top of page
Search
intothewellsabyss
Feb 26, 202315 min read

Ten Rock & Alternative Albums That Time Forgot…

 
"These are ten Rock and Alternative albums that I feel have been swept under the rug. And, while some of them were minor hits, I feel they are now underrepresented and have been simply lost in time. The list here is in no particular order." — E.N. Wells, February 26, 2022.
 

Warrior Soul - Drugs, God and the New Republic (1991)


Probably the best known group in this list, Warrior Soul have laid waste to conformity with and “corrupted” the minds of our youth with their many great releases. Even with their notoriety, the band never gained the success of other major bands of the nineties. Released in 1991 via David Geffen’s DGC label, Drugs, God and the New Republic was the second release by New York City’s Warrior Soul. Lead by Kory Clarke, the album is a blend of powerful music and politically motivated angst. With an ax to grind, Warrior Soul aimed their fist at the face of the American institution. A nationwide support tour with Queensrÿche (with whom they shared management from the Q Prime agency) followed the albums release.


Warrior Soul further supported the album by taking part in the Tune in, Turn on, Burn out Tour, with the Sisters of Mercy, Public Enemy, Young Black Teenagers, and Gang of Four. The band also promoted the album with a music video for the song The Wasteland. Spitting fire and fury, this track should have taken over both, MTV and rock radio airwaves. You can watch the video via the YouTubelink below:




 

Collision - Self-titled (1992)


Collision are another band that hails from New York City. Formed in 1979, the band played in relative obscurity for nearly 13 years before they were signed by Chaos/Columbia Records after the label had heard one of the band's demos. Combining elements of Funk, Alternative and Heavy Metal, the band then released their first full-length album entitled Collision in 1992. In 1995, they released their second full-length album, Coarse, with Sony Music Distributing.


The band promoted the album with two music videos, Chains and Maximum Respect. You can watch those videos via the YouTube links below:





 

Gruntruck - Push (1992)


Released in 1992 via Roadrunner Records, Push is the second album from the Seattle band Gruntruck.


A Seattle supergroup of sorts, Gruntruck featured Ben McMillan and drummer Norman Scott from Skin Yard and lead guitarist Tommy Niemeyer from Crossover Thrash band The Accüsed and were rounded out by bassist Tim Paul from Portland Hardcore Punk band Final Warning. With more in common to the likes of Soundgarden and Alice In Chains, at the time of its release, The Washington Post cluelessly compared Gruntruck’s Push to that of Nirvana.


Their sound has been described as Grunge, but the band focused more on the Metal side of the genre. Also described as "grunge-meets-psychedelia”, the songs featured coherent melodies, effective arrangements and a good measure of passion.


The band supported the album by touring with Alice in Chains and Screaming Trees, and though it was ranked No. 18 in Kerrang! Magazines Albums of the Year in 1992, Push failed to garner a great many accolades it so deserved.


The album was also promoted by the release of the singles Tribe, Crazy Love, and Above Me, with music videos released as for the first two songs. Tribe was the highest-charting single of the band's career. You can watch those videos via the YouTube links below:





 

My Sister’s Machine - Diva (1992)


Before the formation of My Sister's Machine, singer and lyricist Nick Pollock had played guitar in an early incarnation of Alice in Chains with vocalist Layne Staley; they called themselves Alice N' Chains. When that band broke up on friendly terms in 1987, Pollock played for a year with older musicians in a Funk band. In 1989, he formed MSM along with guitarist Owen Wright, bassist Chris Ivanovich, and drummer Chris Gohde; Wright and Gohde previously played in a band called Mistrust, which also included former Culprit singer Jeff L’Heureux.


Since none of the other band members had ever been a singer before, Pollock got the job by default being the band's primary lyricist. In order to have more artistic control over their debut album, the band initially decided to sign a deal with a small independent record company called Caroline Records. "The band's standpoint is that it's not time," Pollock said. "We consciously decided to go with an independent, so we could (have the freedom to) say, 'This is the way I want the cover to look,' and 'I want to be part of producing the album, even though I am not a record producer, because it's a learning experience for me.' We have a really good relationship with the label. When the time comes when we're ready to move on, they're more than willing to sell the contract to a major label with the resources to put on a bigger marketing push." The album was recorded at Robert Lang Studios in Shoreline, Washington.


The resulting album, Diva, was released January 24, 1992. Diva included the singles I'm Sorry and I Hate You, both of which had accompanying music videos. The video for I'm Sorry was directed by Paul Rachman, who also directed music videos for Alice in Chains' Man in the Box and Sea of Sorrow.


Pollock is credited for writing or co-writing all music and lyrics off Diva. Mike Boehm of the Los Angeles Times wrote that while there are "some clear Alice in Chains echoes in My Sister's Machine...one can also detect similarities to sources beyond one scene--you can hear some of the Cult's catchy hard-riffing, and some of Axl Rose's contorted, word-bending phrasing." Boehm also observed that MSM differed most from their Seattle contemporaries in lyrical content, writing, "Typically, the Seattle bands are a markedly angry, doom-laden bunch, sticking to the dark side and giving shape to feelings that come with being part of a generation that faces the likelihood of being materially worse off than its parents. My Sister's Machine is far more even-handed." From there, Boehm contrasts the aggression of I Hate You with the stricken apology of I'm Sorry. He also highlights another track Monster Box where he writes, "MSM takes a radical departure from standard Heavy Metal ideology by condemning libertinism and sex without emotional bonds." Pollocksaid of the song, "Monster Box isn't about AIDS, but about morality. It's just me going off about my beliefs, and how life should be."


Jim Washburn, also of Los Angeles Times, described the band as "more melodic and more propulsive than its Seattle soul mates Alice in Chains" on Diva. Troy J. Augusto of Variety described the album as "a noisy, angry and yet thoughtful collection that points to good fortune for the band."


Despite the praise from the aforementioned critics, the album and the promotional videos received little recognition from radio and MTV. Like so many other bands (including some of those mentioned here), MSM were swallowed up in the sea of bands from the burgeoning Grunge and Alternative scene.


In 1993, MSM moved to Chameleon Records a division of Elektra Entertainment and released Wallflower in 1993. They toured the United States with King's X. Just a couple months after releasing the album, Elektra Entertainment folded the Chameleon division dropping all bands that were signed leaving the album and band unpromoted. After a string of bad luck, My Sister's Machine split up in 1994 (although they did reunite in 2010 for the Layne Staley Tribute, held on August 21 of that year).


You can watch the music videos for I’m Sorry and I Hate You via the YouTube links below:





 

My Little Funhouse - Standunder (1992)


After winning the Carling Hot Press band competition, Irish Rockers My Little Funhouse were signed to Island Publishing and went on, in late 1991, to sign what was Geffen Records' largest deal to that date: $2 million (around the same time, Geffen signed Nirvana for $60,000). Geffen saw them as the next Guns N' Roses, and even included them in the video of November Rain.


Their debut album Standunder comprises heavy Rock 'N' Roll and slower, more intimate songs. Guitars were prominent, as was typical of the early 1990s. Alan Lawlor's vocals are very distinctive and make a strong impression. The album enjoyed some minor success and several songs were released as singles: I Want Some of That, Wishing Well, Destiny/L.S.D and Raintown. Videos were also made to promote the album; I Want Some of That, Wishing Well and Raintown, but those videos received little airtime on MTV.


Members of My Little Funhouse had moved to Los Angeles and began to record material for their follow-up album entitled Forward Came, but the band were dropped from Geffen and the album wasnever released.


You can watch the music videos for I Want Some of That, Wishing Well and Raintown via the YouTube links below:


I Want Some of That: https://youtu.be/WFRXjUNomXA




 

Mutha’s Day Out - My Soul is Wet (1993)


Mutha's Day Out were formed in November 1991 in the town of Batesville, Arkansas. Influenced by the Beastie Boys, Mikal Moore (born Michael Morehead) and Randy Cross conceived Mutha's Day Outto “get chicks.” The band initially consisted of three vocalists (Mikal, Randy, and Brice Stephens). The name was thought up by Brice and came from a daycare center in Batesville that kids could go to for pre-school in Methodist churches. Jeff Morgan had just been kicked out of a band he and Chuck Schaaf were in when Mikal asked him to be in a band that would sound like "Faith No More, Beastie Boys, and Ozzy Osbourne." The band was rounded out by Rodney Moffitt, who played drums, and Lance Branstetter, who played guitar, with Chuck serving as his guitar tech. When the band first came together, Lance was 21 years old, Mikal was 20, Brice was 18, Chuck was 17, Rod was 17, and Jeff was 15.


In April 1992, the band traveled to Memphis, Tennessee in search of a cheap recording studio. They found the studio they were looking for belonging to recording engineers Doug Easley and Davis McCain. After producing Mutha's Day Out's first demo in studio, which consisted of 15 tracks, Doug booked the band to play in the Crossroads Music Festival that week. In the same performance, Mutha's Day Out's first, a representative from Chrysalis Records, Karen DuMont (who currently still works with Mikal), was present to see and sign another band. After seeing MDO's performance, she offered them a chance to go to the studio the next day, while receiving a record contract as well. Soon after the band signed a songwriting agreement with leading independent music publisher, Hit & Run Music Publishing, being championed by Joey Gmerek and Dave Massey in the New York and London offices.


They went to the studio to record their only album, My Soul is Wet. Randy Cross left the band the day after they got the record label and Lance was kicked out a week afterwards; the band replaced Lancewith Chuck. Halfway through the production of the album, Greenforth Pham, a Vietnamese boy who was a close friend of Mikal and Brice's, committed suicide, and thus the album was dedicated in his memory (Green). The album was finished and then released on October 19, 1993. Chrysalis released four singles from the album: Locked, My Soul is Wet, Green and What U See/We All Bleed Red. The first three singles were accompanied by music videos, with "Locked" being used on a segment of Beavis and Butthead in the episode Crisis Line.


Mutha's Day Out toured the United States and Europe from late 1993 to late 1994. They were opening for such bands as Jackyl, King's X, Overkill, Sugartooth (I saw this touring lineup for free at The Capital Theatre in Flint, Michigan) and BulletBoys. In the European leg of their tour, however, the band gained great notoriety, especially in France. There are many diehard fans to this day that are concentrated around Paris. Their only live record (EP) was recorded in the Virgin Megastore in Paris to a strong audience of loyal fans and contains 5 tracks. The band also performed at major rock festivals such as Winterthur in Switzerland.


Mikal left the band in September 1994, but this had been discussed and dealt with already with Chrysalis before the album even came out. He was obligated to do the tour, however, and couldn't leave until that part of the deal was fulfilled. After Mikal left, the band decided to call it quits rather than continue forward with a new singer. The main reason the band broke up is that they were all going in different directions musically and it ripped apart the band. Had the band stayed together, Chuck and Jeff would have done most of the writing and gone in a much darker direction (with a sound similar to Kreator). In the aftermath, Mikal obtained the rights to Mutha's Day Out and still owns the rights to this day.


In spite of Mutha's Day Out’s cult following in Paris and the band appearing in the 1995 movie Mortal Kombat (during Scene 2 while Sonya searches for Kano at a nightclub in Hong Kong, amongst a large crowd moshing to them, where they performed their song What You See), the band received little attention from US radio and MTV.


You can watch the music videos for Locked, My Soul is Wet, Green via the YouTube links below:






 

Mind Over Four - Half Way Down (1993)


Mind Over Four started as a sort of Psychedelic Punk band, but eventually began creating their own unique brand of Progressive Alternative Metal. In interviews, they often referred to their music as "experimetal". BNR Metal Pages describes them as "occupy[ing] that gray area between Metal and uncommercial Hard Rock, but with a quirkiness in the songwriting that makes them difficult to describe or categorize". The band released their fourth full-length studio album (not including their self released 1983 album Desperate Expression), Half Way Down via Restless Records in 1993.


Other than a cult following, the bands claim to fame came when, on the back cover photo of the Pantera album Vulgar Display of Power, Phil Anselmo could be seen wearing one of the band's T-shirts.


There are no promo videos available via YouTube, but here is a live video for their song Funny Pocket, taken from Half Way Down: https://youtu.be/nP-809PA3qw



 

I Mother Earth - Dig (1993)


The brother duo of drummer Christian and guitarist Jagori Tanna met vocalist Edwin at their shared rehearsal space in 1990. Edwin asked the brothers to form a band with him, and the three came together in 1991, taking on Franz Masini as a bass player. The band came up with the name IME, as in "I Am Me", but later decided the letters should stand for something. Jag Tanna ad-libbed the name I Mother Earth and has always insisted it has no special meaning. The band, represented by a professionally recorded five-song demo, played a mere thirteen shows over the next year. These were noted for their jam sessions, poetry readings, and murals painted in the background during the songs. At the end of the year, the band was in the middle of a bidding war between labels.


In 1992, I Mother Earth signed to a co-venture deal brokered between Capitol Records (U.S.) and its Canadian affiliate, EMI Music Canada. The band travelled to Los Angeles in 1992 to record its debut album with former Guns N' Roses producer Mike Clink. During these sessions, Franz Masini was fired, leaving Jag Tanna to re-record the bass parts himself. At the completion of the album, Masini was replaced by Bruce Gordon, whose band Rocktopus was breaking up at that time. With the lineup solidified, the band underwent an intensive international tour to support its debut, Dig, in mid-1993.


Considered an anomaly in the "Alternative" era and often mistaken for Heavy Metal, the album combined traditional Hard Rock with grooves, extended jams, psychedelic lyrics, and the Latin-based percussion of Luis Conte and Armando Borg. Dig spawned four singles, three of which originated from IME's demo tape and were later included on the proper album. Rain Will Fall, Not Quite Sonic and Levitate were released in 1993, and So Gently We Go was released in the summer of 1994. All four garnered radio and video airplay in Canada, as well as rotations in the U.S. and Europe. The latter two singles in particular charted well on Canadian rock radio. The Dig album won a Juno Award in 1994 for Best Hard Rock Album, beating out IME's childhood idols Rush for the award. This cemented a long relationship between the two bands, which started with IME opening for Rush the night after the Junos. By the end of the album's run, Dig was a Gold record in Canada.


Despite the bands success in their homeland of Canada and moderate success in the US, IME never broke quite as big as other acts of the time. Which is a shame as they were a much better band than many of their contemporaries who went on to be more successful.


You can watch the music videos for Rain Will Fall, Not Quite Sonic, Levitate, and So Gently We Govia the YouTube links below:






 

Sugartooth - Self-titled (1994)


Timothy Michael Gruse (guitar), Josh Blum (bass), Dave Fortman (guitar) and Joey Castillo (drums) formed the group after meeting each other in the Southern California band circuit while playing in separate groups. After the departure of their original singer, Marc Hutner joined the band as the singer. But it wasn't until Dave Fortman left Sugartooth to join Ugly Kid Joe that Marc was able to play guitar in addition to singing.


They immediately gained a lot of attention from labels once their demo was sent around. After a huge bidding war, the band signed with Capitol Records. They then recorded the record at Pachyderm Studios Studio in Cannon Falls, Minnesota. Those recordings were soon scrapped and re-recorded in Los Angeles.


For some reason, Capitol didn't want to release the album, and dropped the band, but also gave them the full masters to shop for another record deal. The explosive success of Alternative/Grunge music and the growing appearance of bands like Candlebox prompted record companies to sign a large number of new bands as they came along; Sugartooth as a result quickly signed a contract with David Geffen after the album was done.


Soon after, KNAC started to play the bands first single, Sold My Fortune a lot, and Geffen found themselves having to release the bands self-titled debut record earlier than planned because of the momentum KNAC was bringing to the table. The band made a promotional video for the song and it became a modest hit after appearing on an episode of Beavis and Butthead and the group regularly opened shows for Slayer, Supersuckers, Stone Temple Pilots, and Soundgarden.


Unfortunately, line-up changes along with a change in the bands musical direction for their sophomore album killed the bands momentum and almost overnight everyone forgot the band and their stellar first release.


You can watch the music video for Sold My Fortune via the YouTube link below:




 

Life, Sex & Death - The Silent Majority (1992)


Life Sex & Death were a Hard Rock band that formed in Chicago (and moved to L.A.) who achieved minor success in the early 1990s. The band employed a gimmick in that their singer was allegedly homeless. This particular facet of the band gained them extra publicity in the press, yet may have detracted slightly from focusing on the band's music (YouTuber’s often criticize them today for this gimmick).


They released one major label album in 1992 called The Silent Majority. The band released singles for the songs Tank, School’s For Fools and Telephone Call, with promotional videos for those tracks and the song Fuckin’ Shit Ass.


Two of their songs appeared on the Beavis & Butthead TV Show, Tank and School's For Fools. Although no other albums have been produced since, LSD still has a huge cult following, largely due to a sound that can be in retrospect considered quite ahead of its time.


Few can compete with the gimmick devised for Los Angeles' Life, Sex & Death, whose lead singer, simply known as Stanley, was dressed to look like a nattier Tom Waits in the band's press photos, Chris Stann, as his true name was later revealed to be, made for quite a contrast against his production-line Glam Metal bandmates, guitarist Alex Kane, bassist Bill E. Gar, and drummer Brian Michael Horak. But Stanley's growling, resonant vocals were extraordinary (in a pre-grunge sort of way), his lyrics were far more intelligent and thought-provoking than those of most L.A. bands, and the even-steven blend of Hard Rock and Metal on the group's 1992 eponymous album was in fact quite competent, despite its overall predictable aesthetics.


In light of Life, Sex & Death's commercial failure and quick disintegration just a few years after forming, it's actually quite possible that the entire homeless person ruse only did more damage to the band's career prospects in the end.


You can watch the music videos for Tank, School’s For Fools, Telephone Call, and Fuckin’ Shit Assvia the YouTube links below:



School’s For Fools: https://youtu.be/hqWzlRHKE_I



Fuckin’ Shit Ass: https://youtu.be/h-1DA9y12UE



 

Nudeswirl - Self-titled (1993)


Nudeswirl was formed in 1989 by Shane M. Green, Chris Wargo, and drummer Mike Toro in New Brunswick, New Jersey. The band released an independent full-length LP titled Nudeswirl in 1989. In 1992, they signed to Megaforce Records and released their second self-titled album the following year. They toured with White Zombie, Danzig, Flotsam and Jetsam, Mindfunk, and performed on the 1992 Lollapalooza side stage. Videos for F Sharp and Buffalo appeared on MTV's Headbangers Ball, 120 Minutes and Beavis and Butt-Head.


The band was known for dark, earthy atmospherics combining guitar feedback, attacks of wah-wah, tribal/teutonic rhythms, rolling basslines, and wavering, lyrically obscured vocals. Combining musical styles from Rock to Metal, from Alternative to Psychedelic, all the while infusing feedback throughout.


Nudeswirl disbanded in 1995 after their only major label release. Considered a cult band almost 20 years later, other bands such as Tool and Radiohead cite Nudeswirl amongst their influences and they have been hailed by Perry Farrell, John Frusciante, and the Edge.


Nudeswirl's CD has been out of print, which relegates them further into the depths of cult obscurity. Guitarist Dizzy Cortright went on to play with The Mad Daddies. Vocalist/guitarist Shane M. Green went on to play with Slaprocketand Lord Sterling. Bassist Chris Wargo formed his band Love Gas and opened Gas Works recording studio.


The last known performance by the band was a reunion show in the mid-2000s at The Court Tavern in New Brunswick, New Jersey. A video exists of the band playing the Dynamo Open Air Festival in the Netherlands in front of 30,000 people and an MTV Europe interview exists as well.


You can watch the music videos for F Sharp and Buffalo via the YouTube links below:




 

Note:

If you would like to listen to the songs mentioned here, I created a playlist containing the singles from every album, with the exception of Mind Over Four (not available on Apple Music in the US). Thanks again and I hope you enjoy the music. — E.N. Wells



7 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All

Comments

Post: Blog2_Post
bottom of page