Live is in my top 5 bands of all time! I always had this weird sense that I was among a handful who liked them, even though I know how big they were. Maybe I wanted them all to myself!
I agree. They were huge yet somehow not spoken about in the “first tier” of 90s bands. They didn’t fit in to the standard sound, at least not the heavy stuff, so they did feel a bit obscure.
That's it. I think I imagined they weren't "taken seriously" (and maybe they weren't) and also that they had something less 'aggressive' or maybe that they were somehow just tempered in their sound in ways the big boys weren't. REM is my all time favorite group, and Live always seemed to be closer in poetics than to REM than, say, Soundgarden. Does that make any sense?
It makes a lot of sense to me. They did have more of the R.E.M. vibe than anything coming out of Seattle for sure. Back then it was alternative and grunge happening at the same time and sometimes bands crossed over to both based on how the music media would portray them.
I found this after I got into "Throwing Copper," and immediately loved it. "Pain Lies On The Riverside" is one of my top two or three tracks from the band, and the album as a whole is solid.
It’s a great song! I used to watch so much late night MTV that I was lucky enough to catch the early videos and then went out and bought Mental Jewelry on cassette. Complicated history but some great music.
Live is in my top 5 bands of all time! I always had this weird sense that I was among a handful who liked them, even though I know how big they were. Maybe I wanted them all to myself!
I agree. They were huge yet somehow not spoken about in the “first tier” of 90s bands. They didn’t fit in to the standard sound, at least not the heavy stuff, so they did feel a bit obscure.
That's it. I think I imagined they weren't "taken seriously" (and maybe they weren't) and also that they had something less 'aggressive' or maybe that they were somehow just tempered in their sound in ways the big boys weren't. REM is my all time favorite group, and Live always seemed to be closer in poetics than to REM than, say, Soundgarden. Does that make any sense?
It makes a lot of sense to me. They did have more of the R.E.M. vibe than anything coming out of Seattle for sure. Back then it was alternative and grunge happening at the same time and sometimes bands crossed over to both based on how the music media would portray them.
I liked what you said about REM in the piece. Agree.
I found this after I got into "Throwing Copper," and immediately loved it. "Pain Lies On The Riverside" is one of my top two or three tracks from the band, and the album as a whole is solid.
It’s a great song! I used to watch so much late night MTV that I was lucky enough to catch the early videos and then went out and bought Mental Jewelry on cassette. Complicated history but some great music.