Episode 205 - For Your Own Special Sweetheart by Jawbox
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In the legendarium of hardcore and post-hardcore, there are a whole slew of bands that are arguably unsung. The big hitters are pretty obvious, right? Your Black Flags, Bad Brains, Husker Dus, Fugazis etc have lots of column inches devoted to their huge influence. This week we’ll argue that Jawbox’s third album, For Your Own Special Sweetheart, is just as, if not more influential, than some of those artists.
Vicki joins us this week as we chat not only about the band’s small back catalogue, but also about the major the label feeding frenzy that led to this weird indie band from Washington, with deep ties to the legendary DC hardcore scene, getting signed to Atlantic Records.
In the dying days of grunge, when everyone was scrambling to find the next Nirvana, some exec at Atlantic thought that Jawbox were one of those bands. Unlike many other acts though, Jawbox made modest demands of the label before signing, allowing them to go away to record the album they wanted in the way they wanted to do it without getting into huge amounts of debt with the record label.
The result is an album that saw the band literally re-learning how to play together and which helped them to solidify their status as one of the best post-hardcore bands around. We also talk about the legacy of the band and their lead singer J. Robbins, who would go on to be a significant producer in his own right..
Is this an unsung classic? You decide.