Overlooked Albums from the 90's - #11

God Fodder by Ned's Atomic Dustbin

Here's an overlooked band for you. Because of their hit song "Grey Cell Green", most people probably see Ned's Atomic Dustbin as a one-hit wonder. A Flock of Seagulls of the 90's or something. I'm here to tell you that's just not the case.

Back when I used to wear silly outifts alot (serious, like these red denim shorts, Morrissey t-shirts, and Doc Martens) and thrash around at Lollapalooza shows I used to watch (and videotape) 120 minutes every sunday night to get my fix of current and good music. When I first caught the video for "Grey Cell Green" (sorry, can't find it anywhere) on MTV I was hooked. My band mates and I were playing the song a week later (my late 80's era Peavey amp really helped mimic the guitar sound Ned's has going on). Then I bought the album and, funny thing, every song was a good song! I must've listened to this album hundreds of times driving to and fro back then...

Allmusic says:
"God Fodder, their first major release, is arguably their best. Featuring college radio hits like "Kill Your Television" and "Grey Cell Green," it's a consistently satisfying blend of frenzied, melodic rock, with the occasional touch of quirkiness; the band's use of two basses (one playing "normal" basslines, the other scratching out harmonic riffs) keeps their sound light and hooky enough to put quite a distance between their oeuvre and that of the average grebo or punk band."

Now, granted, their sound is VERY 90's sounding. Not that that's a bad thing, but I'd love for someone to remaster the orignal recordings here and give the whole album a little more low end punch. That aside, what we've got here is a very fine collection of pop rock songs. Back in the staleness of the early 90's this record was a breath of fresh air...in fact I'd go so far as to say that that is EXACTLY what they sound like - 'a breath of fresh air'! Huh? I'm serious. And their music is catchy pop/punk rock, who doesn't like that? Plus, as a super bonus, one of the songs ("Selfish" - listen below) on this album opens with a quote from Die Hard. Yes, I was sold immediately back in 1991. Check out three of my favorite songs on this album below and see what I mean.

Listen:
"Kill Your Television"
"Selfish"
"Until You Find Out"


Previous Overlooked Albums from the 90's:
#1 - Saturnalia by The Wedding Present
#2 - The Inevitable by Squirrel Nut Zippers
#3 - This is Our Music by Galaxie 500
#4 - Dusk by The The
#5 - Fantasma by Cornelius
#6 - New Wave by The Auteurs
#7 - I, Jonathan by Jonathan Richman
#8 - Futureworld by Trans Am
#9 - Harmacy by Sebadoh
#10 - Cure For Pain by Morphine

if you'd like...
Pitchfork's top albums of the 90's
1st version of their list

Also, it appears another blog is onto this "Overlooked of the 90's" idea:
Top 30 'Other' Albums of the '90s