Everyone Asked About You- Everyone Asked About You (1997)

Everyone Asked About You is a short lived band from Little Rock, Arkansas that has made a big impact to those who have had a chance to hear them. You can tell this by the love they still get over 20 years later, from Japanese groups covering their music to small time YouTubers giving heartfelt retrospectives. Once you listen to self-titled EP you can see why there's the small, but fierce, following. 

This EP covers the the emotional arc of what it's like to fall in and out of love as a young adolescent perfectly- from aching to be with that special person through your whole being, to dramatically professing your love, and finally the devastating break that can feel like an eternity to get through. All of this is captured through 4 songs, which seems to be fitting of how short young love can last. What makes this EP so impactful is the genuine passion that come through these songs in Hannah's beautiful soring voice and Chris's gruff backing vocals. This along with the DIY feeling sounds of the production really brings it home. You can tell these were a group of young friends that were writing from personal experiences at the time, and it's captured wondrously. 

If you would like to remember that adolescent love again, through the highs and lows, then I implore you to give Everyone Asked About You a listen. If you're lucky, you might even be able to catch a reunion show! 

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Highlighted song and lyrics:

It's Days Like This...  "The summer, it always gets me right here/ It makes me want to say I love you"

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Similar bands to check out:

Rainer Maria, Football, Etc, The Promise Ring, The Rentals

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Reviews and links to check out:

Washed Up Emo Podcast- Interview with Chris Sheppard

Rateyourmusic.com- Reviews

Sophiesfloorboard.blogspot.com- Band overview

Reunion Show at Little Rock

Hole-Live Through This (1994)

Why I Like it:

The sentiment of the anti-hero seems to be a theme amongst the top artists within the last year. Just look at Taylor Swift's song "Anti-hero" or The Weekend's whole Dawn FM album as examples. As these pop stars look inwardly at themselves and the life of stardom, there's a point where they can be seen as the "bad guy" among the media and fans. It's a fun arc to explore and cover, when done right. A great quote from Batman sums this up nicely: "You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain". A very simplified way to look at the real lives of stars, who are just people like the rest of us and aren't prefect. This theme got me thinking of big stars who are seen as "villains", from over the years, and Courtney Love came to mind.  

Even to this day she's been surrounded by controversy and has active haters, that date back to her days being married to Kurt Cobain. It's a fascinating rabbit hole to dive into and these ideas of being a antagonist bleeds into the music that she created at the time with the band Hole. The album Live Through This will always be haunted by the controversy of Kurt's suicide and Courtney's partnership with him, as this album was released just days after his unfortunate passing. In fact, Kurt and Courtney were working on their respective albums (Nevermind for Nirvana and Live Through This for Hole) at the same time. I personally think it's really awesome that they are were likely bouncing ideas off each other when creating their art. Pushing each other to achieve better work. 

What I love most about Live Through This is Courtney's honest and no thrills approach to writing about her past traumas and the struggles of being a middle aged woman in the spotlight. Everything from motherhood, assault, and drug usage is covered with angry aggressive vocals and equally hard hitting instruments. This unhinged passion comes through in the album and can be compared with any of the other great grunge albums of the day, including Nevermind. 

Unfortunately Courtney will likely continue to be an antagonist figure, which could be self inflicted at times, while Kurt is revered as the protagonist of grunge (which is deserved on his end but it sucks the band Hole is not nearly talked about as much for this time period). One good thing is that I have seen people review Hole's work more optimistically, then it has been in the past, and I hope this small time blog helps propel that positive message :) 

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Highlighted song and lyrics:

Miss World -"I'm miss world, watch me break and watch me burn"

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Similar bands to check out:

Veruca Salt, L7, PJ Harvey, Bikini Kill

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Reviews and links to check out:

The Radio Ga Ga Podcast- Retrospective of Live Through This

Trash Theory YouTube Channel- The Traumas and Rock Stars That Inspired Courtney Love on LIVE THROUGH THIS

Pitchfork.com- Review

Live at Metro Chicago 1994