The following is a Designated Cheerleader piece by @KindaLikeShaft for the Best Album of 1991 tournament. I hope you enjoy it, and I hope you follow the link to vote in the tournament. Thanks!
What other band:
Wrote their best songs in braces (I never saw them smile, so, maybe...)
Recorded a genre defining album before their first kisses (the genre defining part is true- Math rock. I would bet dollars to donuts that the kissing part is true too)
Got driven to perform at punk shows by their parents (Definitely true)
Got their cover photo taken by one of the Palace Bros (Absolutely true)
Got roundly ignored by music press (Most definitely true)
Met Roland from Big Black (C'mon now... everyone knows Roland)
Got awarded the Presidential Medal of Fuzz Rock (this happens if I get elected in 2024 - it's my entire platform)
Inspired the best Louisville band of all time, Rodan, to record the best record of all time, Rusty (Ok, they both came from Louisville and played Feedback Hardcore, so this seems reasonable)
Were recorded by Steve Albini (a lessor known member of Roland's band)
Have been described as "King Crimson gone Emo" (this is a cool fact)
Based their most famous song on The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, and this same song was called their "Stairway to Heaven" (by someone who obviously hadn't heard the song in question)
Was name dropped on a What I'm Listening To list by PJ Harvey (FUCKING PJ HARVEY!!!)
Have been called idiosyncratic, complex, dissonant, loud, soft, abrupt, harmonic, narrative, shouty, sad-sack, pretentious, chilling, irregular, hypnotic, vicious and fractured (Someone really unpacked their adjectives)
Were engineered by Brian Paulson, a Chapel Hill native (the town I lived in for 20 years - Cheers to Brian)
Ok, so I understand that only one band is going to fit that set of characteristics.
I also understand setting those characteristics is like when I tell people I just set a world record for biking to a specific stop sign on a Tuesday in June on a 78 degree day by a guy with a 7 letter first name who doesn't like his middle name and was born in NJ.
But, let me assure you, my cycling record will stand the test of time. 30 years later and my record still stands.
Same with Spiderland. 30 years old this March 27th. Mere days before it kicks off its journey in this tournament. And no record will ever inadvertently formulate, and subsequently define, an entire genre of music with songs written by teenagers. Not in 30 years...not in 31... not in 32... not in 33...
