{"id":7036,"date":"2015-01-09T09:27:29","date_gmt":"2015-01-09T14:27:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=7036"},"modified":"2015-01-09T09:27:29","modified_gmt":"2015-01-09T14:27:29","slug":"album-review-jellyfish-bellybutton-and-spilt-milk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2015\/01\/09\/album-review-jellyfish-bellybutton-and-spilt-milk\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review: Jellyfish — Bellybutton and Spilt Milk"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nineteen-ninety was a curious year in rock music. The top hitmaking artists of the year included Madonna<\/strong>, Mariah Carey<\/strong>, Phil Collins<\/strong>, Michael Bolton<\/strong>, Paula Abdul<\/strong>, Janet Jackson<\/strong>. If you liked rock music and wanted to find it in the mass-consumption media (in other words, on radio), your choices were largely limited to Jon Bon Jovi<\/strong>, Heart<\/strong>, Billy Idol<\/strong>, or (shudder) Poison<\/strong>. (The so-called grunge rock of Nirvana<\/strong>, Soundgarden<\/strong> and Pearl Jam<\/strong> was still a few years away.)<\/p>\n

There wasn’t a whole lot going on in high-profile rock that suggested the form was anything besides moribund. For more compelling rock-based music, one had to turn to an emerging format called \u201cnew rock\u201d or \u201calternative rock.\u201d (For the purposes of this discussion, I’m conveniently forgetting about non-commercial college radio \u2013 which counted for a lot of what I enjoyed in those days \u2013 because it wasn’t as widespread).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/center>Alternative rock stations such as the one in my then-hometown of Atlanta set their sights on what one might call \u201cguitar pop.\u201d Melodic, rock based music was in, and synthesizer-based pop confections were out. Out, too, were the \u201cdinosaurs\u201d of rock who had (supposedly) been left behind in the wake of punk and new wave; one wouldn’t likely hear Led Zeppelin<\/strong>, The Beatles<\/strong>, Dire Straits<\/strong> or any number of classic acts on alternative rock playlists.<\/p>\n

In the same manner as early MTV did almost exactly a decade earlier, this new format paved the way for some very good artists to get their music heard by the masses. Those rock fans who dug \u201cclassic rock\u201d and perhaps new wave were often left cold by the glam-metal antics of Poison, and perhaps a bit bored by Genesis<\/strong> drummer\/lead singer Phil Collins<\/strong>‘ turn toward adult MOR balladeering. But the music found on these alternative rock stations often hit the sweet spot for those listeners, programming as it did new music from younger artists whose musical sensibilities were rooted in a similar mindset to the rock acts of the past.<\/p>\n

What this meant in practical terms is that artists like Michael Penn<\/strong> (1992’s \u201cSeen the Doctor\u201d), Matthew Sweet<\/strong> (1991’s \u201cI’ve Been Waiting\u201d), Greenberry Woods<\/strong> (1994’s \u201cTrampoline\u201d) and even Bob Mould<\/strong>‘s harder-edged Sugar<\/strong> (1992’s \u201cIf I Can’t Change Your Mind\u201d) all broke into the mainstream. Arguably, none of these acts would have enjoyed mainstream success on the level they did without the rise of alternative rock radio.<\/p>\n