Are You Shakespearienced?

by John Holbo on May 16, 2007

My Valve colleague, Scott, has the actual ‘is anyone still being made to read Shakespeare?‘ thing covered. This is about something else.

Matthew Yglesias has a 90’s nostalgia post, dissing Semisonic for their 1998 earworm, “Closing Time”. Matt is not feeling strangely fine; rather, finding it ‘weirdly hilarious’ that anyone would write: they were “no longer upstarts, underdogs or indie rockers. Instead they had a hit song and sales of two million albums worldwide to follow up.”

Here’s the thing. No one in comments notes that Semisonic grew out of Trip Shakespeare, a late 80’s, early 90’s indie band from Minneapolis – which (I’m not surprised no one mentioned this) I saw twice in Chicago in 1989/90, when they were promoting their “Are You Shakespearienced?” album. They put on a great live show; none of their albums could ever really measure up. Because, although they believed in the power of rock, they had some false beliefs (I fear) about wherein that power consisted. They had two numbers the crowd would chant for: “Slacks” and “Toolmaster of Brainerd” (you can hear half of the latter on TwinTone’s website here). But the thing was: they sang too pretty; all this sweet harmony. At their best, they had a genuinely fantastic powerpop Alex Chilton/Eric Carmen thing. (They covered both on their spotty 1992 flop, “Volt”. Listen to it here. They do an excellent Zombies cover, which is a clue to their nature. They butcher Hüsker Dü, which is a third clue.) Every album had at least one great song; and at least two cloyingly sweet songs to set your teeth on edge, but live that wasn’t a problem. They just did that traditional thing where guys play the hell out of some guitars. It was really, really fun. Too geeky. They went to Harvard too much, went to the Renaissance Faire too much as well, maybe. You could say they were like the Beatles to the Stones (that would be the Replacements, obviously). But really they were more like the Beach Boys to the Beatles, with Dan Wilson as Brian Wilson – but not insane enough to make it legendary. Remember when Brian Wilson lamented that the Beatles ‘made them look like caddies’? Kurt Cobain sort of made Trip Shakespeare look like the amiable, pretty-boy nerds they were.

Actually, I just noticed: after the band broke up, a few of them tried to keep it together as The Flops. Grunge just killed them. Sounding like they did, they weren’t made for life in the 90’s.

Fast forward to 1998 and half the band, now Semisonic, is a one-hit double-platinum wonder on the strength of “Closing Time”. I didn’t even notice at the time because I wasn’t listening to the radio or watching TV. When I figured out that Trip Shakespeare had become this new thing, when their second album, “All About Chemistry” was released, I sort of got into it – in an 80’s nostalgia way. It was funny that, basically, this 80’s powerpop thing that was killed by the 90’s rose from the grave to drive a stake into the 90’s. Nice they finally got paid, since I enjoyed the shows.

I don’t expect this to convert Matt. I just thought it was funny that we could be nostalgic about the same song, about different decades.

I think the best Semisonic song is “Surprise”, which is basically a total Boston rip-off, but in an awesome way. (Can you really ‘rip off’ belief in the power of rock? Doesn’t that belong to all of us?) They actually had the temerity to try to write what is basically a Prince song, “Sunshine and Chocolate” – which didn’t totally work out, but less badly than you would think. They do this sort of nerdy-squicky sex thing sometimes, which may not be your cup of tea.

{ 28 comments }

1

todd. 05.16.07 at 4:25 pm

Gah. I can never dislike “Closing Time,” because of its place on a mix tape from a girl when I was sixteen.

It’s worth nothing that this was possibly the last literal mix tape ever made, as immediately thereafter everyone moved on to CDs, and now iPod playlists.

2

todd. 05.16.07 at 4:26 pm

*It’s worth noting, not nothing.

3

dbomp 05.16.07 at 4:57 pm

I used to love Trip Shakespeare back in the early ’90’s, and played my “Across the Universe” CD to death.

I tried listening to it last month, and wondered why I ever liked it. Vocals are way too falsetto, harmonies are never quite in pitch, there’s no punch to the music, bleah.

4

sidereal 05.16.07 at 5:07 pm

Not necessarily stoned, but lyrical

5

Josh 05.16.07 at 5:58 pm

I saw Trip Shakespeare several times in the 80s, while I was in college. My favorite song was Washington Bridge, a weirdly paced, minor key ditty. They were pretty good live and reminded me of their Twin Tone’s cousins, Soul Asylum — without the luck to hit it big with a crossover hit like Runaway Train. Also, Dan Wilson recently hit it big by co-writing the Dixie Chick Grammy-winning album. Like many “alt” bands of the 80s and 90s, the head made it above the water a few times, but not enough to escape the pond.

6

Robert VerBruggen 05.16.07 at 6:02 pm

“All About Chemistry” was the follow-up to “Feeling Strangely Fine,” but it was actually Semisonic’s third album. (Also, it sucked — though I’ll defend “FSF” as a decent alt-pop record with catchy songs.) First came “Great Divide” in ’96, and even that was preceded by an EP.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semisonic#Studio_albums

7

rea 05.16.07 at 6:26 pm

You could say they were like the Beatles to the Stones (that would be the Replacements, obviously)

Which of the two bands recorded an album called, “Let it Be,” with a cover of the band on a rooftop? And why would that band be the one that wasn’t like the Beatles?

8

joe p 05.16.07 at 6:31 pm

I loved Trip Shakespeare growing up. They were the second concert I ever went to (Information Society being the first – you can tell I was in to the local Minneapolis music scene), and they rocked out with “The Slacks” and “Toolmaster.” My high school rock band ended up covering both of these songs, along with “Gone, Gone, Gone” and “Snow Days.”

In my opinion, Semisonic can’t be called an outgrowth of Trip Shakespeare, since Matt Wilson didn’t come along for the ride. He was the driving creative force behind TS, and probably anything with him in it would never be successful commercially. But I did like his self-titled solo album, although it went nowhere. Last I heard, he was seen behind the counter working some retail job. Too bad, he was a great songwriter.

9

Jeff Fecke 05.16.07 at 6:49 pm

1. The mix tape comment is ironic, given that Feeling Strangely Fine has a great ode to the mix tape, “Singing in My Sleep”

2. I don’t know as you can really appreciate “Toolmaster of Brainerd” unless you’re from Minnesota. But it’s hi-frickin’-larious. Unfortunately, Semisonic wouldn’t play the song in concert. Not that my friends and I didn’t try to get them to.

3. Far and away the best Semisonic album is Great Divide. Their best song is probably “If I Run,” with “FNT,” “Down in Flames,” “Sculpture Garden,” and “Gone to the Movies” in a dead heat for second.

10

JMW 05.16.07 at 6:54 pm

“Closing Time” is really good at what it does. I like it. I’ve never understood why anyone would look back — the way Yglesias does in his post — and think that any single confectionary song could “slam the door shut” on another type of music entering the mainstream. The door on post-punk didn’t slam shut — it opened too wide, which resulted in thousands of truly horrible bands fronted by Eddie Vedder impersonators.

11

will u. 05.16.07 at 6:58 pm

jmw, do you mean to suggest that the legacy of post-punk is… Creed? *choke*

12

Gabriel Rossman 05.16.07 at 7:01 pm

The drummer’s book So You Wanna Be a Rock and Roll Star is an excellent portrait of the music industry. I cite it several times in my research on payola and I’m probably going to assign it to my soc of mass media undergraduates next year.

13

John Emerson 05.16.07 at 7:28 pm

Hm, much of the movie “Fargo” takes place in Brainerd. Future research: is this one of the Coen brothers’ snarky references? Why not Bemidji, Menahga, or Sebeka instead?

14

OHenry 05.16.07 at 7:45 pm

Pop, pop and more pop. Rock. Blues rock. Heavy metal. Grunge. Punk. Alternative. Progressive. R&B. House. Indie. New wave. Funk. Techno. Hip-hop…

…so, I’m wondering, what is it about leftwing bloggers that not a single one (that comes immediately to mind) ever posts about classical music? Orchestral or vocal. Solo, chamber or opera. Nothing. Niente. Nada. Did no one grow up listening to “serious” music? Is this a class thing? Something political? Is classical too “decent”? What am I missing?

15

todd. 05.16.07 at 8:36 pm

I’m going to go with only the most obvious form of counter example.

16

Josh 05.16.07 at 8:38 pm

Ohenry,
Do you mean Nada as in Nada Surf — another outstanding band? ;-)

17

Keely 05.16.07 at 8:55 pm

Todd,

That’s too crude a tool. Following some of the links you’ve turned up leads to threads that have nothing to do with classical music. E.G.:

https://crookedtimber.org/2005/01/21/friday-fun-thread

18

Tyrone Slothrop 05.16.07 at 9:11 pm

I didn’t know that Semisonic grew from Trip Shakespeare. This raises my esteem for Semisonic and lowers my esteem for Trip Shakespeare. John’s post has made me smarter. It also makes me want to run home and listen to “Toolmaster of Brainerd.”

19

todd. 05.16.07 at 10:24 pm

Sure, some are unrelated. But one is enough to stand as a counter example to “… not a single one … ever ….”

It’s also a crude tool in that it only includes one left-wing-y blog and two specific composers. I really just wanted to suggest that even a minimal amount of work contradicts the idea that no one ever talks about classical music.

20

Keely 05.16.07 at 11:11 pm

Todd,

I’m a fairly regular lurker here, and drop in haphazardly at some of the sites listed on the blogroll at right. When music is discussed, it is almost never classical. This is true for rightwing sites as well (from my limited experience), but one would think that left/liberal bloggers would have a more catholic and sophisticated taste in music.

21

Patrick Nielsen Hayden 05.16.07 at 11:26 pm

Commenters ohenry and keely may simply be unfamiliar with Digby’s regular guestblogger “Tristero,” who is publicly known to be composer Richard Einhorn.

22

John Holbo 05.17.07 at 1:33 am

rea makes a good point. (I was sort of musing about how one of Yglesias’ commenters remarked that Semisonic sounded like ‘bad Replacements’, as though that were an accident.)

Also, it’s true that Dan Wilson wasn’t really the soul of Trip Shakespeare, as Brian Wilson was the soul of the Beach Boys. It is unjust that brother Matt never got to be a one-hit wonder as well.

23

danno 05.17.07 at 2:22 am

Hey, I posted about Trip Shakespeare!

Personally, I was always a little mystified by Trip’s appeal. Part of it was an admittedly stupid hipster-dufus annoyance that Trip brought “those baseball cap wearing dill-holes” into what was “our” turf. But with a few years behind me, and not having heard that godawful “Toolmaster” song since Clinton’s first term, I’ve come to see Trip as having been a pretty damn good band. Matt Wilson was a great song-writer, and it’s a shame that he didn’t go on to have the same level of success as Dan did.

’89 to about ’94 was a great period for some really stellar pop music out of Minneapolis. Walt Mink and The Hang Ups put out two of the best local albums of the decade (“Miss Happiness” and “He’s After Me”, respectively.) Soul Asylum put out their last good album (“And the Horse they Rode In On”), The Spectors put out a handful of really amazing 7″ garage/psych-pop, and The 27 Various released the guitar-rock classic “Up”.

24

John Holbo 05.17.07 at 3:12 am

I also forgot the punchline of my post, which was that, not only did the members of Semisonic probably end up disoriented by sudden success, but “Toolmaster” is precisely a parable of “came to town on a charter bus/too young and sweet to be hustling us” one-hit wonder flash and burn-out, then back to Brainerd.

25

chris 05.17.07 at 1:23 pm

Nice post adn comments! Can’t believe someone dropped a Walt Mink reference!

TS was an outstanding live band. They were cloyingly sweet, a little too full of themselves but damn could those boys sing. When Dan, Matt and John would all harmonize together it was truly beautiful. Of course, how can you talk about TS and not mention the very weird, most excellent drummer – Elaine. Only “rock” drummer I saw w/o a high-hat.

If all bad pop was the quality of Semisonic, the quality of bad pop would be much improved. While they had a lot of throw-away material, when they were good they were very, very good.

But, Walt Mink was better.

26

OHenry 05.17.07 at 7:37 pm

Patrick Nielsen Hayden –

Thanks, I wasn’t aware. I’ll drop into Digby’s to read what “Tristero” has to say.

27

George 05.18.07 at 12:49 am

Don’t forget that TS sang back-up on Matthew Sweet’s Earth–his too sweet (sorry) album preceeding his big breakthrough Girlfriend. There’s a cut or two on Earth when they all sound like Seals and Croft.

28

John Holbo 05.18.07 at 1:23 am

I didn’t know that, George. Thanks

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