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Dear listeners,
One of my favorite albums that was released during my recent hiatus from this newsletter is the Philadelphia rocker Alex G’s eclectic and alluringly strange “Headlights.” I almost just described Alex as an indie rocker, but that wouldn’t be quite right anymore; “Headlights” is his first record since signing with RCA. That means “Headlights” exists within a musical tradition I’ve long found fascinating: the major-label debut.
A major-label debut implies that an artist has already released beloved music on a smaller independent label (and Alex certainly fits this bill: “Headlights” is his 10th album) but has now opted for larger ambition and a bigger budget. Of course, this comes at the risk of being condemned as — shudder — a sellout, though because of shifting generational attitudes and an overall dearth of streaming revenue, that term isn’t quite the same sort of insult it was in the ’90s.
Alex G wryly plays around with those stereotypes throughout “Headlights.” “Hoping I can make it through to April on whatever’s left of all this label cash,” he mutters with a wink on the low-key “Real Thing.” But that doesn’t exactly mean there are any obvious radio hits on this album. Longtime fans will likely be satisfied by its comforting oddness and the way it follows the lead of indie-turned-major-label pioneers like Sonic Youth, R.E.M. and Nirvana in its insistence on smuggling a certain strangeness onto a larger (and admittedly more expensive) canvas.
All those bands make appearances on today’s playlist, which celebrates the devilish crossroads that is the major-label debut. So grab your fanciest fountain pen, sign that contract and sell out with me, oh yeah.
When you’re a star, I know that you’ll fix everything,
Lindsay
Listen along while you read.
1. Alex G: “Afterlife”
Cavernous percussion and a bright, chiming mandolin immediately introduce this first single from “Headlights” as something punchier and more polished than the collagelike lo-fi compositions of Alex G’s earliest albums. But the track is also full of reassuringly off-kilter details, like surreal lyrics and the high, equine neighs that connect chorus to verse.
Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube
2. Pixies: “Debaser”
In the best way possible, Pixies’ 1988 debut LP “Surfer Rosa” sounded like it was recorded in a dank and possibly haunted sewer — such was the magic of the late, great producer Steve Albini. For its 1989 follow-up “Doolittle,” the first Pixies record distributed by Elektra, the band and the producer Gil Norton went for a sound that was cleaner, brighter and poppier — though still plenty weird. Not to be all “High Fidelity” about it, but this “Doolittle” opening track has got to be one of the Top 5 Side One Track Ones of all time.
Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube
3. Sonic Youth: “Kool Thing”
The members of the art-rock darlings Sonic Youth were unhappy with how the now-defunct independent label Enigma Records promoted and distributed the band’s 1988 masterpiece “Daydream Nation,” and when it came time to record a follow-up, they made the leap to Geffen Records’ recently founded subsidiary DGC. A band as artistically uncompromising as Sonic Youth signing to a major had huge ripple effects in the world of alternative rock, and though its 1990 album “Goo” was the band’s most accessible yet, it still managed to sneak plenty of subversive ideas into the mainstream.
Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube
4. R.E.M.: “Orange Crush”
Another pivotal event in underground rock’s evolution toward the mainstream was the moment when R.E.M. signed to Warner Bros. ahead of the band’s 1988 breakthrough, “Green.” Though that album would feature a few somewhat ironic (and commercially successful) attempts at scoring a big pop hit, including the cheerful “Stand” and the cheekily titled “Pop Song 89,” it did not necessarily find the band shying away from more politically minded material. Case in point: the militant but tuneful “Orange Crush,” inspired by the Vietnam War.
Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube
5. Modest Mouse: “Tiny Cities Made of Ashes”
Although the Portland band Modest Mouse would not truly become a household name until its jaunty 2004 smash “Float On,” its first release on Epic Records was the appropriately epic, existentially minded 2000 album “The Moon and Antarctica.” I had a brief “Moon and Antarctica” revival phase this summer — it very much holds up! — and remembered how much I love this yelpy, bass driven tune, which kind of sounds like a Tom Waits song attempting, frustratedly, to learn how to line dance.
Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube
6. Elliott Smith: “Waltz #2 (XO)”
Following his Oscar nomination for “Miss Misery,” the bittersweet song he wrote for “Good Will Hunting” that brought him more mainstream attention, Elliott Smith signed to DreamWorks before recording his lush 1998 album, “XO.” This lead single exemplifies the fuller sound that defined that release, which allowed Smith to realize his most Beatles-esque studio ambitions.
Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube
7. Green Day: “When I Come Around”
One way to push back on claims you’ve lost your edge? Title your major-label debut “Dookie.”
Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube
8. Rilo Kiley: “Portions for Foxes”
I had to include this 2004 pop-rock anthem for a few different reasons: 1. The former Saddle Creek Records favorite Rilo Kiley signing to a Warner imprint for its third album, “More Adventurous,” was a major topic of debate in my high-school friend group; and 2. Earlier this month I caught the band on its reunion tour, which is still currently happening, and it was awesome.
Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube
9. Yeah Yeah Yeahs: “Maps”
The art-rock trio Yeah Yeah Yeahs generated plenty of buzz in the early aughts New York underground thanks to raucous live shows and a scrappy self-titled EP that made the band seem too cool for major-label polish. There was plenty of skepticism, then, when the band signed to Interscope before releasing its debut LP, but the 2003 landmark “Fever to Tell” managed to retain the band’s edge while streamlining its sound into new, unexpected forms — like this sparse, gut-wrenching and impossible-to-deny ballad.
Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube
10. Nirvana: “In Bloom”
Finally, it’s the mother of all major-label debuts: Nirvana’s paradigm-shifting “Nevermind.” The Seattle trio moved from the independent label Sub Pop to David Geffen’s DGC Records in 1990, and the band’s subsequent success would lead to a deluge of lucrative record deals for alternative artists throughout the early and mid-90s. Some people interpret this fourth and final single from “Nevermind” as Kurt Cobain skewering the mainstream, fair-weather Nirvana fans that major-label attention brought: “He’s the one who likes all our pretty songs / And he likes to sing along / And he likes to shoot his gun / But he knows not what it means.” But the “brilliant irony” of “In Bloom,” as Michael Azerrad puts it in his Nirvana biography “Come As You Are,” “is that the tune is so catchy that millions of people actually do sing along to it.”
Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube
The Amplifier Playlist
“10 Great Tracks from Major-Label Debuts” track list
Track 1: Alex G, “Afterlife”
Track 2: Pixies, “Debaser”
Track 3: Sonic Youth, “Kool Thing”
Track 4: R.E.M., “Orange Crush”
Track 5: Modest Mouse, “Tiny Cities Made of Ashes”
Track 6: Elliott Smith, “Waltz #2 (XO)”
Track 7: Green Day, “When I Come Around”
Track 8: Rilo Kiley, “Portions for Foxes”
Track 9: Yeah Yeah Yeahs, “Maps”
Track 10: Nirvana, “In Bloom”
Lindsay Zoladz is a pop music critic for The Times and writes the subscriber-only music newsletter The Amplifier.
The post 10 Great Tracks From Major-Label Debuts appeared first on New York Times.
