Project 1001: Spiderland by Slint
After the first listen to this album my reaction was along the lines of, “Huh?” I didn’t get it. But there was something about it that intrigued me so I relistened immediately. The second time through it made more sense. And then I spun it again and now I see how terrific this record is. You can’t help but be drawn in to the mood of Spiderland. It’s kind of creepy and kind of exhilarating and never dull. I can see how it influenced a bunch of other bands and how its sound and style permeate a certain corner of rock music well into the 21st Century.
Albums like Spiderland represent one of the core reasons for this project. Discovering something I had never heard of and finding out why it is an important part of the rock canon. My rating:
Pitchfork published an extensive examination of Spiderland by Stuart Berman in 2014 including this:
In many respects, the story of Slint is an exceedingly familiar one of influence accruing in absentia, of mavericks who were ignored in their time and had to wait years to get their due. Except unlike other members of the criminally neglected alt-rock trailblazer club—from the Stooges and Big Star to Pixies and My Bloody Valentine—Slint didn’t just fail at becoming the world-beating superstars that their record labels and music-critic boosters alike hoped they would be. Through their initial 1986-1991 existence, Slint were obscure outsiders even within the subterranean confines of the American indie-rock underground.1
The same article asserted that Spiderland had an “immense influence on subsequent generations of indie rockers, emo kids, and doom-metalheads alike.”
Berman concludes by proclaiming, “Spiderland’s greatest legacy is not that it motivated a cluster of semi-popular bands in the late-90s and early 2000s to adopt its whisper-to-scream schematic. It’s the boundless inspiration it perpetually provides for all the bands that have yet to emerge from the basement.”
Rolling Stone declared the band’s influence to be widespread:
Spiderland eventually earned a place in the pantheon of cult-favorite Nineties albums, and became a hallowed influence for everyone from Bush to Mogwai and Pavement. Thirty years after its release, it remains an unclassifiable triumph of rock moodcraft — its literally soft-spoken vocals and skillful play of harsh and delicate textures often imitated but never rivaled.2
NPR reviewer Stephen Thompson thinks the record deserves its place as a great influential piece of work:
Listening to Spiderland now, freshly remastered for this box set by Bob Weston, it's clear how much it deserves reconsideration as a work of haunting beauty and surprising warmth.3
In Grantland Alex Pappademas considered Spiderland’s influence:
That you couldn’t always make out what McMahan (and occasionally Walford) was saying and singing on Spiderland has always been part of this album’s allure. Most of the post-rock bands Slint unwittingly inspired either radically reinterpreted the role of lead vocalist or did away with the job entirely.4
In 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, Mark Bennett wrote:
But it is Spiderland upon with Slint’s mythical reputation rests. It refines Tweez’s rough sketches into a solid steel structure. The guitars of (Brian) McMahan and David Pajo mesh into an inspired whole. Again, comparisons could be made with Television, but only because of the sheer invention. Released to critical acclaim but little commercial success, Spiderlaned’s slow-building influential status came too late for the band, which split following the album’s release.
While Nevermind, 1991’s most famous release, came from a similarly obscure background and may share this album’s dynamics, its simple Black Sabbath/Black Flag template lags way behind the inspired parallel universe in which Spiderland exits.5
Enjoy and listen without prejudice. Cheers!
Prime Playlist: 185. Spiderland by Slint
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For details about this project, read this: Project 1001 Albums
Charts
• Peak on Billboard 200 album chart: n/a
• Singles on Billboard Hot 100 chart: n/a
• RIAA certification: n/a
Released on September 23, 1991. Here’s what else was happening:
Pop Culture
• Number one song: “One More Try” by Timmy T.6
• Number one album: Mariah Carey by Mariah Carey7
• Number one movie: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze by Michael Pressman8
• Most watched TV programs: Cheers, 60 Minutes, Roseanne, A Different World, The Cosby Show, Murphy Brown, Designing Women, Murder, She Wrote, Golden Girls, Monday Night Football9
• NYT bestseller, fiction: Heartbeat by Danielle Steel10
• NYT bestseller, non-fiction: Iron John by Robert Bly11
Some other albums released that month
• Kill Uncle by Morrissey
• New Jack City by Various Artists
• Heart in Motion by Amy Grant
• Truly Blessed by Teddy Pendergrass
• Black and White by BoDeans
• Free by Rick Astley
• Out of Time by R.E.M.
• Bag-a-Trix by Whodini
• Chill of an Early Fall by George Strait
• Joyride by Roxette
• Vagabond Heart by Rod Stewart
• Lean Into It by Mr. Big12
Sport
• Mar 16 Worlds Ladies' Figure Skating Champ in Munich won by Kristi Yamaguchi.
• Mar 18 Mike Tyson beats Razor Ruddock in the 7th round.
• Mar 19 NFL owners strip Phoenix of the 1993 Super Bowl game due to Arizona not recognizing federal holiday Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
• Mar 19 St Louis Blues Brett Hull is 3rd NHLer to score 80 goals in a season.
• Mar 23 Sergei Bubka pole vaults world record indoor (6.12m).
• Mar 27 Scotty Bowman inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame as a "builder" of the game.
• Mar 30 Northern Michigan wins its 1st NCAA hockey title.
• Mar 31 Nabisco Dinah Shore Women's Golf: Amy Alcott wins her 3rd DS by 8 strokes over Dottie Pepper; her 5th major title, and 29th & final LPGA Tour win.13
Notable Births
• Mar 16 Wolfgang Van Halen, American rock bassist son of guitarist Eddie Van Halen and actress Valerie Bertinelli, born in Santa Monica, California.
• Mar 22 Dominique Fishback, American actress (Swarm), born in Brooklyn, New York.
• Mar 26 Ramy Youssef, American comedian, writer and director (Ramy), born in New York City.14
Historical Events
• Mar 6 Following Iraq's capitulation in the Persian Gulf conflict, US President George H. W. Bush told Congress that "aggression is defeated. The war is over".
• Mar 13 Exxon pays $1-billion dollars in fines & cleanup of Valdez oil spill.
• Mar 15 Four officers of the Los Angeles Police Department are charged with excessive force over the beating of Rodney King.
• Mar 16 Seven members of Reba McEntire's band, and the road manager, are killed in a plane crash.
• Mar 21 27 lost at sea when 2 US Navy anti-submarine planes collide.
• Mar 25 63rd Academy Awards: "Dances with Wolves", Kathy Bates & Jeremy Irons win.
• Mar 30 William Kennedy Smith allegedly rapes a woman (found not guilty).
• Mar 31 Danny Bonaduce attacks a transvestite prostitute in Phoenix, Arizona.15
Notable Deaths
• Mar 1 Edwin Land, American inventor of instant photography & co-founder of the Polaroid Corporation, dies at 81.
• Mar 7 Cool Papa Bell, American Baseball HOF center fielder (NgL WorLd Series 1943, 44 Homestead Grays; 8 x NgL All Star; career BA .337), dies at 87.
• Mar 21 Leo Fender, American inventor, and electric guitar designer (Telecaster; Stratocaster; Precision Bass), dies from Parkinson's disease complications at 81.16
Bennett, Mark, 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, Fifth printing, ed. by Robert Dimmery p. 670.
Ibid.