Week of 4/27/2008

For My Friends

Let's start by checking emails...

RE: Comic

That was fucking hilarious! I came to the site after the comics had died out, so I'd really like to see these come back.
-rwiggum

***

Man, that is freakin sweet.
-Lag

I love those comics as well since they bring back great memories from one of the best years of my life. Hopefully Hilden has the time to whip out more of those in the near future.

So Blind Melon. Let's talk a bit about them, shall we? Right around the time I graduated High School, Blind Melon was one of the biggest bands in the world due to the success of their catchy single "No Rain". I didn't know much about the band beyond the single, but I was dating a girl whose uncle worked at a record shop and would often give us stacks of CDs for free. During one of his visits he dropped off Blind Melon's self-titled album, so I gave it a spin and was immediately hooked. Most shocking to me was that the rest of the album was extremely different from No Rain. The music borrowed from many genres, including hippy, Southern, grunge, and metal, but brought them all together to make a sound that was distinctly their own. Their singer, Shannon Hoon, impressed me most with an unbelievable range and the ability to express complex emotions in very simple ways. But the rest of the band blew me away with a style of musicianship that was rare in those days (and some would argue is even rarer now).

So I became a fan. I caught all the information on them I could via magazines and MTV (which used to actually play videos from time to time). Their second album, Soup, came out and I snapped it up immediately and found it to be a complex album that was far ahead of its time. I listened to it over and over again during a long family trip to Arkansas, and every time I listened to it I heard something new. As a budding musician who was just getting going in a band of his own, it inspired the hell out of me and I learned a lot by listening to that album.

And then Shannon Hoon died.

It's a pretty tragic tale, actually. He had been struggling with drug addiction for a long time, going in and out of rehab and having run-ins with the law. One day I saw on MTV News that he and his girlfriend were going to have a baby, and he showed the ultrasound and joked that she looked just like him. When Soup was released, it included a song called "New Life", the lyrics pondering whether his new baby could help him turn his life around. Unfortunately, three months after she was born he was found dead on his tour bus in New Orleans.

About a year or so later, Blind Melon released one last album full of outtakes and unreleased tunes that wound up being their strongest album. The album was titled "Nico", named after Shannon's baby daughter and contained some of the best music of the 90s. Shortly thereafter, the group disbanded and went their separate ways.

A few months back, I went on a Blind Melon binge, listening and watching everything I could find. I picked up their DVD Letters from a Porcupine and marveled at Hoon's performances. The guy was fucking captivating and note perfect on every damn song and the band was spot on as well. It was a fucking shame that they were snuffed out in the prime of their career. So out of curiosity, I did a little research to see what the band members were up to and was stunned to see that they had found a new singer and were just about to release a new album!



Since then, that album has been released and I've gotta say...it's pretty fucking good. And while they still miss the genius of Shannon Hoon, new singer Travis Warren does an admirable job of filling his shoes. I'm not completely sold on his lyrical ability (see "Wishing Well" for an example), but he definitely has the chops. You can hear some of the new tunes at their MySpace Site, and I recommend "Sometimes" as it's my favorite tune of the bunch.

It's good to see these guys get a second chance at making some great music. I always wondered what would have happened if Hoon hadn't died, as I'm convinced he would have gone on to become one of the great rock legends of all time. And while we'll never find out what could have been, it's great that such an excellent band is back out on the scene again. Lord knows we need a few more.

Video dump!

First up is a promo video for their new album.



Next is a video of them in '94 on Letterman, the day Kurt Cobain died.



Next up is a performance of Tones of Home towards the end of Shannon's life.



And finally is them at Woodstock playing Soup. One of Shannon's best performances.



John