There’s always that underground band we love, the one living on the fringes, feeding on cassette tapes, and spitting venom at the mainstream. Then success knocks, the big label waves a fat check, and suddenly that venom tastes suspiciously like champagne. What happens when the heroes of the underground get seduced by the bright lights at the top? Let’s just say the menu changes — and not always for the better.
L7: Punks Eating Steak (and Proud of It)
In 1994, L7, that Los Angeles band spitting fuzz and attitude like nobody’s business, signed with a major. And, get this, they weren’t about to apologize for it. Quite the opposite. What Rolling Stone reported from an interview back then was that the girls were “ordering the most expensive item on the menu.” Like, fucking punk rock.
It’s the perfect punchline: the band that symbolized a certain rage and independence could now afford a fancy dinner. But it wasn’t about the luxury; it was about the attitude of being able to do it. A middle finger to the system that, ironically, was paying their bills. Rebellion changes its shape but not its essence. If earlier it was spitting on stage, now it was ordering the priciest cut and letting the bill land on the desk of whoever underestimated them. It’s the kind of victory only rock, in its most cynical version, can offer.
Hole and Melissa Auf der Maur: The Sound of Post-Grunge Introspection
While L7 celebrated their new phase with a good steak, other figures from the 90s grunge universe were having a more introspective moment. Melissa Auf der Maur, the bassist who played with Hole and Smashing Pumpkins, announced her first new material in over 15 years. And it’s not a noisy rock album. It’s something far more personal.
According to Stereogum, she’s releasing BASS WOMB ROOM: My ’90s 4-Track Demos x Field Recordings. The title pretty much gives it away: home demos and field recordings. It’s the antithesis of mega-production: a return to the roots of creation, far from the spotlight and record label expectations. Louder Sound adds Melissa’s own words: “These sounds are the quiet and private side of the girl who signed to a big American rock record label.”
It’s an interesting contrast. While L7 embraced the financial perks to maintain their attitude, Melissa steps away from the machinery to reclaim the raw essence, the sound that existed before everything got too big. What both show is that success, or the lack thereof, is never the endgame. It’s just another phase, another bill to pay — or to ignore.
Sex Pistols and the Biopic Nobody Liked
And speaking of authenticity and rebellion, the 1986 film Sid & Nancy, about Sid Vicious and his Sex Pistols, is a classic case of how complicated punk representation can be. Gary Oldman, Courtney Love, and even Iggy Pop were involved. But Louder Sound reminds us that “the Sex Pistols hated it.”
They hated it because, well, it was their story, but told by others. And, of course, punk mythology is so strong that any deviation from “the truth” (or what they wished was the truth) is a betrayal. A successful movie about an anti-success band? Irony, pure and simple.
At the end of the day, the rock industry is a strange beast. You might end up ordering the most expensive steak on the menu, or returning to your homemade demos, or watching your own story told in a way you despise. The important thing is that the music keeps going, one way or another.