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Rating:
Is it right to classify Everclear as a post-grunge band? Yes, if we consider that they formed only in 1992. No, if we think that this debut album was released in 1993. Yes, given that their breakthrough and television rotation came only later, and after other attempts. No, if we take into account that the production of this "World Of Noise" cost just four hundred dollars. Yes, once we realize that in 1992 Art Alexakis was already thirty years old. No, if we informed ourselves about his life.
The debut of Everclear will undoubtedly be juicy material for those who want to revisit those sounds belonging to the first half of the 1990s. At first listen, their music (at least in the early days) seems very close to certain garage-punk, which at the time saw Mudhoney as standard-bearers. The result is less deliberately sprawling and complacent compared to what was produced by the band from Seattle (some prefer them for that reason, and others, like me, criticize them for it), and it's a bit more melodic. The opening "Your Genius Hands" and the subsequent "Sick & Tired" are eloquent examples of this. More traditional are the very standard garage punk styles of "The Laughing World" (complete with melodic-childish verse as per the worst tradition) or "Sparkle," or even the normal-regular punk of "Pennsylvania Is...".
As is the case with Mudhoney, when they tackle melody, willingly or not, they imitate in execution as much as in interpretation: this is the case with the excellent "Fire Maple Song," in which the cowpunk roots of the band man Alexakis emerge. For those who don't appreciate it, it's fair to clarify that the piece electrifies properly, manifesting what is undoubtedly an innate inclination of the "innocent" Art towards catchiness despite himself.
Further mention for "Loser Makes Good," the story of a bum who, for no reason other than that life generally sucks, shoots and kills a band's vocalist (in reality a friend of Alexakis, and produced by his label which failed a month after starting activities). If the title is itself eloquent, what's striking (not fatally, anyway) about this somewhat less whiny Nirvana-like ballad is that the event in question is narrated from the viewpoint of the bum (or his defense lawyer), almost wanting to justify the occurrence, almost saying "the loser did well"... To the detriment of friendship!
So, are the resonances in this debut a symptom, an indication, an undeniable proof of Everclear's derivativeness in relation to grunge? Considering that the excellent "Malevolent," albeit with entirely different sounds, seems to come straight out of Pearl Jam's "Ten," and that "Nervous And Weird" and the finale "Evergleam" seem to come from Nirvana's "Bleach," the case for Everclear seems indefensible...
If grunge were a genre (even if we know it wasn't that either) born from nothing, generated directly by MTV to amaze or disgust the ears of those who had "Dangerous" by Michael Jackson in their heads, or, in the best case, "Greatest Hits II" by Queen, then Everclear are the sum of the B-side of a random Mudhoney record, half an A-side of "Bleach," a piece of "Ten" and something else that is not present.
But since in 1993 Mr. Alexakis was not eighteen but thirty, he did not live in Australia but in San Diego, considering that this music went on television and charts for the first time in '91 but had been circulating on American streets (especially Western ones) for at least a decade (and given that the stuff present in "Bleach" is the most derivative of Nirvana's repertoire), then it would not be correct to label Everclear as a band of clones and post-grunge: derivative rather, of the music that was always around, from Seattle down, on the streets, in the degraded environments of youth, punk and heroin. Not for nothing "Invisible" is a Californian streetpunk that, if we want, can be compared to episodes of supersonic punk present in "Use Your Illusion" by Guns n' Roses...
A catchy and violent debut, lo-fi and tasty. But, in general, quite impersonal. Not derivative "of" grunge, but derivative "like" grunge. And, for this reason, the debut of a band "of" grunge.
Tracklist and Lyrics
01 Your Genius Hands (02:44)
I have seen you shake
And I know what it cost you
I have heard your words
And I am big on your noise
My eyes aren't big enough
Because I can't see your hands
I can't see what you hold
I am growing now
As I watch you fade
Now I know what you know
And I'll break the chains you have made
These chains you've made for me
I will pull you down
I'll fail in style
I long to touch your genius hands
02 Sick & Tired (03:54)
I break every day
Stressed out in every kind of way
I am sick and tired of being sick and tired
All I need and crave
Is a loud life with the power to fade
I am living
Because I keep it all inside
Love won't work for me
I want women who are out of my reach
All I need for sure
Is a big love with the power to make more
I am living
Because I keep it all inside
I know I'm close to the fall
I know I'm dangerous
I'm afraid I'm going down
I blame my family
Their damage is living in me
I am sick and tired of my life
All I need I swear
Is to go out with the power of a nightmare
I am living
Because I keep it all inside
I know I'm close to the fall
I know I'm dangerous
I know I'm not going down alone
06 Nervous & Weird (02:31)
You know I want to be the way you want me to
Big hearted and tall enough to cover you
I would break in half if you said it loud
Splinter out of myself just like mercury
I think it's better now than how it used to be
You were lying in bed and I would levitate
I think it's better here than where we used to be
I wish I could go out into the Oregon sun: to be alive in the day
I'd smile at everyone
I remember you back in '83
You were dressing insane, you were my everything
You were so different from all those other girls
A blind Electra in drag, so cool and casually lame
I think I'm better now than how I used to be
Always nervous and weird, scared most of the time
I think it's better now than how it used to be
Always up in the night, afraid to live in the day
Afraid of being afraid
Now I sit alone when you're not around
I read aloud just to hear a friendly voice
I see you scary dolls, they all look at me
From the corner of my eye I see them shake their heads
You know I want to be the way you me to
Big hearted and tall enough to cover you
I wish I could go out just to be alive in the day
07 Malevolent (02:33)
maybe I went too far this time
I just go crazy
when she says no
angel turns away
pulls her dress back down,
slowly washes her face
takes the bus to her job downtown
she said,
I'm ok
don't worry about me
now she thinks to herself,
hey what happened to me?
I told him that I thought it was over
told him that I wanted to leave
he used to touch me so nice
when we first met
I never dreamed he would hit me
I never dreamed he would hold me down
she said,
don't worry about me
I won't worry about you
I don't want to be friends
she said,
I'm ok
just leave me alone
she said,
don't worry about me
I won't worry about you
she said,
I'm ok
don't worry about me
I don't want to be friends
just leave me alone
don't worry about me
08 Sparkle (02:39)
I remember when you
seemed real and shiny when the sweat of your voice
shaky hands super loud and teenage mouth
we were all charmed and taken with your talk
now i shudder when I hear the rhythm of your walk
I've got no place to go
I've got no place to go
I've got no one, no where, no one
I have given up on the sparkle
that I saw in you
yes I have sinned the sin of wanting more
the belly fire pulls the spirit
from the corporate whore
I'm embarrassed by the plaid you wear
if I were you I'd hide behind that stupid bleache blond hair
now I've got no place to go
I've got no place to go
I've got no one, no where, no one
I have given up on the sparkle that I saw in you
yeah that simply minded sparkle that I thought I saw
yes I have wondered why you changed
I like it when you were super loud
yeah I wonder if you're still giving in
tell me why you're giving in
11 Invisible (02:54)
I will live
I will live
maybe for a year or two
maybe for a year
I will die
yes I will die
I can rest secure
I am goddamn sure
that this thing ain't no accident
I just can't believe that aids is just some act of God
I will reach for you
I will reach my hand
no one will reach for me
no one will touch my skin
yes I will accept
I will accept my pain
I don't deserve to die like this
no one deserves to die like this
yeah I get so mad
I just want to break the world
yeah I get so mad
I just want to break the world
break the world
I will not be denied
I will not be ignored
I am not invisible anymore
I will not be denied
I will not be ignored
I will not go away
I am not invisible anymore
sometimes I get so mad I just want to break the world
12 Evergleam (02:51)
Evergleam and I know why
God is good and Jesus loves me
heaven lives and I know where
sounds to me a not so easy chair
falling free and living down
stringing out and over happy
Evergleam and I know why
it isn't real and I'm not going to break
I'm not going to break
don't die
don't give in to it
no way no way no way
please don't leave me
Evergleam and I know how
pulling hair and breaking voices
giving in won't stop the noise
spinning wills don't give you choices
give away the spark inside you
give away the shining prize
Evergleam and I know how
it isn't real and I'm not going to break
no I'm not going to break
Evergleam
everwhere
ever weird
everyone
I won't see you there I'm not going away no way
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