Artist: Blind Melon
Genre(s):
Alternative
Discography:
Live At The Palace
Year: 2006
Tracks: 12
Whereas most up and advent alternative bands of the early '90s borrowed from the leaders of the pack (Nirvana, Soundgarden, Nine Inch Nails, etc.), Blind Melon was an exception to the rule -- their roots lay in classical careen (Lynyrd Skynyrd, Grateful Dead, Led Zeppelin). And spell a bright career lay forrader of them, tragedy would ultimately goal the band abruptly. The group came in concert in 1989 in Los Angeles, although all their respective members had migrated there from early U.S. locales (singer Shannon Hoon from Indiana; guitarist Christopher Thorn from Pennsylvania; and guitarist Rogers Stevens, bassist Brad Smith, and drummer Glen Graham all hailed from Mississippi). The complete opposite of all the glossed up glam metal that was permeating the Sunset Strip at the time, the fivesome secondhand a refreshing back-to-basics approach, both musically and visually (giving off a big retro vibration early on). The dance orchestra considered several names -- Brown Cow, Mud Bird, Naked Pilgrims, and Head Train -- before agreeing on Blind Melon, a phrase that Smith's father would use to depict a twosome of flower child neighbors from bet on home in Mississippi.
With their batting order and name solidified, Capitol Records became interested only on the metier of a four-song demo, titled The Goodfoot Workshop. Although the striation only had a limited repertoire of songs at the clip, they managed to convert Capitol that they had a sound backlog of compositions, and were signed in 1991. The striation set prohibited shortly thenceforth to influence on an EP, produced by longtime Neil Young producer David Briggs and coroneted The Sippin' Time Sessions. But when the end results came out surprisingly slick and doctored, the project was shelved. Hoon, in the lag, became re-acquainted with an older quaker of his sister's from support dwelling house in Indiana, Guns N' Roses' frontman Axl Rose, wHO invited Hoon to sing musical accompaniment on several tracks for Guns N' Roses' Use Your Illusion set. Hoon lententide his vocal talents to several tracks, the best-known existence the ballad "Don't Cry," even appearing along with G N' R in the song's epic telecasting. Doubled with a high profile appearance on MTV's long hundred Minutes Tour in the springtime of 1992 (along with Live, Big Audio Dynamite, and Public Image Limited), a buzz began to emerge regarding Blind Melon. The only job was, they still didn't have an record album in the racks.
The band had gone endorse into the studio sooner in the class with Temple of the Dog/Pearl Jam producer Rick Parashar, and although the sessions were completed by springtime, their self-titled debut didn't see the unaccented of clarence Day until September 1992, by which meter their springtime industry seethe had long since dissipated. For the residue of the year and the early piece of 1993, the quintette toured U.S. clubs nonstop (as well as landing bowl opening slots for their pals Guns N' Roses). Although several videos/singles came and went without lots MTV/radio ostentation, the Samuel Bayer-directed magazine for their offbeat ditty "No Rain" (in which Blind Melon's record album wrap up that included an old ikon of Graham's sis dressed-up in a mishandle bee-like outfit, came to life) became a smash and catapulted the undivided and the record album to the circus tent of the charts (Blind Melon would eventually go pt quaternity times over).
Blind Melon spent the remainder of 1993 on the route curtain raising for Neil Young and Lenny Kravitz, before embarking on their have headlining circuit of theaters in 1994 (during which clip they were nominative for a mate of Grammy awards, for Best New Artist and Best Rock Performance). But it was during this meter that do drugs use spiraled out of control for Hoon, and the striation was forced to pull the hoopla on the rest of the enlistment as Hoon sought treatment. Blind Melon managed to play a few more than shows later in the yr -- handing in a memorable appearance at Woodstock '94, and opening up for the Rolling Stones on select dates in September. Recording sessions began in the light of 1994 for their soph exploit in New Orleans, with famous producer Andy Wallace behind the boards.
The roger Sessions were productive merely not without some turbulence -- Hoon was still indulging in substances, leading to an get for drunkenly combat with an off-duty police officer (Hoon would later admit that he had no memory of most of the recording roger Sessions). Once the album was completed in the spring of 1995, Hoon checked himself into some other rehab readiness at the insistence of his bandmates, which pushed the release date of the album, titled Soup, to former summer. A month ahead the album appeared in August, Hoon's girlfriend gave birth to the couple's first child, which Hoon aforesaid in interviews had given him a new lease on life and a understanding to straighten out one time and for all. The dark and thought-provoking Soup was a true adamant in the rough, but when it was eventually released, the album was viciously bashed by quicksilver critics everyplace, which in turn light-emitting diode to a coolheaded receipt by the record-buying populace (peaking at number 28 on the Billboard album charts).
Interested just anxious to get under one's skin game on enlistment, the band make the road in one case again. Drug counselors at the installation that Hoon had been admitted to warned the band's management that Hoon wasn't ready for the temptations of the road simply even. But Hoon convinced everyone that he was and a do drugs counselor/caretaker was chartered to play along him. After a month and a half of dates, the counsellor was sent wadding and Hoon returned back to his serious ways. Just a few years afterward, on October 21, Hoon was found dead on Blind Melon's spell bus from an apparent drug o.d., at the historic period of 28.
Blind Melon took an extended break to try and blame up the pieces and decide what they would do next. During the meantime, the bandmembers finished cancelled some rough tracks Hoon had completed his vocal parts for, resulting in the release of Nico in November of 1996 (the album was named after Hoon's baby girl, with a component part of the take being donated to Musicians Assistants Program (Map), an organisation that helps artists recover from drug and alcohol addiction). In conjunction with the album's liberation came the home video Letters From a Porcupine, which chronicled Blind Melon's history via interviews and live performances (the video was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1998 for Best Long Form Music Video).
Blind Melon decided to stock on under a different call and with a new singer -- placing ads in music written document and auditioning various prospective frontmen. But it didn't sink in, and after an attempt at having Smith forked as the lead signatory in addition to his bass acting duties, the band at last decided to go their part slipway. Stevens formed the New York-based circle Extra Virgin with singer Rene Lopez (unmatchable of the vocalists wHO had lately tested out for Blind Melon), wHO issued the album Twelve Stories High in 1999, piece Smith and Thorn formed Unified Theory with singer Chris Shinn -- signing with Universal and issue a self-titled liberation in 2000. In addition, Thorn has produced other artists (Amy Correia, Zen Mafia, Gus, Jonny Kaplan) and played guitar on Live's 1999 button The Distance to Here. 2001 saw the liberation of Smith's solo debut (under the alias Abandon Jalopy), coroneted Mercy, an album he began writing and recording shortly after Hoon's death (respective tracks ar about his late bandmate). Later the like class, Blind Melon was featured on an sequence of VH1's democratic Behindhand the Music series, and Letters From a Porcupine was reissued as a DVD. The Classic Masters retrospective appeared in 2002, only 2005's Best of Blind Melon was more in-depth, oblation antecedently unreleased live material, songs culled from soundtracks, and a bonus DVD of music videos and more live material.
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