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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 21, 1993)
Aggielife ober2l,i hursday, October 21,1993 The Battalion Page 3 2 p.m. ■ .-I • at the;- cadets ii on Texas platin' h. the revifr ■in and:; ts' Mounts; ie parade md (ootti. ant E. De?: schools fc bout the ETe wilk: -hurch Sc listry grami planning am grade; r in celek- a Nov. 15; •ice betwe| ■nentaryst; expene:; L , or, will te ving dem: nd 30. sionto course Blind Melon sees success with Rain 7 By Rob Clark Thu Battalion It's hard to define a rock group's success by a girl dancing |n a bumblebee suit. I But for Blind Melon, success has come in strange ways. After releasing their self-titled idebut album in 1992, Blind Mel- In finally struck platinum this September with their hit single ■ No Rain." Guitarist Christopher Thorn said, "We were just glad it hap- Inened at all. We were prepared ■o be finished and to go make a second record but the whole thing kind of took off with the (No Rain' video." MTV featured "No Rain" in heir "Buzz Bin," and it became ne of the channel's most popular ideos, featuring the now-famous ee girl whirling in the fields. Most bands need exposure on gidTV to gain success, whether they like it or not. I "MTV is just so powerful, you have to have them if you want to continue to sell records for a liv ing, and not have a day job. And K sure as hell don't want a day lob," Thorn said. I The Southern, small-town pound of Blind Melon can be an jmpredictable one. The light, easy style of "No Rain" and 'Sleepyhouse" can be quickly transformed into the harder sound of "Seed to a Tree," and i'Tones of Home." Shannon HToon's piercing vocals and fran tic delivery are especially effec- ■ive during live performances. The band has been on tour ith Neil Young and is now bpening for Lenny Kravitz. Band members (l-r) Shannon Hoon, Brad Smith, Christopher Thorn, Glen Graham and Rogers Stevens are eager to cut a new album after the success of their self-titled release, 'Blind Melon.' The band is currently touring with Lenny Kravitz. But Thorn said touring can take its toll on a band. "You forget where you are, you forget what day it is," he said. "The only thing you really have to look forward to is play ing that show. That 45 minutes you get per night to exert all the energy you have — all the pent up frustration from being on a bus for 10 hours a night." But the band's travels do pro vide some unusual moments. Thorn' said. "It's really interesting when we go to different countries and try to order a turkey sandwich in Germany and they bring out something that you know is not anywhere near turkey, and it looks like somebody's in testines," he said. After, seeing their album near the top of the charts, Thorn said it hasn't really sunk in yet. "It's weird, it doesn't look real," he said. "It looks like somebody just wrote our name in for us. It's hard to digest it and get a grip on it. I don't know what the hell happened. I feel extremely fortunate." Drummer Glen Graham sar castically denied any knowledge of success at all. "Contrary to popular belief," he said, "Blind Melon has no suc cess whatsoever." Lead guitarist Rogers Stevens said, "This is nice, but we don't really expect it to last. It's a here-today, gone-tomorrow type world." Band members said they expect to tour for a while, but they are eager to start on a second album. The focus of the group seems to be intact, even with all the hype surrounding them. "Finding the humor in a lot of this is what you have to do," Hoon said. "You let your music be sacred, you let your relationship with your friends and your family be what is important. The rest of this is all amusing and you have to find the humor in it or you have no business doing it." After opening up for Kravitz in Houston Sunday night, Hoon was signing autographs back- stage for several people. Two young children peeked in below the outside barriers and put their arms through the small space, trying desperately to get Hoon to autograph their concert T-shirt. When Hoon saw this, he smiled and said, "I gotta do this," and bent down to talk to the kids, and sign their shirts. Thorn said despite the differ ent personalities in the band, it all works somehow. He said, "All I can say is there's five of us and we all write songs, and we all have our influ ences that we're bringing into the band, and we're trying to pull the songs certain ways and what ends up is just Blind Melon." araged to;' ent Traini; IVideo contest seeks Generation X perspectives HfflB By Margaret Claughton '*// The Battalion ;; Attention aspiring filmmakers of Genera tion X! Blackboard Entertainment has launched the second annual America's College hdeo Competition. One hundred college campuses nationwide ave been chosen to participate in this year's college camcorder competition. The contest, co-sponsored by Videomaker Magazine and Birkenstock Shoes, urges students to define the ssues of their generation in video. "X'ers are ready to stand up and be count- d," said Aaron Barnes, co-director of the com- etition. "Our ultimate goal is to provide a fo rum for the variety of ideas and perspectives fostered by X'ers in the college environment while, at the same time, encouraging young talent in the filmmaking business that has been historically difficult to break into." The competition targets both graduate and undergraduate students, and entrants can be of any major. There are no formal categories to the competition. Students are encouraged to express their views of the issues facing their generation using drama, music, comedy and sociopolitical commentary. "We are asking students to create short videos that can be funny and creative, they don't need to be completely dry or serious," Barnes said. The immense budget costs for student film making discourages students' creativity. Blackboard's goal is for students to have the opportunity to express their creative ideas and views. "We hope that students get a sense that they can have a say in the issues said to shape their generation," Barnes said. "We want them to have a larger voice in the baby boomer dominated mass media." The grand prize winner of the contest will receive an internship for academic credit with MTV News in New York City and $1000. Sec ond and third place winners will receive cash awards and the first 25 entrants will receive a free pair of Birkenstock shoes. James Bai of Columbia University created See Competition/Page 5 Deborah Dickson/Special to The Battaiion ar /eMe editor arts editor Sports edit° ( ion, )an i P Miuro. 51^ liola, lay Ro1 Music reviews ► Amfer and annst... Pearl Jam s new release is dark, pessimistic ‘Counterparts' a dream come true for Rush junkies By Mike Morris By Sean Frerking The Battalion "Vs." Pearl Jam Alternative Rock Epic/Sony Desolate fury. That's what screams through Pearl Jam's 12- track sophomore re lease, "Vs." Eddie Vedder's voice has effectively intensified from a rough baritone on the group's debut, "10" into a violent, almost malevolent rasp. While the rest of the band skillfully enhances the current release's sobering and pessimistic tone. Continuing its gruff and critical assault on American society, Pearl Jam branches into new musical areas of grunge rock. Jeff Ament's clear, throbbing bass lines crisply complement Stone Gossard's experimental guitar riffs. Both musicians play prominent roles on "Vs.," fur ther strengthening Pearl Jam's place as one of the premier rock bands of the 90s. In "W.M.A.," a haunting dirge dedicated to a Detroit black man who died violently at the hands of two white police officers. Ament's bass beats out a tribal backdrop, while Gossard teases with a tight, dissonant guitar. The band takes a playful, pop direction with Glorified G," but Vedder's clawing lyrics on America's gun culture collide with the less-than-seri- ous musical approach, pro ducing an angst-filled cut. Pearl Jam also seizes the opportunity to play acoustically, emphasiz ing Vedder's harsh po etry on three of the re- lease's cuts. These songs reflect the more familiar ballad style of the previous al bum's "Black" and "Jeremy," while bringing out the re lease's jaded senti ments. Through all of this musical meandering, Ved der's desperately hoarse screams anchor Pearl Jam's message of alienation and para noid rage. "Vs." delves and dives into the dark, depressing elements of Ved der's disillusioned perception of American re ality. Pearl Jam masterfully fulfills Vedder's vi sion, producing a tremendous release' of anx ious anger. Special to The Battalion "Counterparts" Rush Rock Atlantic Records Aiter many weeks of listening to the hype and hoopla that preceded the release of Rush's new album, 'Counterparts," you may be wondering "was it worth it?" Was it worth waiting in line until nearly 1:30 a.m. to get it? Hell yes! "Counterparts" is a masterful mix of both old and new. The old is the producer, Pqter Collins. Rush fans might recognize him as the co-producer on "Power Windows" and "Hold Your Fire." Part of the new is the recording engineer, Kevin "Caveman" Shirley. Shirley was re sponsible for capturing the instruments in a raw direct fashion. Also new to the recording team is Michael Letho, the engineer that completed the final mixing. Letho combined Caveman's raw ness, the band's musical talent, and a little spit and polish, to get the best Rush album in years. Gone are the multiple key boards and other electric gadgets. What is left be hind is what . made Rush fa mous — pure gui tar, bass and drums. The "pop" sound is the only thing lost on this album. "Counterparts" shows that Rush is still the most intelligent band in rock-n-roll. Rush's lyricist and drummer Neil Peart describes "Counterparts'" theme as "reflec tions in a wilderness of mirrors. Not reflec tions in the conventional sense of looking back, but more of holding a mirror up to our hidden selves, to human nature and its do ing in this world, and to the tragedies and inspirations of everyday life." This theme winds and twists its way through the drumbeats and guitar riffs, putting "Counterparts" on an intellectual scale of its own. The first track on the album, "Animate," is about a man exploring his female side, the "sister in my soul." The song's message is that in order to be a whole person, a man must understand his entire being. The rocking tune that has been receiving tremendous radio airplay, "Stick It Out," tells us not to quit. This time's drum intro is reminiscent of Living Colour's "Vivid" al bum, but it has Rush written all over it. It's the kind of song that you can piss off your neighbors with. God knows I did. A homosexual allowing his friends to be a "straight minority" while introducing them to a "ex panded reality" is one of the sub jects of "No body's Hero." This song is about true he roes, and shows off Neil Peart's songwriting See Rush/Page 5 — ill HHBil " v : a n m Ill •• . Il ■■ ^ liii ' ::