Big Stir Records and SpyderPop Records proudly announce a unique music and rock literature event and release: GENERATION BLUE, a Limited-Edition Vinyl LP Compilation and Oral History Book curated and edited by S.W. Lauden. The album and book together explore the Hollywood Geek Rock scene of the '90s and early 2000s, featuring key bands NERF HERDER, OZMA, BABY LEMONADE, PSOMA and many others. Previewed by the hit indie single “Where The Hell Is She,” a lost Geek Rock nugget by the band SHUFFLEPUCK, the album features eleven rare or exclusive vintage tracks while the book tells the story of the scene in the words of those who were there—including Lauden who played drums for the band RIDEL HIGH. The LP/Book package is up for presale exclusively at Big Stir Records' online points of sale (including this website) and sees release April 26 as its tracks hit all digital platforms.
What is “Geek Rock”? On the GENERATION BLUE album and in its companion book, we travel back to 1990s Hollywood, the birthplace of the alternative music subgenre often tagged with that name. That’s where bands like Shufflepuck, Supersport 2000, Cockeyed Ghost, Nerf Herder, Ridel High, Chopper One, Ozma, Psoma and many others built a thriving scene that flourished for almost a decade across Southern California clubs and two annual pop music festivals. The term Geek Rock had been used before to describe everybody from Frank Zappa to They Might Be Giants, but it became a pop culture phenomenon in the early ‘90s largely thanks to a 1994 Entertainment Weekly review of Weezer’s self-titled debut album (now universally known as The Blue Album, from which Generation Blue borrows its title). The article bore the headline “The Geeks Shall Inherit The Earth” and it began:
Weezer? The name conjures up images of high school losers with runny noses and head colds, not MTV's hottest new Buzz band. But with the out-of-nowhere success of "Undone—The Sweater Song" that’s exactly what the L.A. foursome has become. Don’t think they’re not recovering geeks, though.
It’s definitely true that The Blue Album’s influence can be heard across the global rock universe over the last 30 years, but that impact was most immediate in the local Hollywood music scene (and the satellite scene 100 miles north in Santa Barbara). Some of those musicians and bands came up in the clubs alongside Weezer, while others took cues from their songwriting, sound, look and approach to create something of their own. “There were certainly other music scenes happening around LA at the time – it’s a sprawling metropolis with hundreds of active bands at any given moment, especially back then – but the impact of Weezer's first album in the mid-’90s was undeniable,” Lauden writes in the introduction the Generation Blue book.
“Given how unlikely Weezer’s potential was back then, it might seem surprising that so many of the bands featured here chose to follow in their footsteps in one way or another. But if you were there and saw how this band of misfits found their way to success on their own terms, it makes perfect sense,” Karl Koch, often referred to as “the fifth member of Weezer,” writes in the Foreword to the Generation Blue oral history. “This fragile thing that we had built and nurtured in a Westside garage had taken on a life of its own and produced some truly fantastic music, much of which is featured on the compilation that accompanies this oral history.”
It was a proven blueprint that resulted in more than a few major label record contracts, coveted opening slots for Weezer tours, and radio and MTV airplay…until it all inevitably fell apart for all but a lucky few. With the release of Generation Blue, author/musician S.W. Lauden (aka Steve Coulter, drummer for Ridel High and subsequently Tsar and The Brothers Steve) partnered with Big Stir Records and SpyderPop Records to share the long-lost music and fascinating stories from Hollywood’s bygone Geek Rock era.
“This oral history and the accompanying compilation is my attempt to capture the spirit, energy and music of the magical Hollywood scene I experienced first-hand in the ‘90s while playing drums for Ridel High. In many ways, it serves as a companion piece to the Popsicko Off to a Bad Start vinyl reissue and oral history we released in 2023,” Lauden told us. “I’m incredibly excited to share these stories and fantastic songs with fans of hooky alternative rock driven by crunchy guitars and pounding drums. The Blue Album turns 30 this year, so it felt like the right time to shine a spotlight on a few of the SoCal bands that album inspired.”
Other musicians and industry insiders featured in the oral history include Matt Sharp (Weezer/The Rentals), Jason Cropper (Weezer/Chopper One), Joe Sib (Comedian/Wax/SideOneDummy Records), Bryan Ray Turcotte (Black Market Flowers), Rachel Haden (That Dog), Kevin Ridel (Lunchbox/Ridel High/AM Radio), Jon Pikus (El Magnifico/Campfire Girls), Rod Cervera (Supersport 2000/The Rentals), Adam Orth (Shufflepuck), Mike Randle (Baby Lemonade/Love), Parry Gripp (Nerf Herder), J.C. Brandy (Lunchbox/Lo Ball), Daniel Brummel (Ozma), Darren Robinson (Phantom Planet), Jose Galvez (Ozma), Linus Dotson (Size 14/Nerf Herder), Todd Sullivan (Geffen Records), Marko DeSantis (Popsicko/My Records), Lawrence Mann (Poptopia), Liz Garo (Restless Records), and many more.
The two sides of the LP, pressed in a strictly limited edition and bundled with the book, immerse the listener in a sound that's immediately identifiable as the heavy pop side of '90s alternative rock, but one that's also surprisingly, delightfully fresh. Many of the tracks are never-before-released (on vinyl, at the very least) or alternate versions of previous releases (including “Touch My Fuzz,” “Self-Destructive” and “Broken Tooth”), suggesting a vision of the decade that might have been: one with bigger and better hooks and a much healthier sense of humor than what's heard on today's grocery store playlists of late century rock-hits-that-actually-were. That literally alternative sound of the '90s rings through in the singalong crunch of CHOPPER ONE's "Touch My Fuzz" and SHUFFLEPUCK's "Where The Hell Is She," the sugary snarl of BABY LEMONADE's "Pop Tarte," and the amped up SoCal sunshine pop of COCKEYED GHOST's "Keep The Sun" and OZMA's "No One Need To Know". And it's embodied in the sheer glee of NERF HERDER's "We Opened For Weezer," which serves as an anthem for the record as a whole.
That's the joy of Geek Rock... and in the 21st Century, with geeks having arguably inherited the earth, these songs and stories stand ready to be discovered by a whole new generation, while being savored by those who were there and remember. GENERATION BLUE is both a soundtrack and a guidebook for them all.
