On this day in 1966, indie-rock mainstay Lou Barlow was born in
Northampton, Mass. Bassist Barlow formed guitar-heavy
underground rock band Dinosaur Jr with guitarist J Mascis in 1983.
The band released their debut album, Dinosaur, in
1985 and
soon developed a following with their mind-blowingly loud concerts.
Their 1987 album, You're Living All Over Me, became an indie
sensation; the 1988 single "Freak Scene" was adopted as an anthem
of sorts by the post-punk underground music movement. After
Dinosaur Jr released Bug in 1988, tensions between Barlow and
Mascis reached a fevered pitch and Mascis booted Barlow from the
band, citing the latter's "excessive social ineptitude."
Following the break with Mascis, Barlow began recording with
Sebadoh, which played music ranging from melodic R.E.M.-like
pop/rock to experimental noise. The band featured
drummer/songwriter Eric Gaffney, with whom Barlow had been
collaborating since 1987. After adding bassist/songwriter Jason
Loewenstein in the early '90s, Sebadoh became popular among
indie-rock fans, though they were also known for the inconsistent
quality of their output. Released in 1991, Sebadoh III featured
some of Loewenstein's songwriting and sounded more polished than
earlier albums from the band.
But Gaffney soon became upset with the media's attention to Barlow,
who was also issuing solo albums under the name Sentridoh.
Following Gaffney's 1994 departure from Sebadoh, the band (which
now included drummer Bob Fay) began to make more mainstream
music, in the form of 1994's Bakesale (including moody tracks
such as "Together or Alone" and "Not a Friend") and 1996's
Harmacy. The band's cult following grew to a great extent
because of the accessibility of the latter record, which made the
Billboard 200 albums chart.
During the same period, Barlow began a side project, the Folk
Implosion, with John Davis, which gained attention in pop circles. The
Folk Implosion released three records in 1994, including The
Electric Idiot EP, and in 1995 they contributed almost the entire
soundtrack to the controversial movie "Kids." From this work came a
top 30 pop hit, "Natural One." In 1997, the Folk Implosion released
the single "Pole Position," from Dare To Be Surprised, an album
with a pop/dance feel similar to the "Kids" soundtrack, but which did
not expand Barlow or the band's audience beyond their cult.
Nevertheless, Barlow's multifaceted work in the independent music
world has inspired many rockers.
Norman Blake, leader of Teenage Fanclub, commented on Dare To
Be Surprised: "I like the Folk Implosion LP a lot ... I think Lou
Barlow is brilliant, y'know, he's a great songwriter -- people like him
influence me."
Other birthdays: Terry "Geezer" Butler (Black Sabbath), 49; and Ed
Kowalczyk (Live), 27.
|
