My three favorite periods of music associated with cities are the late '80s hair metal scene of L.A., the early '90s grunge scene of Seattle and the mid-90s power-pop/indie rock scene of Chicago. If you stick with Starfool long enough, you'll find me referencing bands from these 3 scenes on a pretty regular basis.Veruca Salt really opened up the eyes and ears of A&R folks towards the Chicago music scene and after they hit the radio big with "Seether" in 1994, a number of bands reaped the benefits. Bands like Fig Dish, Triple Fast Action, The Smoking Popes, Menthol and Local H were all of a sudden thrust into rotation on the blossoming "alt.rock" stations popping up around the country in response to success of Nirvana. Loud Lucy was another band from Chicago that scored a major label deal in the mid-90s, signing with Geffen and releasing Breathe in 1995. Loud Lucy scored a college radio hit with "Over Me," featuring backing vocals by lead singer Christian Lane's at-the-time girlfriend Louise Post of Veruca Salt. As Veruca Salt grew bigger and bigger, and Post moved on to new beau Dave Grohl, Loud Lucy struggled to get the attention of audiences.
They were given a huge boost when newcomer Alanis Morrisette tapped the band to open her first major headlining tour ('96-ish) and a relationship between Morrisette and Lane soon became hit the tabloids. Not sure what happened after that - Morrisette and Lane broke up and Loud Lucy was finished.
Christian Lane resurfaced in 2000, putting out a solo album called Down to This. Loud Lucy drummer Mark Doyle went on to join Chicago band The Cells and bassist Tommy Furar has toured as a member of Liz Phair's band.
These days Lane appears to have discovered his inner-Americana songwriter and has 4 songs posted on his MySpace page. Maybe it's just me, but I hear a lot of Bob Forrest (Thelonious Monster, The Bicycle Thief) in Lane's voice, even in his older stuff with Loud Lucy.
Here are some of my favorite Loud Lucy/Christian Lane songs.
Stop Draggin My Heart Around - Loud Lucy (from You Got Lucky - A Tribute to Tom Petty)
1000 to 5 - Loud Lucy (from Breathe)
Gotta Go - Christian Lane (from Down to This)
Show Mercy - Christian Lane (demo - 2005)
6 comments:
Hey, this is very cool. I like several bands connected with these folks, and didn't remember any songs from them, so I will enjoy listening. Thanks!
I saw these guys at, of all places, a fraternity party at the University of Chicago (an oxymoron of sorts), and they rocked the house. They were a band whose on-stage energy was just remarkable. Definitely worth a listen.
Hi i'm really into the 90's Chicago music scene. I know all of the bands above listed and i just checked out Loud Lucy and love them. Do you know of other chicago 90's bands i can check out? email me at logansrunner@msn.com
thanks
-Kevin
i found loud lucy's "breathe" album in a thrift store and i have loved them ever since. too bad they broke up.
I still have the Breathe promo cd my friend gave me who worked at rainbow records so many years ago. That album is so insanely good still to this day. Not Here is a song that hurts and inspires me at the same time.
Love Loud Lucy
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