consisted of Melanie Clarin on drums and accordion; Sam Coomes on guitar, violin, and banjo; and Reinhold Johnson on bass. The band released two albums, both self-titled; the first was released in 1987 on the Cryptovision Records label, and the second on Camper Van Beethoven's Pitch-A-Tent label in 1988. These two albums, plus an unreleased third album and some live tracks, were collected and released as Complete Recordings 1987–1989 in 2000 on Innerstate Records. The band played a one-time reunion show on April 16, 2000, at Slim's in San Francisco.
X-tal was a San Francisco-based rock band that existed under various incarnations from 1983 until 1996. Greil Marcus of the Village Voice described them as a "small-time San Francisco combo that wears their defeated leftist politics on their sleeves and can open for the Mekons without letting you forget them when the headliners come on."
"Got the Life" is a song written and recorded by American band Korn for their third studio album, Follow the Leader which was released as the album's second single on November 23, 1998. It was recorded in April 1998 at NRG Recording Studios. The band decided they would release the song as a promotional single after each member found that there was something "special" about the song. The single had "phenomenal success", and its music video was requested more than any other video on MTV's TRL, making it the first officially "retired" music video.
Revenge is the fourth studio album by the American rock band T.S.O.L., released in 1986 through Enigma Records. With increased exposure brought on by continuous touring, and influenced by the growing hard rock scene in their native Southern California, the band moved away from the punk- and gothic rock-influenced sound of their past in favor of simpler rock numbers. To promote the album, two songs were used in film soundtracks: "Nothin' for You" in The Return of the Living Dead (1985) and "Revenge" in Dangerously Close (1986). "Revenge" and "Colors " were also made into the band's first music videos.
Das Damen was an alternative rock band from New York City, United States, formed in 1984. The band released several albums before splitting up in 1991. The band's name is fake German and roughly translates to "the ladies".
Change Today? is the third studio album by the American rock band T.S.O.L., released in 1984 through Enigma Records. It was the band's first album with singer/guitarist Joe Wood and drummer Mitch Dean, replacing founding members Jack Grisham and Todd Barnes who had left the band in late 1983. The album was recorded using money loaned to T.S.O.L. by the Dead Kennedys, and found the new incarnation of the band moving away from the hardcore punk associations of the original lineup in favor of a traditional rock and gothic rock sound. Change Today? was reissued in 1999 through the Enigma subsidiary Restless Records, adding four tracks from the recording sessions that had been left off the original album.
Hit and Run is the fifth studio album by the American rock band T.S.O.L., released in 1987 through Enigma Records. It marked a stylistic shift for the band, who departed from their earlier gothic rock and hard rock efforts in favor of a glam metal persona and sound. Hit and Run was T.S.O.L.'s only release to chart, reaching no. 184 on the Billboard 200, but the band's new direction alienated their fans in vast numbers and was criticized by reviewers. Enigma found the album difficult to market due to the group's change in musical style and image. It failed to be the commercial breakthrough the members had hoped for, and T.S.O.L. left Enigma as a result.
Strange Love is the sixth studio album by the American rock band T.S.O.L., released in 1990 through Enigma Records. It was the band's final studio album to include singer/guitarist Joe Wood and drummer Mitch Dean, and the only one to include guitarist Marshall Rohner. Bassist and sole remaining original member Mike Roche left the group after the recording of Strange Love, reuniting with the rest of the original lineup in 1991. Wood and Dean carried on for a few more years with other members, but Strange Love was a commercial disappointment and the band was eventually dropped from Enigma. In 1999 founding members Roche, Jack Grisham, Ron Emory, and Todd Barnes would win back legal rights to the name "T.S.O.L." from Wood and relaunch the band, taking it back to its punk rock roots.
Hell and Back Together: 1984–1990 is a compilation album by the American rock band T.S.O.L., released in 1992 through Restless Records. It includes material from the band's hard rock/glam metal era with singer/guitarist Joe Wood and drummer Mitch Dean, which saw lineup changes resulting in the departure of original members Ron Emory and Mike Roche. It compiles tracks from the albums Revenge (1986), Hit and Run (1987), and Strange Love (1990), two tracks from other compilations, and three songs recorded live for radio station WBCN in Boston. It was the final album released by this incarnation of T.S.O.L.; in 1999 the original lineup of Emory, Roche, Jack Grisham, and Todd Barnes reacquired legal rights to the band's name and relaunched the group with a return to its hardcore punk roots.