Rocking the Colonial Period
In answer to Ben’s comment, of course Sir Lord Baltimore counts, and who could forget Paul Revere and the Raiders, who actually performed in quasi-colonial outfits? (Actually they are still performing in them, in Branson!) To my surprise, it seems that the gimmicky, studio-buffed Raiders have enjoyed something of a critical renaissance in recent years. Kicks do just keep getting harder to find.
But if we are going all colonial, what about Cotton Mather (out of Austin, Texas), perhaps the greatest power-pop band ever? I have no idea why Robert Harrison and company decided to name themselves after a witch-unfriendly Puritan divine, but their band was really, really good. They had a taste of success in the late 1990s but got washed away in the implosion of the “commercial alternative” music scene around the same time. I remember hearing their terrific single “My Before and After” on the radio a couple of times in Tallahassee, but I only truly discovered them ex post facto, thanks to a wandering conversation (and subsequent CD-burning) with a University of Chicago Press editor at an OAH booth a few years ago. I kid you not. (Sadly, Cotton Mather never named an album “Wonders of the Invisible World,” a ready-made album title if I ever saw one, at least if you had to choose among Puritan religious writings.) The video below is not my favorite of their songs, but it was the only one I could find on YouTube. Other songs can be heard here.
I remember seeing Cotton Mather in graduate school–they put on a really good show. Not sure why they didn’t catch on more, but then Austin was full of good bands back then that never really went as far as they could have.
And it’s not colonial, but John Brown’s Body may be the best-selling antebellum-named band going right now.
Comment by Mr. Sidetable — August 11, 2008 @ 11:40 am
What about a list of early republic-themed songs? Two of my favorites are “James K. Polk” by They Might Be Giants and “W. H. Harrison” by Roads to Space Travel (they were a late 90′s math rock band from Baltimore).
Comment by Josh Greenberg — August 16, 2008 @ 6:02 pm
Working on it! It will be a long, long list. Thanks for the suggestions. They Might Be Giants recorded “Tippecanoe and Tyler Too” as well.
Comment by Jeff — August 16, 2008 @ 8:32 pm