Post five: "Only because they once were punk..."

All bands change their sound over the years. If a band is lucky enough to stay a unit for more than a decade their sound matures and gains complexity, for better or for worse, to a point where fans of the recent stuff don't like old stuff and vice versa. (example - Bad Brains, Black Flag, Husker Du, The Clash although its hard to find anyone who likes their last albums over their first couple)

Sometimes bands sound nothing like they did when they started and you may have their new music in your library only because they once were _________, (whatever sub genre of Rock and Roll you would like to insert here) Examples? for me...Lemonheads, Dismemberment Plan, Fugazi, Replacements, Genesis) It would be a stretch to say that you might ignore a new band putting out the same record as one of your old favorites reforming or putting out their tenth LP.

Shudder To Think are a band like this for me. This would include the singer Craig Wedren's solo material and new band Baby. There is really no way I would listen to a song like the one later in this post if it was anyone else.

Shudder To Think started off as a punky rock and roll band on Dischord records and evolved into an Indie Pop Almost Was. Wedren's post Shudder music flips between introspective pseudo folky - to slightly techno-y dance music.

This song, if I remember correctly, was given away on Wedren's website as an in progress demo. It is called "One Man's Heart"



I may do another post on singers who's voices polarize listeners - You either love it or you hate it - I think Wedren's voice falls into this category. I've always thought it was pretty cool.

This post is dedicated to my sister Faith, who has had the biggest influence on my musical taste, especially early in my life - I would always take her tapes when I was a kid and listen to anything that came into the house. Shudder to Think maybe one of the few bands that I knew about first and she also ended up liking (Nomenasno being another, much more about them later).