Crate Digging: 10,000 Maniacs – In My Tribe (1987)
BY NEAL MARTIN |
Every now and then I like to look back at an album from the past that is worth revisiting. The first two (Fotheringay and then Nic Jones) had an English folk bent; now let’s cross the “Big Pond.” In the 1980s, the American music landscape was divided. On one side were chart-dominating acts such as Bon Jovi, Phil Collins and Janet Jackson that gained mass appeal and platinum discs for units sold. There’s nothing wrong with that; hey, you can’t beat a bit of Bon Jovi in my book. On the other side was “underground” music, a counterculture based around alternative rock or college radio that rarely if ever got a sniff of commercial success: R.E.M., Devo, The Replacements and Hüsker Dü, to name but four. To that list I would add the oft-overlooked 10,000 Maniacs.
In My Tribe remains an important album for me. It brings back a lot of memories of growing up in my hometown. My social life might have revolved around clubbing and the exciting new sounds of techno, but when I got home, it was music like 10,000 Maniacs that I listened to.
