The Days of Lore

Toadies: We love the ’90s

Monday, April 13th, 2009 | musiX, pdX

When grunge was in vogue in the mid-’90s a tattered flannel shirt would run you about 60 bucks at Macy’s. Fortunately, I already had a closet full of flannels … because that’s what you wear when you’re from Red Bluff, Californ-I-A. Now Gen-Xers are settled into careers and family life—and here the ’90s come, ready or not. Don’t people realize that Generation X were a bunch of slackers and don’t actually have expendable income to placate that insatiable hunger for nostalgia with $50 concert tickets?

The ’90s have actually been here for a couple of years now—sadly—not even a decade after the end of that decade. The ’70s and ’80s revivals at least came at their typical 20-year marks. This year we get a re-release of Pearl Jam’s Ten album, and get to experience reunions from Candlebox, Stone Temple Pilots and Limp Bizkit (does this mean Macy’s will carry some sort of Candlebizkit ensemble that includes a plaid flannel, cargo shorts and a red baseball cap?).

The Toadies came charging out of Fort Worth, Texas in the early ’90s around the same time record labels were shoving hundreds of next Nirvanas down our throats. And, of course, we eventually gagged. But I’ve always loved the Toadies. The band released Rubberneck in 1994, which spawned that vampire-tale with the nasty riff “Possum Kingdom.” The song was all over alternative radio and the band would forever be lumped in with the rest of the throngs. Not fair, I tell you. The Toadies borrowed heavily from the Pixies and ZZ Top, but the creepy imagery and full-bore riffs were all their own. Besides, they’re from Texas and—politics and sizable food portions aside—the Lone Star state has produced some of the finest rock music … but I never thought the Toadies would release a second album, let alone a third.

The band released No Deliverance in late 2008, seven years after the underrated Hell Below/Stars Above, which came seven years after Rubberneck. And nothing’s changed—distorted boogie riffs rattle your teeth alongside Todd Lewis’ throat-shredding vocals and dark yarns. The Toadies are currently on tour across the States and will end up in Portland on April 17 at the Hawthorne Theatre. And live is where it belongs. I can already picture the 30-somethings doing pre-show calisthenics to prepare for the two-hour pogo session that awaits.

“Possum Kingdom” (live) - Toadies (Best of Toadies: Live From Paradise)

“Hell Below/Stars Above” - Toadies

“Hell In High Water” - Toadies (No Deliverance)

Tags: "Possum Kingdom", Candlebox, Generation X, grunge, Hell Below/Stars Above, Limp Bizkit, No Deliverance, Rubberneck, Stone Temple Pilots, Toadies, Todd Lewis

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