Criminally Underrated is a series here at The Nerds Templar where we take a look at entertainment that is, well, criminally underrated. Maybe it was a movie that wasn’t a box office hit, but became a cult classic later on. Maybe it’s an album that didn’t sell as well as the band’s other albums. Maybe it’s a TV show that only lasted a year or two, but still has legions of fans. Maybe it was something just ahead of its time. For whatever reason, it’s criminally underrated.
I know immediately someone is going to ask how a band’s best selling album with their biggest hit (“Lightning Crashes”) is underrated, but hear me out. If I was to ask you to name the best alternative albums of the 1990s you’d most likely start with Nirvana’s Nevermind, Pearl Jam’s Ten, Soundgarden’s Superunknown, Alice in Chain’s Dirt, the Mt. Rushmore of Grunge. You’d bring up Stone Temple Pilots with either Core or Purple. Weezer’s Blue album. Green Day’s Dookie. Rage Against the Machine’s self-titled debut. The Offspring’s Smash. R.E.M.’s Monster or Automatic for the People. Smashing Pumpkins or Oasis or Radiohead or Soul Asylum or Collective Soul. What if I told you Live’s Throwing Copper out sold a good chunk of those albums and others like the self-titled Foo Fighters debut, Bush’s Sixteen Stone or Nine Inch Nails’ The Downward Spiral?
That’s my point, despite it being Live’s best selling album (having sold over 8 million copies and certified 8× platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America), it’s almost forgotten in the world of 90s alternative. “Pillar of Davidson” popped up on YouTube recently and it made me re-listen to the entire album for the first time in years. With singles like “I Alone”, “Selling the Drama” and the previously mentioned “Lightning Crashes” it’s packed with radio hits, but it also has a killer B-side.
I say B-side because I owned Throwing Copper on cassette before I owned the CD. Yes I’m older than people think and owned cassettes. The A-side of the cassette had tracks like “The Dam at Otter Creek”, “Selling the Drama”, “I Alone”, “Iris” and “Lightning Crashes”, but the B-side had great rock tracks like “T.B.D.”, “Stage”, “Pillar of Davidson” and “White, Discussion”. And let’s not forget the unlisted track “Horse”.
Trying to top that A-side is hard, but you can very easily listen to “Stage” or “T.B.D.” right now and want to throw on an old flannel and Doc Martens and wish you were at Woodstock ’94. And that’s what great music should do, transport you to a (better) time or place. Music should make you think of memories especially during the years when music had the biggest hold on you. For me the 1990s was the last great decade and listening to Throwing Copper today brought me back to my youth when we still had great rock radio stations and MTV actually played music videos. In Massachusetts, where I’m from, WBCN, WAAF, WFNX and others brought new alternative music to my ears. “Lightning Crashes” was a monster radio single and also an MTV staple long before shows like Total Request Live destroyed music. We listened to radio stations that played countless songs and watched shows like 120 Minutes and Alternative Nation and not just the same 10 songs on the radio or what a streaming service hand picks for us. We listened to albums. Whole albums not just singles the execs told us were good.
I played Throwing Copper from start to finish today without skipping a track. I remembered the words to most of the songs. Songs I listened to on a cassette then on CD on my dorm room boombox. Songs that are now 30 years old and songs that I will continue to listen to. I can’t name you one song that came out in 2024, but I will wonder where all this talking got us baby. That’s from “White, Discussion” and I think it’s time for another listen.
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