Another year, another Record Store Day (This year being the fifteenth), and to one extent or another I've probably attended a good twelve or thirteen of these increasingly pricey and populated events. As was the case in previous years, I've decided to showcase an album/single released on a prior RSD. I don't think I encountered The Violets prior to this collection that was anthologized for 500 lucky purchasers in 2020. As it's title capably implies the era this Athens quartet occupied falls right within the realm this site so often articulates. The following blurb wasn't penned by myself but capably addresses the gist of the band's proverbial fifteen minutes of fame:
The Violets were a punk/indie band from Athens, GA, mainly active from 1988-1992. The band was best known for their song 'I Hate The Grateful Dead,” which briefly charted on the College CMJ charts in 1991. That original 7" record is a big collectors item these days and the song has remained quite popular, even among Grateful Dead purists, who view the song as a humorous poke at the obsessive fan culture that still surrounds the Dead. Back in the 1990s Grateful Dead -based merchandise shops were even known to carry the record.
...except the band in question had a lot more going for them than a perceived (and I suppose justifiably so) novelty song. There's certainly a discernible undercurrent of humor to some of the ten songs in this collection, yet the Violets were serious and ostensibly ambitious enough to bring a bevy of thoroughly structured and considered tunes to the table. Sonically I'm hearing plenty of early-ish Soul Asylum pizzazz amidst "Dew Drop Inn," "Corrosion," and "Evolution." And one of the band's champions was none other then David Barbe (who eventually comprised 1/3 of Sugar), a fellow Georgian whose '80s outfit Mercyland coincidentally or not seemed to inform the Violets overarching bent. The record (my rip, BTW) contains both sides of the "Grateful Dead" 7", tracks from scarce demo tapes, and previously unreleased ditties, making a representative argument that the Violets legacy was more than a fleeting, inside joke. While most of what's here veers towards earnest, Minneapolis-informed punk-pop, the concluding "Forsyth" is a slow, bluesy lament about the reputation that said Georgia County earned for itself in the Jim Crow-south.
01. Dew Drop Inn
02. Corrosion
03. Big Wheel
04. Streetlight Sky
05. David Close
06. Evolution
07. Basement
08. I Hate the Grateful Dead
09. Motorman
10. Forsyth
8 comments:
Whoa, I have the "I Hate The Grateful Dead" 7''. Now I have to find it... It's got the Jack Ruby killing Lee Harvey Oswald pic, but Jerry Garcia's head is in Oswald's place!
I have not idea what that's supposed to mean...it's got the Jack Ruby killing Oswald pic but J. Garcia's head is in Oswald place. UNKNOWN maybe you can enlighten me?
I would like to add something to the defense of the Dead. For me, the GD were an exc. band from the summer 1967 to mid 69. Especially summer 67 to soring 68.
FANTASTIC PSYCHEDELIC! From 1970 i wass less and less interested in them and in 1972 it was finally over.
But you don't have to hate the band and The Violets too for that. For what ???
Find that pretty absurd.
The band has great merits in the FLOWER POWER movement.
Thank you for continuing to run this blog Mr. Willfully Obscure, I will tell you I enjoy the crazy music you post quite often even though I have no idea who these bands are. It's also very difficult to find blogs like yours that share rare obscure music. So nookas compadre
Unknown one word more to the GD.
I've been thinking about your personally.
I imagine you as a neanderthal or as a Trump voter and with the characterists.
They're poor motherfucker/living of the grid/fucking, praying and dying and that's
the only things they do.
There are so many crazy people out there in America.
@Josef Kloiber: Unknown means that the 7" Violets single he owns has a picture sleeve and that's the picture that's on it. Here:
https://www.discogs.com/release/2911329-The-Violets-I-Hate-The-Grateful-Dead
Indeed, there are lots of crazy people in America, and at least one in Vienna, Austria.
@Spavid: Thank you for another great share.
I would like to make a great contribution !
You can be sure that there are enough crazy ones here in Austria too, but i don't count myself among them, quite the opposite.
Thanks for posting this. Crooked Beat is a great record store in Alexandria VA (used to be in DC proper), with a very cool/nice owner. I was hoping to pick this up a few years ago, but alas, I now live in OZ and this didn't make it over the pond. I'd recommend checking out other Crooked Beat releases - maybe not for mass consumption, but right up the alley for listeners/readers of this blog.
As the drummer of the Violets, I say "thank you" for your interest, your review and your kind words. We have been making some fun covers for Crooked Beat and I hope to get that into your hands in too.
Cheers-
Jay Coyle
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