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127-539: Gin Blossoms is an American alternative rock band formed in 1987 in Tempe, Arizona . They rose to prominence following the 1992 release of their first major label album, New Miserable Experience , and the first single released from that album, " Hey Jealousy ". "Hey Jealousy" became a Top 25 hit and went gold, and New Miserable Experience eventually went quadruple platinum; four other charting singles were released from
254-406: A wide release , that got pulled back to a two-week run on very few screens, due to the negative second test screening reviews from a Latino audience, after the positive reviews from a suburban white audience. Instead of 1,000-plus screens, they put it on 87. Instead of flooding malls in cities across the country, it showed in four. There was no premiere; no national advertising campaign. The film
381-467: A Duo or Group with Vocal . With chart success came opportunities to appear as musical guests on late-night television. Between 1992 and 1996, Gin Blossoms appeared on shows such as Late Show with David Letterman (many times between 1992 and 1996), The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (1993, 1994, 1996), The Jon Stewart Show (1993), Late Night with Conan O'Brien (1996), and as a featured musical act on Saturday Night Live (1996). One appearance on
508-422: A breakdown due to his ongoing battle with alcohol. Shortly after entering rehab, he was formally dismissed from the band. Phil Leavitt of Dada originally took Rhodes's place in the line up, and then Gary Smith (of The Pistoleros, another Tempe band) did. Scott Kusmirek took over drumming for the band from 2002 to 2004. In January 2005, it was announced that Rhodes, who had been sober for over two years, would rejoin
635-636: A classic film that only a handful of people really saw, but it definitely made an impact on that generation. It was really cool to have been a part of that". Most songs in the film and on the Soundtrack Album are "Provided to YouTube " by their copyright owners. On June 3, 2003 Warner Bros. released the Remix: Special Fan Edition DVD of Empire Records . The unrated version is 107 minutes long and includes four extra scenes and 17 minutes of additional footage. For
762-484: A confessional tone. Rites of Spring has been described as the first "emo" band. Former Minor Threat singer Ian MacKaye founded Dischord Records which became the center for the city's emo scene. Gothic rock developed out of late-1970s British post-punk . With a reputation as the "darkest and gloomiest form of underground rock", gothic rock uses a synthesizer-and-guitar based sound drawn from post-punk to construct "foreboding, sorrowful, often epic soundscapes", and
889-430: A couple of one-off shows in the interim. In Wilson's words, "We always said our breakup wasn't forever and right now we're all feeling like we want to be Gin Blossoms again. We make a noise together that we can't make otherwise. We respect and appreciate that we need each other to create that sound. This time we hope to avoid being swallowed by the chaos." In preparation for the band's official reunion show, Rhodes suffered
1016-523: A cynical response to an "authentic" rock movement. Bush , Candlebox and Collective Soul were labelled almost pejoratively as post-grunge which, according to Tim Grierson of About.com , is "suggesting that rather than being a musical movement in their own right, they were just a calculated, cynical response to a legitimate stylistic shift in rock music." Post-grunge morphed during the late 1990s and 2000s as newer bands such as Foo Fighters , Matchbox Twenty , Creed and Nickelback emerged, becoming among
1143-561: A distribution pact with the film's producers, Regency Enterprises . However, the soundtrack album was given to A&M Records in order to obtain the participation of A&M artists the Gin Blossoms , whose track " Til I Hear It from You " was issued as the lead single. Besides the Gin Blossoms, four other A&M acts had new tracks released on the soundtrack album: Ape Hangers, Drill , Innocence Mission, and Lustre . The album also introduced tracks by Better Than Ezra , Cracker ,
1270-545: A flurry of British bands emerged that wished to "get rid of grunge" and "declare war on America", taking the public and native music press by storm. Dubbed " Britpop " by the media, and represented by Pulp , Blur , Suede , and Oasis , this movement was the British equivalent of the grunge explosion, in that the artists propelled alternative rock to the top of the charts in their home country. Britpop bands were influenced by and displayed reverence for British guitar music of
1397-418: A half stars out of four, and referred to it as a "lost cause", but wrote that some of the actors might have a future in other, better films. LaPaglia, Cochrane, Zellweger, Tyler, Embry and Tunney all went on to varying levels of success in the years following Empire Records . Caroline Westbrook of Empire magazine, gave it 3 out of 5, saying "For all its faults, the good-natured, quirky humour that this for
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#17327796188231524-571: A headliner in 1998. In light of the festival's troubles that year, Spin said, "Lollapalooza is as comatose as alternative rock right now". Despite these changes in style however, alternative rock remained commercially viable into the start of the 21st century. During the latter half of the 1990s, grunge was supplanted by post-grunge . Many post-grunge bands lacked the underground roots of grunge and were largely influenced by what grunge had become, namely "a wildly popular form of inward-looking, serious-minded hard rock."; many post-grunge bands emulated
1651-706: A late night new wave show entitled "Rock and Roll Alternative". " College rock " was used in the United States to describe the music during the 1980s due to its links to the college radio circuit and the tastes of college students. In the United Kingdom, dozens of small do it yourself record labels emerged as a result of the punk subculture . According to the founder of one of these labels, Cherry Red , NME and Sounds magazines published charts based on small record stores called "Alternative Charts". The first national chart based on distribution called
1778-694: A late-night benefit party at the store to "Save the Empire". An impromptu concert on the roof by Gina and Berko, another employee, raises funds so Joe can hand the money raised to Mitchell for the lost amount. Mitchell then offers to sell the store "cheap" to Joe, not wanting to deal with Empire Records anymore. Corey finally finds A.J. on the roof fixing the Empire Records sign and confesses that she loves him, too. He decides to attend art school in Boston to be near her while she attends Harvard . They kiss, and
1905-420: A majority of groups that were signed to indie labels drew from a variety of rock and particularly 1960s rock influences. This represented a sharp break from the futuristic, hyper-rational post-punk years. "Alternative music is music that hasn't yet achieved a mainstream audience, Alternative isn't new wave any more, it's a disposition of mind. Alternative music is any kind of music that has the potential to reach
2032-652: A member of another Tempe band, Let Go . Gin Blossoms joined Everclear , Sugar Ray , Lit , and Marcy Playground on the Summerland Tour 2012, a 31-date nationwide tour that began on June 28 in Saratoga, California and ended on August 11 in Laughlin, Nevada . From July 24, 2012, through October 13, 2012, Doug Swartz filled in for Scott Hessel during the Summerland Tour and other performances through
2159-425: A movie", describing the film as "one teen-music effort that never finds a groove" before adding that "as far as chart action goes, it could use a bullet -- to put it out of its B.O. misery" TV Guide gave the film 2 stars out of 5, calling it a "lame comedy" that appeared to be little more than "an elaborate excuse to package and peddle a soundtrack CD." Roger Ebert gave the film a negative score of one and
2286-414: A musical consultant for Empire Records , while the film's line music supervisor Bob Knickman discovered Please by searching the internet for unsigned talent suitable for the film's soundtrack. Coyote Shivers, who played aspiring-musician-turned-store-clerk Berko in the film, became involved in the project by virtue of being the stepfather of Liv Tyler (Shivers being married to Tyler's mother, Bebe Buell , at
2413-469: A new wave of post-rock bands such as Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Sigur Rós emerged who further expanded the genre. In 1993, the Smashing Pumpkins' album Siamese Dream was a major commercial success. The strong influence of heavy metal and progressive rock on the album helped to legitimize alternative rock to mainstream radio programmers and close the gap between alternative rock and
2540-464: A number of genres, including Krautrock , progressive rock , and jazz . The genre subverts or rejects rock conventions, and often incorporates electronic music. While the name of the genre was coined by music journalist Simon Reynolds in 1994 referring to Hex by the London group Bark Psychosis , the style of the genre was solidified by the release of Millions Now Living Will Never Die (1996) by
2667-548: A photo of W.C. Fields in Kenneth Anger 's book Hollywood Babylon , which bore the caption "W.C. Fields with gin blossoms", referring to the actor's telangiectasia -spotted face and rhinophymic nose by the slang term for the skin condition known as rosacea . Gin Blossoms became well known around the band's hometown of Phoenix . The band's frequent touring resulted in an increase in popularity. They independently recorded their first full-length album, Dusted , which
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#17327796188232794-461: A replica of the store set which was located at Carolco (now Screen Gems ) studios, and backed with a large picture of the rest of the store. Exteriors in the Wilmington, North Carolina area also include Riverfront Park; Caffe Phoenix at 9 South Front Street; Cape Fear Memorial Bridge ; Wrightsville Beach . Interiors for the record store, as a vast, two-story building was constructed in
2921-403: A silly and predictable teen dramedy." On Metacritic the film has a score of 47 out of 100 based on reviews from 7 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Variety wrote "Nice look, great sound and indefinable youth luster will make Records play OK on vid , especially at parties where frenetic aimlessness is not a negative", calling Empire Records a "soundtrack in search of
3048-665: A solo album, and kept busy writing and producing. Johnson joined another Tempe-based band, Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers . Wilson ventured into producing as well, at his Mayberry Studios in Tempe, Arizona (now called Uranus Studios). The Gas Giants announced an "indefinite hiatus" in June 2001. On December 4, 2001, it was announced that Scott was leaving Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers to rejoin Gin Blossoms. The band regrouped and began playing together again in earnest in 2002, having done
3175-667: A story like Car Wash , which took place over one day, at a record store. Heikkinen based the film on her time working in the video department at Tower Records (in high school ) store #166 ( Christown Mall ) in Phoenix, Arizona, later working at the Tower Video on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood, California . Tower Records went into bankruptcy , and all Tower stores in the U.S. were closed by 2006. Just
3302-665: A warehouse, with views out windows constructed in forced perspective , not CGI . Allan Moyle's then-wife Dianna Miranda is Lilly, on rollerskates (scenes deleted). Interiors for the Atlantic City casino were constructed out of the Coconut Grove room at the Ambassador Hotel on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles (Regency President Michael Nathanson’s then-girlfriend (Kimber Sissons, as Kimber Monroe )
3429-488: A wariness of its "macho" aesthetic. While indie rock artists share the punk rock distrust of commercialism, the genre does not entirely define itself against that, as "the general assumption is that it's virtually impossible to make indie rock's varying musical approaches compatible with mainstream tastes in the first place". Labels such as Matador Records , Merge Records , and Dischord , and indie rockers like Pavement , Superchunk , Fugazi , and Sleater-Kinney dominated
3556-568: A wider audience. It also has real strength, real quality, real excitement, and it has to be socially significant, as opposed to Whitney Houston, which is pablum." —Mark Josephson, Executive Director of the New Music Seminar speaking in 1988 Throughout the 1980s, alternative rock remained mainly an underground phenomenon. While on occasion a song would become a commercial hit, or albums would receive critical praise in mainstream publications like Rolling Stone , alternative rock in
3683-467: Is a 1995 American coming-of-age comedy-drama film directed by Allan Moyle , written by Carol Heikkinen, and starring an ensemble cast including Anthony LaPaglia , Maxwell Caulfield , Debi Mazar , Rory Cochrane , Johnny Whitworth , Robin Tunney , Renée Zellweger , and Liv Tyler . The plot follows a group of record store employees over the course of one exceptional day. The employees try to stop
3810-492: Is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s with the likes of the grunge subgenre in the United States, and the Britpop and shoegaze subgenres in the United Kingdom and Ireland. During this period, many record labels were looking for "alternatives", as many corporate rock , hard rock , and glam metal acts from
3937-731: Is holding an autograph session at the store for fans of his latest album Back with More . The unenthused staff mock both Manning and the event, and ultimately many of the fans showing up to meet him are either older women or gay men. Though detained by Joe in his office, Lucas nonetheless apprehends a belligerent young shoplifter who identifies himself only as " Warren Beatty ". He is taken away by police but vows to return seeking revenge. Encouraged by Gina, Corey indulges her schoolgirl crush on Manning by attempting to seduce him, but winds up humiliated and dejected; A.J. then chooses this inopportune time to confess his love to Corey, which she rejects. After Gina and Corey argue, Gina has sex with Manning. When
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4064-510: Is often difficult because of two conflicting applications of the word. Alternative can describe music that challenges the status quo and that is "fiercely iconoclastic, anticommercial, and antimainstream", and the term is also used in the music industry to denote "the choices available to consumers via record stores, radio, cable television, and the Internet." However alternative music has paradoxically become just as commercial and marketable as
4191-478: Is the woman who tells Lucas, “You’re sex”). Exteriors for Corey Mason's House were filmed at Forest Hills Drive. The Rex Manning music video "Say No More, Mon Amour" was shot prior to principal photography, and was shot on Wrightsville Beach in North Carolina in one day. It was intended to be only a 17-second dance move piece for the main actors to make fun of in the film. Jordan Dawes, the director of
4318-660: The Billboard 200 album chart. Soundgarden 's album Badmotorfinger , Alice in Chains ' Dirt and Stone Temple Pilots ' Core along with the Temple of the Dog album collaboration featuring members of Pearl Jam and Soundgarden, were also among the 100 top-selling albums of 1992. The popular breakthrough of these grunge bands prompted Rolling Stone to nickname Seattle "the new Liverpool ". Major record labels signed most of
4445-504: The Billboard charts. Pearl Jam also continued to perform well commercially with its second album, Vs. (1993), which topped the Billboard charts by selling a record 950,378 copies in its first week of release. In 1993, the Smashing Pumpkins released their major breakthrough album, Siamese Dream —which debuted at number 10 on the Billboard 200 and sold over 4 million copies by 1996, receiving multi-platinum certification by
4572-531: The Indie Chart was published in January 1980; it immediately succeeded in its aim to help these labels. At the time, the term indie was used literally to describe independently distributed records. By 1985, indie had come to mean a particular genre, or group of subgenres, rather than simply distribution status. The use of the term alternative to describe rock music originated around the mid-1980s; at
4699-546: The Late Show With David Letterman featured a joint performance with Gin Blossoms and the members of Kiss , performing the latter's " Christine Sixteen ". Gin Blossoms became a favorite of Late Show musical director Paul Shaffer , and their music was often featured as the show cut to and from commercials. The band was also a featured performer in the closing credits of the movie Wayne's World 2 (1993), performing "Idiot Summer" on-screen as part of
4826-631: The RIAA . In 1995, the band released their double album, Mellon Collie & the Infinite Sadness — which went on to sell 10 million copies in the US alone, certifying it as a Diamond record. With the decline of the Madchester scene and the unglamorousness of shoegazing, the tide of grunge from America dominated the British alternative scene and music press in the early 1990s. As a reaction,
4953-495: The hair metal that had dominated rock music at that time fell out of favor in the face of music that was authentic and culturally relevant. The breakthrough success of Nirvana led to the widespread popularization of alternative rock in the 1990s. It heralded a "new openness to alternative rock" among commercial radio stations, opening doors for heavier alternative bands in particular. In the wake of Nevermind , alternative rock "found itself dragged-kicking and screaming ... into
5080-561: The "grunging of America" to the mass-marketing of punk rock, disco , and hip hop in previous years. As a result of the genre's popularity, a backlash against grunge developed in Seattle. Nirvana's follow-up album In Utero (1993) was an intentionally abrasive album that Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic described as a "wild aggressive sound, a true alternative record." Nevertheless, upon its release in September 1993 In Utero topped
5207-553: The 1970s, which served as a progressive alternative to top 40 radio formats by featuring longer songs and giving DJs more freedom in song selection. According to one former DJ and promoter, "Somehow this term 'alternative' got rediscovered and heisted by college radio people during the 80s who applied it to new post-punk, indie, or underground-whatever music." At first the term referred to intentionally non-mainstream rock acts that were not influenced by "heavy metal ballads, rarefied new wave" and "high-energy dance anthems". Usage of
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5334-479: The 1980s was primarily featured on independent record labels, fanzines and college radio stations. Alternative bands built underground followings by touring constantly and by regularly releasing low-budget albums. In the United States, new bands would form in the wake of previous bands, which created an extensive underground circuit filled with different scenes in various parts of the country. College radio formed an essential part of breaking new alternative music. In
5461-553: The 1980s were beginning to grow stale throughout the music industry . The emergence of Generation X as a cultural force in the 1990s also contributed greatly to the rise of alternative rock. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from mainstream or commercial rock or pop. The term's original meaning was broader, referring to musicians influenced by the musical style or independent, DIY ethos of late-1970s punk rock . Traditionally, alternative rock varied in terms of its sound, social context, and regional roots. Throughout
5588-463: The 1980s, alternative bands generally played in small clubs, recorded for indie labels, and spread their popularity through word of mouth . As such, there is no set musical style for alternative rock as a whole, although in 1989 The New York Times asserted that the genre is "guitar music first of all, with guitars that blast out power chords, pick out chiming riffs, buzz with fuzztone and squeal in feedback." More often than in other rock styles since
5715-402: The 1980s, magazines and zines , college radio airplay , and word of mouth had increased the prominence and highlighted the diversity of alternative rock's distinct styles (and music scenes), such as noise pop , indie rock , grunge , and shoegaze . In September 1988, Billboard introduced "alternative" into their charting system to reflect the rise of the format across radio stations in
5842-752: The 2000s with multi-platinum acts such as Fall Out Boy , My Chemical Romance , Paramore and Panic! at the Disco . Bands such as the White Stripes and the Strokes found commercial success in the early 2000s, influencing an influx of new alternative rock bands that drew inspiration from garage rock , post-punk and new wave , establishing a revival of the genres. In the past, popular music tastes were largely dictated by music executives within large entertainment corporations. Record companies signed contracts with those entertainers who were thought to become
5969-410: The 2015 Blu-ray release from the film's new owner 20th Century Fox , only the theatrical cut has been included, with the extras ported over from the 2003 "Remix! Special Fan Edition" DVD. By 2020, Empire Records was available to stream on YouTube Movies and Google Play . "Rex Manning Day" on April 8, the date Rex appears at Empire Records in the film, isn’t mentioned in the film, it shows up on
6096-473: The American indie scene for most of the 1990s. One of the main indie rock movements of the 1990s was lo-fi . The movement, which focused on the recording and distribution of music on low-quality cassette tapes , initially emerged in the 1980s. By 1992, Pavement, Guided by Voices and Sebadoh became popular lo-fi cult acts in the United States, while subsequently artists like Beck and Liz Phair brought
6223-512: The British indie scene through the end of the decade, as various bands drew from singer Morrissey 's English-centered lyrical topics and guitarist Johnny Marr 's jangly guitar-playing style. The C86 cassette, a 1986 NME premium featuring Primal Scream , the Wedding Present and others, was a major influence on the development of indie pop and the British indie scene as a whole. Other forms of alternative rock developed in
6350-723: The British music press at the end of the decade along with the Madchester scene. Performing for the most part in the Haçienda , a nightclub in Manchester owned by New Order and Factory Records , Madchester bands such as Happy Mondays and the Stone Roses mixed acid house dance rhythms with melodic guitar pop. The Amerindie of the early '80s became known as alternative or alt-rock, ascendant from Nirvana until 1996 or so but currently very unfashionable, never mind that
6477-586: The Chicago group Tortoise . Post-rock was the dominant form of experimental rock music in the 1990s and bands from the genre signed to such labels as Thrill Jockey , Kranky , Drag City , and Too Pure . A related genre, math rock , peaked in the mid-1990s. In comparison to post-rock, math rock relies on more complex time signatures and intertwining phrases. By the end of the decade a backlash had emerged against post-rock due to its "dispassionate intellectuality" and its perceived increasing predictability, but
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#17327796188236604-533: The Cranberries , Evan Dando (whose cover of Big Star 's "The Ballad of El Goodo" featured Empire Records female lead Liv Tyler on background vocals), and Toad The Wet Sprocket , and by unsigned acts the Martinis , Please, and Coyote Shivers . The Martinis—featuring former Pixies members Joey Santiago and Dave Lovering—were recommended by Hits magazine president Karen Glauber who Leib brought in as
6731-881: The Lollapalooza festival became the most successful tour in North America in July and August 1991. For Dave Grohl of Nirvana who attended the festival at an open-air amphitheater in Southern California , "it felt like something was happening, that was the beginning of it all". The tour helped change the mentalities in the music industry: "by that fall, radio and MTV and music had changed. I really think that if it weren't for Perry [Farrell], if it weren't for Lollapalooza , you and I wouldn't be having this conversation right now". The release of Nirvana's single " Smells Like Teen Spirit " in September 1991 "marked
6858-625: The Replacements upended a number of underground scene conventions; Azerrad noted that "along with R.E.M., they were one of the few underground bands that mainstream people liked." By the late 1980s, the American alternative scene was dominated by styles ranging from quirky alternative pop ( They Might Be Giants and Camper Van Beethoven ), to noise rock ( Sonic Youth , Big Black , the Jesus Lizard ) and industrial rock ( Ministry , Nine Inch Nails). These sounds were in turn followed by
6985-805: The Salina Journal described Gin Blossoms as a "Tempe, Ariz.-based indie band [acclaimed] by critics and fans alike for its chiming guitars, introspective lyrics and catchy pop-rock melodies," adding that "Gin Blossoms has maintained its longevity by being mostly a road band." The group is known for the " Mill Avenue sound", or "southwestern sound", similar to other bands from Arizona such as The Sidewinders , The Refreshments , The Meat Puppets , and Dead Hot Workshop . Current members Former members Former touring musicians and substitutes Touring guests Session musicians Alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music , alt-rock or simply alternative )
7112-522: The Story) Morning Glory? (1995), went on to become the third best-selling album in the UK's history. Long synonymous with alternative rock as a whole in the U.S., indie rock became a distinct form following the popular breakthrough of Nirvana. Indie rock was formulated as a rejection of alternative rock's absorption into the mainstream by artists who could not or refused to cross over, and
7239-591: The Top 40 and spawned a number of jangle pop followers. One of the many jangle pop scenes of the early 1980s, Los Angeles' Paisley Underground revived the sounds of the 1960s, incorporating psychedelia, rich vocal harmonies and the guitar interplay of folk rock as well as punk and underground influences such as the Velvet Underground . American indie record labels SST Records , Twin/Tone Records , Touch and Go Records , and Dischord Records presided over
7366-463: The UK during the 1980s. the Jesus and Mary Chain 's sound combined the Velvet Underground's "melancholy noise" with Beach Boys pop melodies and Phil Spector 's " Wall of Sound " production, while New Order emerged from the demise of post-punk band Joy Division and experimented with disco and dance music . The Mary Chain, along with Dinosaur Jr. , C86 and the dream pop of Cocteau Twins , were
7493-577: The US by a more pop-oriented focus (marked by an equal emphasis on albums and singles, as well as greater openness to incorporating elements of dance and club culture) and a lyrical emphasis on specifically British concerns. As a result, few British alternative bands have achieved commercial success in the US. Since the 1980s, alternative rock has been played extensively on the radio in the UK, particularly by disc jockeys such as John Peel (who championed alternative music on BBC Radio 1 ), Richard Skinner , and Annie Nightingale . Artists with cult followings in
7620-626: The US received greater exposure through British national radio and the weekly music press, and many alternative bands had chart success there. Early American alternative bands such as the Dream Syndicate , the Bongos , 10,000 Maniacs , R.E.M. , the Feelies and Violent Femmes combined punk influences with folk music and mainstream music influences. R.E.M. was the most immediately successful; their debut album, Murmur (1983), entered
7747-577: The United States by stations like KROQ-FM in Los Angeles and WDRE-FM in New York, which were playing music from more underground , independent, and non-commercial rock artists. Initially, several alternative styles achieved minor mainstream notice and a few bands, such as R.E.M. and Jane's Addiction , were signed to major labels . Most alternative bands at the time, like the Smiths , one of
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#17327796188237874-481: The Velvet Underground , which influenced many alternative rock bands that would come after it. Eccentric and quirky figures of the 1960s, such as Syd Barrett have influence on alternative rock in general. The Dead Kennedys formed the independent record label Alternative Tentacles in 1979, releasing influential underground music such as the 1983 self-titled EP from the Butthole Surfers . By 1984,
8001-452: The Volume became attached. New Regency got into a bidding war with Warner Bros. over the script. Carol Heikkinen was offered $ 325,000 up-front and $ 200,000 if the film was made. Heikkinen was also to receive 1% of any soundtrack royalties and 5% of merchandise sales. Two days after Regency Enterprises executive Michael Nathanson gave approval to proceed with making Empire Records , he
8128-558: The advent of Boston 's Pixies and Los Angeles' Jane's Addiction. Around the same time, the grunge subgenre emerged in Seattle , Washington, initially referred to as "The Seattle Sound" until its rise to popularity in the early 1990s. Grunge featured a sludgy, murky guitar sound that syncretized heavy metal and punk rock. Promoted largely by Seattle indie label Sub Pop , grunge bands were noted for their thrift store fashion which favored flannel shirts and combat boots suited to
8255-475: The aesthetic to mainstream audiences. The period also saw alternative confessional female singer-songwriters. Besides the aforementioned Liz Phair, PJ Harvey fit into this sub group. In the mid-1990s, Sunny Day Real Estate defined the emo genre. Weezer 's album Pinkerton (1996) was also influential. Post-rock was established by Talk Talk 's Laughing Stock and Slint 's Spiderland albums, both released in 1991. Post-rock draws influence from
8382-847: The album. The band's follow-up album, Congratulations I'm Sorry (1996), went platinum and the single " As Long as It Matters " was nominated for a Grammy Award. Gin Blossoms broke up in 1997. Since reuniting in 2001, the band has released Major Lodge Victory in 2006, No Chocolate Cake in 2010, and Mixed Reality in 2018. During the band's early years, its members included lead guitarist and songwriter Doug Hopkins , bassist Bill Leen, Jesse Valenzuela (lead vocalist at first, later rhythm guitarist and backing vocals), rhythm guitarist Richard Taylor, Taylor's replacement Steven Severson, drummer Chris McCann, McCann's replacement Dan Henzerling, and Severson's replacement Robin Wilson (rhythm guitarist at first, later lead vocalist). The band's name comes from
8509-539: The alternative rock community" including Henry Rollins , Butthole Surfers , Ice-T , Nine Inch Nails , Siouxsie and the Banshees (as second headliners) and Jane's Addiction (as the headlining act). Covering for MTV the opening date of Lollapalooza in Phoenix in July 1991, Dave Kendall introduced the report saying the festival presented the "most diverse lineups of alternative rock". That summer, Farrell had coined
8636-437: The alternative/independent scene and dryly tore it apart." David Lowery , then frontman of Camper Van Beethoven, later recalled: "I remember first seeing that word applied to us... The nearest I could figure is that we seemed like a punk band, but we were playing pop music, so they made up this word alternative for those of us who do that." DJs and promoters during the 1980s claim the term originates from American FM radio of
8763-466: The band announced a tour to celebrate the 30th anniversary of New Miserable Experience . The tour was cut short in March 2022 due to an accident in which bassist Bill Leen broke his arm. Gin Blossoms has been described as an alternative rock , jangle pop , power pop , and post-grunge band. According to Rolling Stone , the band excels at "marrying world-weary lyrics with ebullient melodies." In 2017,
8890-613: The band released an EP, Up and Crumbling , instead. Gin Blossoms named their second album New Miserable Experience . In February 1992, while still working to complete it, founding member and lead guitarist/songwriter Hopkins drank heavily and grew increasingly depressed. With the other members hesitant to fire Hopkins, A&M forcefully removed him from the band and withheld $ 15,000 owed to Hopkins until he agreed to sign over half of his publishing royalties and relinquish his mechanical royalties. Hopkins reluctantly agreed to these demands because of his dire financial situation. Scott Johnson
9017-511: The band traveled to Iraq and played a series of shows for American troops stationed there. The band announced on its website on March 4, 2012, that Richardson had left the band to pursue other recording and performing projects. The band stated in its news release, "John is a great drummer and all of us support his passion for recording. We all wish him the very best and thank him for all his hard work and dedication." The band also announced that Scott Hessel would be its road drummer. Hessel had been
9144-472: The band's hits such as "Hey Jealousy" and "Follow You Down", as well as more recent singles such as " Learning the Hard Way " and "Long Time Gone", and a live cover version of Elton John 's " Rocket Man ". The band's fifth studio album, No Chocolate Cake , was released on September 28, 2010. The first single, "Miss Disarray" was released to radio stations on August 2, 2010. Over the 2010 Thanksgiving holiday
9271-405: The band. The re-entry of Rhodes was short-lived, however. Kusmirek returned to the band, taking Rhodes's place until September 30, 2008, when a press release issued by the band explained that he and the group had parted ways. John Richardson joined as the new drummer. The band's fourth album, Major Lodge Victory , was originally recorded at Wilson's Mayberry Studios in Tempe. However, the album
9398-463: The bathroom and shaves her head. Upon Lucas' arrival, Joe confronts him about the missing deposit and Lucas confirms the money was lost. Joe explains his anti- Music Town plan to the employees – he had saved enough money to become part-owner of the store to save it, but will now be $ 9,000 short as he must cover the missing money with Mitchell. Joe is distracted from the crisis due to a major store event: Rex Manning Day. The washed-up 1980s pop idol
9525-407: The death of Layne Staley and the subsequent disbanding of Alice in Chains in 2002, and the disbanding of both the Cranberries and Stone Temple Pilots in 2003. Britpop also began fading after Oasis ' third album, Be Here Now (1997), was met with lackluster reviews. A signifier of alternative rock's changes was the hiatus of the Lollapalooza festival after an unsuccessful attempt to find
9652-459: The decisions were business people dealing with music as a product, and those bands who were not making the expected sales figures were then excluded from this system. Before the term alternative rock came into common usage around 1990, the sorts of music to which it refers were known by a variety of terms. In 1979, Terry Tolkin used the term Alternative Music to describe the groups he was writing about. In 1979 Dallas radio station KZEW had
9779-453: The early 2000s, when indie rock became the most common term in the US to describe modern pop and rock, the terms "indie rock" and "alternative rock" were often used interchangeably; while there are aspects which both genres have in common, "indie rock" was regarded as a British-based term, unlike the more American "alternative rock". The name "alternative rock" essentially serves as an umbrella term for underground music that has emerged in
9906-515: The fictional concert " Waynestock ". Without Doug and his songwriting, we never could have signed a record deal. —Robin Wilson ( People , 1994) Gin Blossoms broke up in early 1997. Wilson and Rhodes launched the Gas Giants while Leen formed a band called Rai and then retired from music to operate a rare book store. Valenzuela fronted a short-lived outfit called the Low Watts, released
10033-404: The financial security and mediocrity of signing on the dotted line and “selling out", and riding out the highs and lows of an industry in its doom-and-gloom phase". The soundtrack album for Empire Records was curated by Mitchell Leib, a music supervisor for the film. The soundtrack was originally attached to Atlantic Records —an affiliate of Warner Bros. at the time—because Warner Bros. had
10160-429: The formative influences for the shoegazing movement of the late 1980s. Named for the band members' tendency to stare at their feet and guitar effects pedals onstage rather than interact with the audience, shoegazing acts like My Bloody Valentine and Slowdive created an overwhelmingly loud "wash of sound" that obscured vocals and melodies with long, droning riffs, distortion, and feedback. Shoegazing bands dominated
10287-430: The foundation for its large cult following. The key British alternative rock band to emerge during the 1980s was Manchester 's the Smiths . Music journalist Simon Reynolds singled out the Smiths and their American contemporaries R.E.M. as "the two most important alt-rock bands of the day", commenting that they "were eighties bands only in the sense of being against the eighties". The Smiths exerted an influence over
10414-457: The instigation of the grunge music phenomenon". Helped by constant airplay of the song's music video on MTV, their album Nevermind was selling 400,000 copies a week by Christmas 1991. Its success surprised the music industry. Nevermind not only popularized grunge, but also established "the cultural and commercial viability of alternative rock in general." Michael Azerrad asserted that Nevermind symbolized "a sea-change in rock music" in which
10541-422: The key British alternative rock bands during the 1980s, remained signed to independent labels and received relatively little attention from mainstream radio, television, or newspapers. With the breakthrough of Nirvana and the popularity of the grunge and Britpop movements in the 1990s, alternative rock entered the musical mainstream, and many alternative bands became successful. Emo found mainstream success in
10668-420: The local weather. Early grunge bands Soundgarden and Mudhoney found critical acclaim in the U.S. and UK, respectively. By the end of the decade, a number of alternative bands began to sign to major labels. While early major label signings Hüsker Dü and the Replacements had little success, acts who signed with majors in their wake such as R.E.M. and Jane's Addiction achieved gold and platinum records, setting
10795-495: The mainstream rock, with record companies using the term "alternative" to market music to an audience that mainstream rock does not reach. Using a broad definition of the genre, Dave Thompson in his book Alternative Rock cites the formation of the Sex Pistols as well as the release of the albums Horses by Patti Smith and Metal Machine Music by Lou Reed as three key events that gave birth to alternative rock. Until
10922-559: The mainstream" and record companies, confused by the genre's success yet eager to capitalize on it, scrambled to sign bands. The New York Times declared in 1993, "Alternative rock doesn't seem so alternative anymore. Every major label has a handful of guitar-driven bands in shapeless shirts and threadbare jeans, bands with bad posture and good riffs who cultivate the oblique and the evasive, who conceal catchy tunes with noise and hide craftsmanship behind nonchalance." However, many alternative rock artists rejected success, for it conflicted with
11049-494: The mainstreaming of rock music, alternative rock lyrics tend to address topics of social concern, such as drug use, depression, suicide, and environmentalism . This approach to lyrics developed as a reflection of the social and economic strains in the United States and United Kingdom of the 1980s and early 1990s. Precursors to alternative rock existed in the 1960s with proto-punk . The origins of alternative rock can be traced back to The Velvet Underground & Nico (1967) by
11176-509: The mid-1980s, college station KCPR in San Luis Obispo, California , described in a DJ handbook the tension between popular and "cutting edge" songs as played on "alternative radio". Although American alternative artists of the 1980s never generated spectacular album sales, they exerted a considerable influence on later alternative musicians and laid the groundwork for their success. On September 10, 1988, an Alternative Songs chart
11303-587: The money on his first roll, he loses everything on the second. The following morning, fellow Empire employees A.J. and Mark find Lucas, who confides in them about the previous night's events, just before riding off on his motorcycle. Joe arrives and quickly receives frantic phone calls about the missing deposit from both the bank and the store's owner, Mitchell Beck. Other employees arrive, including overachieving high school student Corey and her uninhibited best friend Gina. Hostile employee Deb, who has survived an apparent suicide attempt, also arrives. Deb then goes into
11430-404: The months into the middle of October. In 2016, Johnson announced in an interview that the band was expected to begin recording its sixth studio album with producer Mitch Easter in the fall. Two years later, Mixed Reality was released on Cleopatra Records on June 15, 2018. The album was produced by Don Dixon . The band toured in the summer of 2019 with Collective Soul . In January 2022
11557-460: The more melodic, diverse music of college rock that emerged. Azerrad wrote, "Hüsker Dü played a huge role in convincing the underground that melody and punk rock weren't antithetical." The band also set an example by being the first group from the American indie scene to sign to a major record label, which helped establish college rock as "a viable commercial enterprise". By focusing on heartfelt songwriting and wordplay instead of political concerns,
11684-484: The most part offers ultimately makes it very hard to dislike." Ty Burr of Entertainment Weekly called it "too blatant a throwback to crass '80s teen fodder to really work." In 2020, The Guardian wrote: "what saves this film is its unselfconsciously optimistic, goofy, principled spirit. Empire Records was about seeing the silver lining even in the most terrible, scrape-the-bottom-of-the-barrel times, forming unlikely friendships and finding family at work, challenging
11811-498: The most popular rock bands in the United States. At the same time Britpop began to decline, Radiohead achieved critical acclaim with its third album OK Computer (1997), and its follow-ups Kid A (2000) and Amnesiac (2001), which were in marked contrast with the traditionalism of Britpop. Radiohead, along with post-Britpop groups like Travis , Stereophonics and Coldplay , were major forces in British rock in subsequent years. Empire Records Empire Records
11938-448: The most popular, and therefore who could generate the most sales. These bands were able to record their songs in expensive studios, and their works were then offered for sale through record store chains that were owned by the entertainment corporations, along with eventually selling the merchandise into big box retailers . Record companies worked with radio and television companies to get the most exposure for their artists. The people making
12065-443: The music is still there. — Christgau's Consumer Guide: Albums of the '90s (2000) By the start of the 1990s, the music industry was enticed by alternative rock's commercial possibilities and major labels had already signed Jane's Addiction, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Dinosaur Jr. In early 1991, R.E.M. went mainstream worldwide with Out of Time while becoming a blueprint for many alternative bands. The first edition of
12192-402: The music video, shot for the entire day and gave the producers a complete music video that was almost five minutes in length. Tobey Maguire asked director Allan Moyle to release him from his part in the movie Empire Records , Moyle agreed, and all of Maguire's scenes were deleted from the final film, and Maguire then sought help for a drinking problem . The film was supposed to be
12319-418: The names of real people (Marc, Berko, and Corey ) were used for characters in the script. Heikkinen's spec script was first given to Alan Riche’s producing partner, Tony Ludwig, by William Morris agent Rob Carlson, telling Riche that Heikkinen had attended Riche’s high school, in Phoenix. They brought the script to Michael Nathanson, president of Regency Pictures, and director Alan Moyle, known for Pump Up
12446-403: The one included on the soundtrack. The film version has additional lyrics and chorus vocals provided by Renée Zellweger . It was intended only as a rough mix for playback during filming but was included on the soundtrack album because a remastered version was not available. Francis "Coyote" Shivers, the artist who released the song, played the lead singer who performed the song on the rooftop of
12573-569: The past, particularly movements and genres such as the British Invasion , glam rock , and punk rock . In 1995, the Britpop phenomenon culminated in a rivalry between its two chief groups, Oasis and Blur, symbolized by their release of competing singles “ Roll With It ” and “ Country House ” on the same day on 14 August 1995. Blur won " The Battle of Britpop ", but they were soon eclipsed in popularity by Oasis whose second album, (What's
12700-418: The prominent grunge bands in Seattle, while a second influx of bands moved to the city in hopes of success. At the same time, critics asserted that advertising was co-opting elements of grunge and turning it into a fad. Entertainment Weekly commented in a 1993 article, "There hasn't been this kind of exploitation of a subculture since the media discovered hippies in the '60s." The New York Times compared
12827-427: The rebellious, DIY ethic the genre had espoused before mainstream exposure and their ideas of artistic authenticity. Other grunge bands subsequently replicated Nirvana's success. Pearl Jam had released its debut album Ten a month before Nevermind in 1991, but album sales only picked up a year later. By the second half of 1992 Ten became a breakthrough success, being certified gold and reaching number two on
12954-421: The shift from the hardcore punk that then dominated the American underground scene to the more diverse styles of alternative rock that were emerging. Minneapolis bands Hüsker Dü and the Replacements were indicative of this shift. Both started out as punk rock bands, but soon diversified their sounds and became more melodic. Michael Azerrad asserted that Hüsker Dü was the key link between hardcore punk and
13081-504: The single " Til I Hear It from You " for the soundtrack of the 1995 film Empire Records . It reached No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100. Their second major album, Congratulations I'm Sorry , was released in 1996. Yielding one top-ten hit (" Follow You Down ", which peaked at No. 9 Billboard Hot 100), the album went platinum. The song " As Long as It Matters " was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by
13208-479: The sound and style of grunge, "but not necessarily the individual idiosyncracies of its original artists." Post-grunge was a more commercially viable genre that tempered the distorted guitars of grunge with polished, radio-ready production. Originally, post-grunge was a label used almost pejoratively on bands that emerged when grunge was mainstream and emulated the grunge sound. The label suggested that bands labelled as post-grunge were simply musically derivative, or
13335-423: The staff discover this, A.J. attacks Manning, Gina reveals Corey's addiction to amphetamines , Corey hysterically trashes the store, and Joe tells Manning to leave. Deb surprisingly attempts to cheer Corey up, and in return Corey holds a mock funeral for Deb with the whole staff. The shoplifter "Warren" returns with a gun (ultimately loaded with blanks ), and Lucas defuses the situation by revealing that he himself
13462-576: The staff ends the long day with a dance party on the roof. Heikkinen heard a story, while working at Tower Video (in college ) in West Hollywood, of theft by an employee who later came back to the store. In the second draft, Heikkinen added a storyline of a corporate takeover threat. Heikkinen wrote a draft where Corey wanted to meet Rex Manning, but someone else wrote a draft where Corey (a virgin who just got into Harvard ) wanted to lose her virginity to Rex Manning. Heikkinen tried to write
13589-514: The stage for alternative's later breakthrough. Some bands such as Pixies had massive success overseas while they were ignored domestically. In the middle of the decade, Hüsker Dü's album Zen Arcade influenced other hardcore acts by tackling personal issues. Out of Washington, D.C.'s hardcore scene what was called "emocore" or, later, " emo " emerged and was noted for its lyrics which delved into emotional, very personal subject matter (vocalists sometimes cried) and added free association poetry and
13716-555: The store at the end of the movie. The Empire Records soundtrack peaked at No. 63 on the Billboard 200 album chart. "I think we did end up selling 2 million records, which is fucking unbelievable for a movie that did $ 147,000 at the box office" — Mitchell Leib, a music supervisor for the film AllMusic .com rated the soundtrack 4 out of 5. BuzzFeed .com described the soundtrack as "a collection of B-sides from prominent artists, covers, and new finds". In 2010, Gin Blossoms frontman Robin Wilson said of Empire Records , "[It's]
13843-455: The store for the first time. While counting the day's receipts in Joe's office, he discovers the store is about to be sold and converted into a branch of Music Town , a large national chain. Determined to keep the store independent, Lucas hatches a plan, taking the day's cash receipts of approximately $ 9,000 to a casino in Atlantic City to quadruple it playing craps . Though successfully doubling
13970-538: The store from being sold to a large chain, and learn about each other along the way. Empire Records was theatrically released in the United States on September 22, 1995, by Warner Bros. to generally negative reviews and major box office losses . It has since gone on to become a cult classic, with several of its stars launching successful careers. At independent record store Empire Records in Delaware , employee Lucas has been tasked by store manager Joe with closing
14097-513: The subgenre's lyrics often address literary romanticism, morbidity, religious symbolism, and supernatural mysticism. Bands of this subgenre took inspiration from two British post-punk groups, Siouxsie and the Banshees , and Joy Division . Bauhaus ' debut single " Bela Lugosi's Dead ", released in 1979, is considered to be the proper beginning of the gothic rock subgenre. The Cure 's "oppressively dispirited" albums including Pornography (1982) cemented that group's stature in that style and laid
14224-560: The success of New Miserable Experience . Estranged from the band, Hopkins died by suicide on December 5, 1993, after a reported five previous attempts (including one for which he was hospitalized two weeks prior to his death). The following year, another song by Hopkins, " Found Out About You ", also reached No. 25 on the Billboard Hot 100 and climbed to No. 1 on Billboard ' s Modern Rock Tracks . New Miserable Experience eventually reached quadruple platinum status. Between their first and second albums, Gin Blossoms contributed
14351-644: The term Alternative Nation . In December 1991, Spin magazine noted: "this year, for the first time, it became resoundingly clear that what has formerly been considered alternative rock —a college-centered marketing group with fairly lucrative, if limited, potential—has in fact moved into the mainstream." In the late 1990s, the definition again became more specific. In 1997, Neil Strauss of The New York Times defined alternative rock as "hard-edged rock distinguished by brittle, '70s-inspired guitar riffing and singers agonizing over their problems until they take on epic proportions." Defining music as alternative
14478-514: The term would broaden to include new wave , pop, punk rock , post-punk , and occasionally " college "/" indie " rock, all found on the American "commercial alternative" radio stations of the time such as Los Angeles' KROQ-FM . Journalist Jim Gerr wrote that Alternative also encompassed variants such as "rap, trash, metal and industrial". The bill of the first Lollapalooza , an itinerant festival in North America conceived by Jane's Addiction frontman Perry Farrell , reunited "disparate elements of
14605-591: The time). Two previously released tracks were also included on the original release of the Empire Records soundtrack album: " A Girl Like You " by Edwyn Collins and "Ready, Steady, Go" by the Meices (the latter's frontman Joe Reineke subsequently led Alien Crime Syndicate ). " The Honeymoon Is Over " by the Cruel Sea , a track heard in the film but not featured on the US release of the soundtrack album,
14732-528: The time, the common music industry terms for cutting-edge music were new music and postmodern , respectively indicating freshness and a tendency to recontextualize sounds of the past. A similar term, alternative pop , emerged around 1985. In 1987, Spin magazine categorized college rock band Camper Van Beethoven as "alternative/indie", saying that their 1985 song "Where the Hell Is Bill" (from Telephone Free Landslide Victory ) "called out
14859-488: The type of rock played on American 1970s Album Oriented Rock radio. In the early 21st century, many alternative rock bands that experienced mainstream success struggled following the suicide of Nirvana 's Kurt Cobain in April 1994, Pearl Jam 's failed lawsuit against concert venue promoter Ticketmaster , Soundgarden 's break-up in 1997, the Smashing Pumpkins losing its original members in 2000, L7 's hiatus in 2001,
14986-405: The wake of punk rock since the mid-1980s. Throughout much of its history, alternative rock has been largely defined by its rejection of the commercialism of mainstream culture, although this could be contested since some of the major alternative artists have eventually achieved mainstream success or co-opted with the major labels from the 1990s onward (especially into the 2000s, and beyond). In
15113-404: Was a severe flop, making only $ 150,800 in its opening weekend, and by the end of its run in North America it earned a total of $ 303,841 against its $ 10 million budget. On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 33% based on reviews from 36 critics. The site's consensus is: "Despite a terrific soundtrack and a strong early performance from Renee Zellweger, Empire Records is mostly
15240-425: Was a troubled youth until he was taken in and saved by Joe. Joe in turn offers "Warren" a job at the store and Warren happily accepts. After the police leave, Lucas admits defeat and suggests confessing the truth about the missing money to Mitchell. The staff try to replace the missing money but can raise only $ 3,000. Suddenly inspired, Mark runs in front of the news crew covering Warren's holdup, announcing on live TV
15367-467: Was approached with the script for Clueless . As he already had a "teen movie" in hand, he turned down the eventual $ 57 million box office hit, and proceeded with production of the eventual $ 0.3 million box-office bomb of Empire Records . Moyle spent a month on rehearsals, pilates , dinners, and time for the actors. Allan came to me and he's like, "I think the studio wants to fire you 'cause they think you're kind of too cute to be depressed,"..."I
15494-548: Was chosen by the band in December 1992 as Hopkins' stand-in on tour, and became a permanent member in 1994. New Miserable Experience became the band's breakthrough album. The first single released from the album was " Hey Jealousy ", which had been written by Hopkins. The song reached No. 25 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 4 on Billboard ' s Mainstream Rock Tracks and later went gold, largely fueling
15621-529: Was created by Billboard , listing the 40 most-played songs on alternative and modern rock radio stations in the US: the first number one was " Peek-a-Boo " by Siouxsie and the Banshees . By 1989, the genre had become popular enough that a package tour featuring New Order , Public Image Limited and the Sugarcubes toured the US arena circuit. Early on, British alternative rock was distinguished from that of
15748-527: Was included on the German and Australian releases. The Gin Blossoms' "Til I Hear It From You" charted as high as #9, affording the band their first Top 20 hit. Two other tracks from the album had a single release: Edwyn Collins' "A Girl Like You", which charted at #32, and the Ape Hangers' "I Don't Want to Live Today". The version of the song "Sugarhigh" that appears in the movie differs significantly from
15875-490: Was like, "Well, I could shave my head." And then I shaved my head, which made everyone very nervous 'cause it was live so if the film got damaged or anything went wrong, we could not do that over again. — Robin Tunney Exteriors for the record store facade were filmed at 15 South Front Street in Wilmington, North Carolina , in a nightclub, then known as The Palladium, that had a few feet of space converted into
16002-482: Was re-recorded at Ardent Studios in Memphis , where the band had recorded all of their previous albums. Major Lodge Victory was released by Hybrid Recordings on August 8, 2006, and "Learning the Hard Way" was the first single. Major Lodge Victory entered the Billboard 200 album chart at number 159. Gin Blossoms released a live album , Live In Concert , on May 15, 2009. This album contains live recordings of
16129-419: Was released in December 1989. By the early 1990s, Wilson and Valenzuela had switched roles, with Wilson taking on lead vocal duties and Valenzuela concentrating on rhythm guitar and backing vocals. Along with Leen on bass and Hopkins on lead guitar, Phillip Rhodes became the new drummer. After being signed to A&M Records , the band began to work on their first major-label album. Initial attempts faltered and
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