07.07.2011 11:14 PM

The godlike genius that is Urge Overkill

In plenty of pain (it’s a long story), we made our way to the ‘Shoe tonight, whereupon I – after twenty-plus long years – was finally able to see Urge Overkill.  Why weren’t they stars?  What happened to Blackie? Is Cam Carpenter known to every band in the universe?

9 Comments

  1. michael hale says:

    Holy shit, I haven’t thought of these guys in years. How did they not become huge stars? Thanks for the throwback.

  2. TofKW says:

    Back up a couple of tracks from this and listen to “Sister Havana” – that one alone should have made UO huge. All I can say is for every good band that makes it, there’s 3 that didn’t. The unfairness that is the rock universe.

  3. A.Bo says:

    When you are up against Nirvana, back in those days, (although they opened for them) it was tough to get noticed. Seattle had a pretty good lock on things.

    Even so, I grabbed 3 of their albums. Well worth it!

  4. Winston Higgs says:

    Why weren’t they stars? I dunno. I ask myself the same question every time I listen to Matthew Sweet…which is what this UO song reminded me of…sort of.

  5. Baba says:

    They were definitely one of the best bands of the 90s, for sure. I attended a show at the Phoenix in Toronto (with a completely drunken Guided by Voices and Thrush Hermit) that exemplified the dirty glamour and swagger that was lacking in the rock scene at the time.

    I’m not really surprised they weren’t as successful in North America as the rock mags predicted they would be, due to the pre-eminence of “grunge”. But, I’m surprised the Brits didn’t embrace them.

  6. Steve says:

    Warren,
    I was there as well, and it was a great show. A few answers:

    a) Blackie O is out of the band because of his drug problems.
    b) They weren’t stars because, although the success of “Girl, You’ll be a Woman Soon,” left them poised for stardom, their next album, “Exit the Dragon,” missed the mark by not having a catchy/memorable single along the lines of Sister Havana or Positive Bleeding (I think “The Break” was the most successful single from this album). Alas, they *almost* made it.

    But at least Nash’s voice is still amazing. Heaven 90210 is one of those songs I never thought I’d get to see live (and my 16 year old self was pretty pissed about it when they broke up in ’97).

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