Tad
8-Way Santa

The word "Grunge" has been one of the most controversial in rock terminology.

If we tend to simplistically identify it with the "Made in Seattle" sound between the late '80s and early '90s, then I feel I can say that the four most commercially successful bands of the period, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, and Alice In Chains, were "Grunge" (although, in my opinion, they had very few similarities among them).

However, this vast umbrella, which included sometimes mediocre, sometimes highly respectable bands (Screaming Trees, Mudhoney, Melvins, Afghan Wigs), also included a band like the Smashing Pumpkins from Chicago, or the Meat Puppets, a band with unusual versatility to which the definition "Grunge" might have been too restricting. Avoiding a detailed history of the phenomenon, I've made this premise to say that if among the possible meanings of the term "Grunge" there is also that of rough, bad, filthy, then Tad perfectly embody that meaning. The group takes its name from its (abundant) leader, Tad Doyle, a truck-driver-esque figure in the style of a Simpsons episode (remember when Homer challenges that truck driver to eat a 7-pound steak?), but I've also read that he had real butcher skills... However, he was considered quite an unpresentable character to the masses: his music was definitely raw, he didn't have the blonde hair and angelic face of Kurt Cobain, and some of his attitudes bordered on blasphemy (Just think of the title of the first album "God’s Balls") certainly didn't help him (at that time the 'genius' Brian Warner had yet to popularize how to make money that way).

Despite this, Tad were fiercely sought after by record producers (notably Butch Vig and Jack Endino), and they were considered among the best acts of Sub Pop, for which they released their last album, dated 1991, before moving to a major label. The album in question is "8-Way Santa", a meeting point between the brute force of the first two albums and the milder intensity of the later albums.
It is a powerful, well-played grunge that, in later albums, despite the introduction of guitar arpeggios and piano, almost tends towards metal (listen to the riff of "Luminol"). However, it suffers from repetitiveness, a trait I can tolerate in virtue of a "melodic" sequence, but which makes me frown on an album characterized by the massive presence (and, if you will, the noise) of electric guitars and drums.

The best tracks are the relentless "Jinx" and "Delinquent" (the latter, paradoxically, is even pleasant to sing along to). Glimmers of "melody" can be seen in "Plague Years" and "3-D Witch Hunt", while in "Jack Pepsi" the verse is almost rapped. The other tracks present an underlying uniformity that, in a less technical band, would even seem tedious. The cavernous riffs of "Stumblin' Man" (slow and decidedly long introductory riff), and especially "Candi", give the idea of the very early Soundgarden; pieces like "Trash Truck", "Crane's Cafe", and "Giant Killer" don't deviate much from the stereotype. A band not underestimated, but which perhaps, within the "Grunge" phenomenon, could have enjoyed more luck (success and, mind you, money).

But I believe that for someone like Tad Doyle, who wasn't ashamed of his appearance, and who laughed (puzzled) when told that he was too chubby to break through (reflecting on the state of the music of that period and, alas, also the current one), it probably didn't bother him too much.