So I was sitting in the local Einstein Bros. bagel joint eating lunch today and over the sound system came the song “What’s The Matter Here?” by 10,000 Maniacs. As I felt the Polish bagel dog slide into the oblivion that is my gut, I wondered to myself why the hell anyone ever liked that band…including me.
Well, let me rephrase that. I pretty much liked a couple songs from the In My Tribe, Blind Man’s Zoo, and Our Time in Eden albums. “Like The Weather” is still a good groove, and “Candy Everybody Wants” is still sorta peachy, but damn, Natalie Merchant was also downright preachy in her yuppie-tunes-for-troubled-collegiates sort of way. There’s also her voice which always sounded like she had a marble stuck in her throat.
I dunno, but I don’t miss ’em. I never got into Merchant’s solo stuff, and the fact that I actually own those three aforementioned Maniacs albums instead of just the singles is beyond me. Maybe it was just the hip thing to do at the time. I’ve been guilty of making other poor musical purchases in the past. 10,000 Maniacs are definitely a coffee table book band.
