1994 In Review: Live - "Throwing Copper"

Of all the bands who achieved massive success in the '90s, few are quite as forgotten as Live. Sure, there are plenty who loudly voice their dislike for Creed, Limp Bizkit, Bush, etc., but where those bands have forged legacies of eye rolling and "I can't believe I bought their records", Live seems to have just faded out of public consciousness, with very few vocal supporters or detractors remaining.

It's kind of a shame, but it's also kind of their own fault; in the wake of Throwing Copper's success, their studio output took "diminishing returns" to a whole new level. Eventually, all but the diehards wrote them off; when they parted ways with singer Ed Kowalczyk and started down the ugly path of legal proceedings, it seemed they'd even written themselves off. These days, Kowalczyk is still trying to make a go of his solo career, while the rest of the band is trying to make a go of Live with a new singer. It's really rather ugly all around, but I digress.

Throwing Copper was about as unassuming as a record gets upon its release twenty years ago. Singles Selling The Drama and I Alone got some play on college radio, and their videos mild rotation; it was performing about as well as most involved hoped it would. But then, almost a year after its release, Lightning Crashes happened. Exactly the kind of soaring rock ballad radio was looking for, this song smashed hard. How hard, you ask? While this weekend marks the 20th anniversary of the album's release, it also marks the 19th anniversary of said album hitting #1.

As folks drawn in by Lightning Crashes started spreading the word that the rest of the album wasn't half bad, it continued to sell and continued to spawn singles. It hung around for months and months, to the point where over eight million units had been shipped in the States alone. Throwing Copper was the biggest American rock album of the decade not released by Nirvana or Pearl Jam up to that point.

If the album hasn't aged particularly well, or wasn't as deep and profound as Kowalczyk likely thought it was, it still doesn't deserve to be dismissed. In fact, Throwing Copper just might be the crossroads of popular '90s alternative. It strikes the sweet spot that intersects Collective Soul's religious imagery, Counting Crows' earnest everyman pop sensibilities, Pearl Jam's penchant for intensity, and R.E.M.'s safe eccentricities. Live are no worse an offender of borrowing from different styles in an attempt at "originality" than, say, a couple hundred other bands that came along after them, and I can still enjoy this album (and 1997's Secret Samadhi, actually) without cringing too much.

There is some filler on this album, but maybe not as much as you might think. Non-singles T.B.D. and The Pillar Of Davidson could have easily moved an extra million copies had they gone for a sixth single, while The Dam At Otter Creek is a quintessential '90s album opener with its quiet, tension building intro and righteously chaotic climax. Look at Shit Towne and Waitress, songs that have a little visceral charm, even if they're a little silly and profane. And even misguided Spin Doctors meet Pearl Jam hokey funk numbers Iris and Top and weaksauce punk sermon Stage are, at least listenable.

Is Throwing Copper an important '90s album, then? Most will scoff at the notion; but, had Live continued to play to their strengths and forged a better career for themselves, I believe it absolutely would be looked back on a lot more fondly by a lot more people. That it stands head and shoulders above their other albums as their lone true triumph doesn't diminish the fact that Throwing Copper was, in fact, a complete and utter triumph.

April 19, 1994 • Radioactive/Universal

Highlights I Alone • Lightning Crashes • The Pillar of Davidson

Year in Rock 2025

Alright, I've got some explaining to do. By now anyone who's visited this blog is well aware of how infrequently I've used this space in recent years; aside from the occasional fertile year of content, I really haven't posted all that often over the last five years or so. There are many reasons for this, which have already been outlined in previous apology posts; but, essentially, it boils down to my own laziness and the cold reality that blogs are, like Refused (again), fucking dead. So, I wouldn't hold my breath for a triumphant return to reviews, or even semi-regular posts, but: a) I feel like Year in Rock posts have always belonged here and, even though I've experimented with different methods of presentation recently and been satisfied, the "blink and you missed it" unveiling via Facebook stories this year was perhaps ultimately a disservice to the records I lauded. After all, cramming the list into short videos isn't too far off from ju...

Year in Rock 2011 Nominee: Sam Roberts Band

SAM ROBERTS BAND I Feel You From: Collider Released: May 10 Having already endured the breakout success ( Brother Down was Canada's it rock song of 2002), the tentative dabbling in the U.S. market, as is the rite of passage for all moderately successful Canuck artists (2003's debut We Were Born in a Flame was the best time to try; one of the best albums of the year, it made a small dent in the American mindset upon its release there a year later), the difficult, druggy third album (the aptly named 2005 disc Chemical City ), and the subdued creative step backward (2008's Love at the End of the World , aside from hit single Them Kids , was really kinda bland), it seems according to script that Sam Roberts would start settling in on his fourth album (and first with the band credited as equal contributors), Collider (you know, I think it was a bad idea to give me brackets). Well, as far as settling in goes, Roberts does and doesn't on Collider . W...

IN REVIEW: Rancid - "Trouble Maker"

As far as punk rock goes, it's hard to name a hotter hot streak than the trio of records Rancid cranked out between 1995 and 2000; the star making ...And Out Come the Wolves , the far-reaching Life Won't Wait and their balls-to-the-wall second self-titled album solidly positioned Rancid as leaders of the second generation of punk. It also preceded a period of slow progression, as Rancid would take eleven years to release their next three records. By the time ...Honor Is All We Know came in 2014, many fans (myself included) had to wonder whether or not this was the end of the road. Such concerns are handily dealt with on the closing track of the standard edition of their ninth record, the positively punishing This Is Not the End . Well, okay then, that's sorted. Now, what of this new record? What do we make of the use of their original logo on the cover, a logo that hasn't graced a Rancid record in 25 years? Is this a throwback to the band's heyday, a new begin...

SOUND BITES

Search This Blog