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Hearing songs from NPI loud sounds tempting - I must say. But i still don’t get, what makes a band play reunion shows - especially with no new material. Is it just for the sake of good old times?
But back on topic. Even though NPI is my favorite(maybe because it was my first unwound record), it is hard to not be totally hyped, no matter what unwound record I play. My common reaction usually is: this got to be my most favorite unwound record. They are all so extremely good. I don’t have that with many bands. With most other bands it is way easier to choose a favorite
Yeah. I guess it's to give a younger generation of fans, or old fans who never saw them live, a chance to see them play highlights from their discography live? Even at its best, it's still not a completely satisfying exercise. I think it's safe to say a band like Fugazi will never do the same, but who fucking knows.
Yep. That's why I can't say NPI without mentioning Repetition and LTIY, then feeling a little guilty for leaving out awesome albums like Future of What or Challenge for a Civilized Society (I don't think Fake Train, as a whole, is a fan favorite, although side one is pretty flawless/classic. "Ratbite" and "Star Spangled Hell" sound like leftovers from their pre-Sara Lund phase). I've said many times that they're my favorite 90's band and have a damn near flawless track record. Thankfully, they never signed to a major and put out an expensive disappointment (or two) that ended their run a la The Jesus Lizard, Girls Against Boys, etc.
I was just happy to give a band that I still put on a couple dozen times a year one big payday. I'm sure any money they made off of their material is long gone and was probably spent on keeping the whole thing going in the original run.
Yeah, I was gonna mention Shudder to Think and Jawbox, but both of their major label debuts were as good or arguably better than their Dischord output. (I really like most of Pony Express Record to this day and they were great live during their major label run. It can definitely hang with Get Your Goat and Funeral at the Movies. They were such a weird band.) I wouldn't add Melvins into that because many fans seem to think Houdini and Stoner Witch are their best albums and they kept going strong, regardless of their major jump. Dinosaur Jr's major label output is weird because they sounded good at the time and some of the singles still sound good, but due to the OG lineup reformation and the perspective of time, they really don't hold up very well, at least for me. I'll always be stuck on the first three albums.
RE: Jesus Lizard falling out of favor in Chicago, yeah, that must've been odd since they were the kings of that scene for the first half of the 90's. Maybe it was their Lollapalooza stint? Shot is actually pretty decent, but Blue sucked.
RE: LTIY, I didn't realize Unwound faced a backlash at the time. I just thought I'd kinda moved on from noise-rock/post-hardcore at the time. I was 21, playing in a band, working in a record store, going to bars, getting stoned 24/7 and getting exposed to obscure Post-Punk, Krautrock, Experimental music, etc. so I thought I was over all that. I guess I was more in tune with the zeitgeist than I realized and we were all getting a bit worn out on mature Unwound at the time. Felt the same about Fugazi's Argument; thought they were too po-faced and serious. Once I was 30 I had a way more open, chill and able to re-access the music from my teens. That's when I really listened to LTIY and "got it."
RE: Unwound's lack of earnings, yeah, for sure. All the Kill Rock Stars material was long out of print and they stopped making money during and after LTIY. They were totally broke. I think the Numero reissue campaign must've helped them out a bit, but this tour is probably going to help them the most, financially speaking.
Topic: UNWOUND (Read 779 times)