Sponge was one of those bands that emerged post-grunge, attempting to take the mainstream version of that sound – as most popularly interpreted by the Stone Temple Pilots – to the top of the charts. They didn’t entirely succeed, but their 1995 debut album, Rotting Pinata, had a few choice moments, including the title track as well as the single, “Plowed.” By the time their second album, Wax Ecstatic, emerged the following year, however, it became evident that Sponge had already soaked up as much success as they were ever going to. Unfortunately, this meant that the alt-goth track, “I Am Anastasia,” wouldn’t get noticed…and that’s too damned bad, because it featured an absolutely perfect guest vocal by none other than Psychedelic Furs frontman Richard Butler.
When asked about his cameo in an interview with NineVolt Magazine a few years later, Butler spoke pleasantly of Sponge’s frontman, Vinnie Dombrowski. “Whenever we’d play Detroit, Vinnie would always come down and he’d say, ‘I love your voice! I’d love you do to the backing vocals on this song; would you do it?’ And I said, ‘Sure.’ So he sent me the DAT, and I recorded just the background track at home. It was just a favor, really; I never saw the guys while I was doing it!”
If you ever spot Wax Ecstatic in a bargain bin, pick it up. Trust me, it’s worth a few bucks just for that one song alone.
