There is so much alternative rock. I guess is true of any genre that was counted among the most popular in the world at a given time, but it feels like this is especially true of alternative. It’s as if, after Nirvana and Pearl Jam and Soundgarden showed it was viable, every single alternative rock band in the United States got a major label deal. I know that’s the joke about the era, but it often feels like that, especially when you host a podcast which is looking at music anniversaries from the 1990s.

I don’t know Throwing Muses though I know Breeders and I know a little bit of Hersh’s career. But I’m sure they have some good records and I can understand why they were a big deal to some people, especially earlier in their career.

But for me, I usually know I’m going to struggle with a record when even the single doesn’t connect with me. I’m not sure it’s Hersh’s songs necessarily, as I think I have enjoyed one of her solo albums. And I must admit that a couple other songs other than the single connect with me a little bit.

I’m just listening to this band and I’m thinking about how I have heard so many bands that sound like this (though fewer with a woman singing, obviously). So many bands that are loud but not that loud but who also use some cello, because a cello was how you showed you were sophisticated in 1995.

I’m pretty sure there was a time when I would have eaten this up, or just about. But it was a while ago. And today, in particular, I seem kind of bored with all the alternative rock. And unfortunately I am unfairly taking it out on Throwing Muses, who are hardly to blame given that they had existed as a band for over a decade when this record came out. But I am having a really hard time caring right now.

6/10