10000 maniacs

SUMMARY:
Celebrated songwriter Natalie Merchant chats about her songwriting, from her days fronting 10,000 Maniacs up to her most recent album, Keep Your Courage. 

PART ONE: 
Were the Lilith Fair-era 1990s the best time for women in music? Scott and Paul discuss.

PART TWO:
Our in-depth conversation with the legendary Natalie Merchant

ABOUT:
Natalie Merchant launched her career as the lead vocalist and primary lyricist of the band 10,000 Maniacs, which broke through with the double Platinum album In My Tribe in 1987. Subsequent albums Blind Man’s Zoo and Our Time in Eden spawned the Merchant-penned singles “Trouble Me” and “These Are Days,” respectively. Following an appearance on MTV Unplugged and a hit single covering Bruce Springsteen and Patti Smith’s “Because the Night,” Natalie departed the band to launch a solo career. Her debut album, Tigerlily, featured the Top 10 singles “Carnival,” “Wonder,” and “Jealousy,” and was certified five times Platinum. She has gone on to release nine solo studio albums, including the Platinum-selling Ophelia, which spawned the single “Kind & Generous”; Leave Your Sleep, which topped the US folk charts; and a 2014 self-titled release that reached the Top 5 on Billboard’s rock chart. Recent years have found Natalie rearranging her songs for string quintet and acoustic instruments for the documentary Paradise Is There, directing Shelter, a documentary on domestic violence, curating the 10-disc box The Natalie Merchant Collection, and spending four days a week working with children as an artist-in-residence at a non-profit pre-school. In November 2022, Natalie was appointed to a six-year term on the board of trustees for the American Folklife Center at The Library of Congress. Her ninth studio album, and first album of all new, original material in nine years, is the self-produced Keep Your Courage on Nonesuch Records. 
 

EPISODE 12: Multi Billboard Heatseekers charting singer/songwriter Cassandra Kubinski has performed her whimsical, dramatic stories of ambition, connection, loss, and love from living rooms to Barclays Center, from NYC to LA to Thailand to Jamaica and beyond.  Always celebrating the 360 degree human experience, our joy and victories as well as our darkest struggles and desperations, her piano and clarion voice invite us to own who we are, and discover who we can become. You’ve heard Cassandra’s songs on TV, from Lifetime to ESPN to ABC. She has collaborated with luminaries like the Goo Goo Dolls, Chris Botti, 10,000 Maniacs, DJ Taz Rashid, and even her personal music hero, Billy Joel. Her songs have helped raise tens of thousands of dollars for important causes, such as “Not So Different” for Autism and “You Get Me” for pet rescue. She was the composer and bandleader of Emmy-winning new media TV Show “The Never Settle Show” hosted by Mario Armstrong, and she serves as the Global Co-Chair of Membership for international non-profit Women in Music. cassandrakubinski.com

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Courtney Love's band Hole released their second album, Live Through This one week after the death of Kurt Cobain, Love's husband and front man for the grunge giant Nirvana.  Hole originated in the punk rock scene, but are often identified with the grunge movement due to Love's relationship with Cobain and their move to Washington to write this album.

In addition to frontwoman Love, the band consisted of Eric Erlandson on lead guitar, Kristen Pfaff on bass, and Patty Schemel on drums.  Love and Erlandson wrote the songs, and Pfaff and Schemel were newcomers to the group, replacing bassist Jill Emery and drummer Caroline Rue who had left over creative differences.

The album was noted for a toned-down and more melodic approach to things than their debut effort.  Themes of the album would revolve around aspects of Courtney Love's personal life, including relationships, motherhood, and post-partum depression.  A controversy that plagued the album was that much of the work was ghost-written by Kurt Cobain.  Band members and producers have consistently denied this, though it is perhaps understandable how a rumor like this would get legs, following on the heels of Cobain's suicide.  The only connection between Cobain and the album was that he sang backing vocals on a couple of songs when they were in the recording studio.  In fact, many of the tracks were performed during Hole's previous tour.

While Live Through This is considered more melodic than their previous album, that is a relative measure - the album itself is still quite raw and gritty.  That didn't keep it from becoming a critical and popular success, going multi-platinum by December 1994.  Unfortunately, drummer Pfaff would not live to see this feat, having died of a heroin overdose in June, just before Hole was supposed to embark on a world tour.  

Courtney Love would continue through several iterations of Hole, and pursue songwriting, acting, a writer of multiple manga volumes and a memoir.

Violet
This song is the opening track for the album.  It was inspired by Love's relationship with Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins, just prior to her relationship with Cobain.  Love said this song was "about a jerk, I hexed him, and made him lose his hair."  

Miss World
The second track on the album was the first single.  It is about a person who is loved by everyone, but is empty inside and drowning in depression.  "I'm Miss World.  Somebody kill me."

Asking For It
This deeper cut is about rape.  Love talked about a time when she would stage dive, and found her clothes ripped off.  Love felt like she was raped by the audience.  Love's life and upbringing was a tumultuous one, with rebellion, drugs, and broken family relationships.

Doll Parts
The second single from the album is likely the best known one.  It reflects her insecurity with Kurt Cobain.  Love and Cobain both went into rehab when Love was pregnant.  Unfortunately Cobain would run away from the rehab center shortly before his suicide.

ENTERTAINMENT TRACK:

Theme from Space Ghost for “Space Ghost Coast to Coast”
This comedy spoof of a late night talk show was the first original series produced by the Cartoon Network.

STAFF PICKS:

“Player's Ball” by OutKast
Brian brings us Southern Rap from Atlanta's own OutKast.  The song discusses living in the south and living in the hip hop culture.  This is off OutKast's debut album entitled "Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik."

“Rocks” by Primal Scream
Bruce's staff pick is off Primal Scream's fourth album "Give Out But Don't Give Up."  Bobby Gillespie and Jim Beattie originally formed this Scottish rock band with a psychedelic sound, but went more classic rock and blues with this album.

“Found Out About You” by the Gin Blossoms
Rob's staff pick features the fourth single from the Gin Blossoms' second album, “New Miserable Experience.” The Gin Blossoms formed in Tempe Arizona in 1987, and were identified as alternative rock and “jangle pop.”  The name comes from a picture of W.C. Fields describing his ruddy complexion. 

“Because the Night” by 10,000 Maniacs
Wayne's pick features a cover originally performed by The Patti Smith Group from 1978.  Natalie Merchant fronts 10,000 Maniacs in an Unplugged version  of this classic written by Patti Smith and Bruce Springsteen

INSTRUMENTAL TRACK:

Main Theme from the motion picture “Bad Girls”
This instrumental was the soundtrack from a western featuring Madeliene Stowe, Andie MacDowell, and Drew Barrymore.

Thanks for listening to “What the Riff?!?” 

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**NOTE: What the Riff?!? does not own the rights to any of these songs and we neither sell, nor profit from them. We share them so you can learn about them and purchase them for your own collections.

The Eagles had been broken up for almost a decade, and it would be another 5 years before their reunion, but Don Henley was still a huge name in the music world.  The End of the Innocence, Henley's third solo studio album, would be a more reflective and less synthesizer-heavy album, and would be Henley's best selling album.

After the break-up of the Eagles, Henley put out “I Can't Stand Still” in 1982, from which the hit single Dirty Laundry would arise.  1984 would see the appearance of “Building the Perfect Beast,” from which the best remembered single would be the monster hit “Boys of Summer.” Henley had established himself as a successful solo artist through these albums.

So, Don Henley had a celebrity status by the end of the 80's, and he would collaborate with many musicians across diverse genres in making this album.  The result would cover lots of territory, from the rocking sounds of “I Will Not Go Quietly” to the sad reflections of “New York Minute” and many other musical and emotional stops along the way.

We hope you enjoy our observations on this excellent and pensive work.

The End of the Innocence
This is the title track, the first track on the album, and the first and most successful single.  It was co-written and co-produced by Bruce Hornsby, who plays piano on it.  Henley is overtly political on this one, and throughout the album.  In the David Fincher video for the song, Oliver North is shown in his Iran/Contra congressional testimony during the line, “armchair warriors often fail,” and Reagan is shown during the lyrics, "they're beating plowshares into swords for this tired old man that we elected king."

I Will Not Go Quietly
This is the heaviest song on the album.  Most of this album is pretty introspective, but not this one.  Axl Rose contributes backing vocals!  “Well, don't you ever get lonely?  Don't you ever get down?  Don't you ever get tired of all the wicked tongues in this town?”

New York Minute
A track with an almost symphonic feeling, this song features a number of well known collaborators.  David Paich (Toto) plays piano, Jeff Porcaro (Toto) is on drums, Pino Palladino (session musician for many, including Jeff Beck, the Who, and Nine Inch Nails) is on fretless bass, and Christian Jazz a capella group Take 6 is featured in the chorus.  This is one of Henley's songs which made it onto the Hell Freezes Over tour and album when the Eagles reunited in 1994.

The Heart of the Matter
Mike Campbell (of The Heartbreakers) wrote and produced this music.  It tells of loss and moving on with forgiveness.  "What are those voices outside love's open door make us throw off our contentment and beg for something more?"

ENTERTAINMENT TRACK:

“Batdance” by Prince (from the soundtrack for the motion picture “Batman”)
Michael Keaton would show us his darker side in this first big budget adaptation of the Caped Crusader since the campy 60's series.

STAFF PICKS:

“Headed for a Heartbreak” by Winger
Brian brings us Kip Winger's hit from his debut album.  Winger was one of the big hair bands of the late 80's, but Charles Fredrick Kip Winger also has an impressive vocal range and was classically trained.

“Trouble Me” by 10,000 Maniacs
Rob's staff pick features the alternative rock which was about to drift into mainstream.  This hit is off their fourth album entitled "Blind Man's Zoo."  Natalie Merchant adds a distinctive voice as front woman for the group.  The lyrics are inspired by Merchant's father who was sick in the hospital.  “Why let your shoulders bend underneath this burden when my back is sturdy and strong?” 

“Tehran” by The Offspring
Wayne's staff pick kicks in some California punk rock.  The song is an anti-war creed.  Interesting that frontman Dexter Holland has a PhD in molecular biology, is a licensed pilot, and has his own brand of hot sauce.  The album never came out on CD, only album or cassette.

“Crossfire” by Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble
Bruce features this track off SRV's fourth studio album, "In Step."  It was the first one after he had gone through drug and alcohol rehab, and "In Step" refers to the 12-step program of Alcoholics anonymous.  The song itself talks about the almost Darwinian pressure of modern life.

INSTRUMENTAL TRACK:

“Follow Your Bliss” by The B-52's
The Athens band The B-52's were making a strong resurgence in 1989 with their album “Cosmic Thing,” and this instrumental track wraps us up this week.

Thanks for listening to “What the Riff?!?” 

NOTE: To adjust the loudness of the music or voices, you may adjust the balance on your device. VOICES are stronger in the LEFT channel, and MUSIC is stronger on the RIGHT channel.

Please follow us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/whattheriffpodcast/, and message or email us with what you'd like to hear, what you think of the show, and any rock worthy memes we can share.

Of course we'd love for you to rate the show in your podcast platform!

**NOTE: What the Riff?!? does not own the rights to any of these songs and we neither sell, nor profit from them. We share them so you can learn about them and purchase them for your own collections.

As we rank every song on 10,000 Maniacs' "In My Tribe," we embrace our love for buzzkill liberals who sing about our national shame. We also imagine life in Natalie Merchant's family, analyze the meaning of audible breathing in songs, and ponder what Collucci can't do.
Our intro is by Andrew Byrne, and our outro is by Phoebe Bridgers. Want to leave us a voicemail? Just call 646-389-0767! You can email us at talkaboutsongs@gmail.com, tweet us at @talksongs, or Facebook us at facebook.com/mastas.podcast. To get access to bonus content (and vote in ranking episodes), become a patron at patreon.com/mastas.

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10,000 Maniacs--Because the Night

Nirvana--Where Did You Sleep Last Night

Sonata for Violin and Cello (1920-22): I. Allegro / Maurice Ravel played by Nigel Kennedy & Lynn Harrell

Black Sabbath--Black Sabbath

PJ Harvey--In the Dark Places---Live at Sydney Festival

10,000 Maniacs--Because the Night--3:39

Ane Brun--All My Tears--2:06

Thom Yorke--Analyse--Live (2006)

Patti Smith Group--Because the Night