The Toy Box: 000 Maniacs

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Retro Spins: 10,000 Maniacs - In My Tribe

With the departure of co-founding member, John Lombardo, remaining members Natalie Merchant, Robert Buck, Dennis Drew, Steve Gustafson, and Jerome Augustyniak would continue on as a five piece, seemingly undeterred. While one would expect the absence of Merchant's co-writer on the majority of their material to be a potential problem, instead, 1987's In My Tribe would serve to be the band's biggest album of all time.

Having said that, it's not like the singles from the album were burning up the charts. Rather, Like The Weather, and What's The Matter Here? would only turn out to be moderate hits, peaking at sixty-eight and eighty, respectively, on the Billboard Hot 100. Mainly, the group continued to find a strong foothold amongst the college radio scenes.

The overall sound continues the hipster trend which started with 1985's The Wishing Chair. It's a style I would definitely say I'm not the biggest fan of, but that it's okay in moderation. What I will say is that I found myself flipflopping back and forth. Either I would like a song for its solid instrumentation or Merchant's unique vocals, but usually never at the same time. This was incredibly prevalent for In My Tribe.

What I was definitely surprised about was the number of songs I did enjoy. There were quite a few; What's The Matter Here?, Hey Jack Kerouac, Like The Weather, The Painted Desert, Don't Talk, My Sister Rose, and A Campfire Song. The latter, I immediately picked up on the co-vocals of R.E.M.'s Michal Stipe, making it all the more enjoyable.

Look, I'm not going to call myself a fan of the band, but I will say that of the four albums, this was certainly the most enjoyable for me. Does it make me want to hear more from them? No, not necessarily. However, I will give them a nod of 80's approval.

Merchant, Buck, Drew, Gustafson, and Augustyniak would remain the 10,00 Maniacs until 1993 when Merchant would quit in a vain push for a solo career, to work with other musicians, and have full creative control. While part of this discography includes the 1989 album, Blind Man's Zoo, as noted in my post about their debut album, I've already played through that one for a Retro Spin.

The aftermath of Merchant leaving the band was Elektra unceremoniously dropping them from their label in lieu of signing directly with Natalie. The remaining members, Robert Buck, Dennis Drew, Steven Gustafson, and Jerry Augustyniak would reach out to previous member John Lombardo and his new bandmate, Mary Ramsey to join the band. Initially, they didn't have the rights to use the band's name, and as a result, started out as the long winded, John & Mary, Rob, Steve, Dennis, & Jerry. However, once they reobtained the name, they released two albums between 1997 and 1999.

Buck would take a short break in 1998 but return to the band the following year. Unfortunately, shortly after, he would pass away from liver failure, prompting the remaining members to take a break. Gustafson, Drew, and Augustyniak would regroup in 2002, and decide to carry on. However, upon learning that they'd hired a new guitarist, and singer, Jeff Erickson, and Oskar Saville, respectively, Lombardo quit the band again. This iteration would tour through 2004.

In 2006, Saville left, leaving room for Mary Ramsey to rejoin. This lineup released two more studio albums, with 2015's Twice Told Tales being their last. This would also feature Lombardo, who returned to the band. Since then, lineup changes continued to occur, with both Ramsey and Erickson departing, replaced briefly by Leigh Nash, and Matt Slocum. As of 2024, the band has consisted of founding members Dennis Drew, Steven Gustafson, as well as long standing members, Jerry Augustyniak, John Lombardo, and Mary Ramsey. Since her initial departure, Natalie Merchant has enjoyed a solo career and appears to have no intensions of ever reuniting with her former bandmates.

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Retro Spins: 10,000 Maniacs - The Wishing Chair

After self-funding and releasing their 1982 debut EP and studio album, Human Conflict Number Five and Secrets Of The I Ching, respectively, 10,000 Maniacs not only found themselves with a manager, Peter Leak, but through his efforts, a recording contract with Elektra Records.

1985's The Wishing Chair would receive moderately favorable reviews, reaching a silver sales certification. Despite this, the Maniacs would yet to achieve any Billboard Hot 100 singles, instead staying primarily popular among college radio stations.

Right from the starting gate, this is definitely absent of the charm that made Secrets Of The I Ching unique. This is straight up folk rock, whereas its predecessor felt experimental, rooted in reggae. It somewhat kills the momentum high I was on with my previous Retro Spin and was a bit disappointing.

Truthfully, the album got lost for me in background noise, with only one track, Just As The Tide Was A Flowing, standing out as memorable. Mind you, I use the term "memorable" lightly, as at this point, after hearing the whole album, I don't honestly remember it.

It would turn out that I am not the only one who was disappointed with the change in musical stye. So too was co-founding member, Lombardo, who departed in 1986. He would join up with Mary Ramsey, forming the folk act, John And Mary.

Remaining members, Natalie Merchant, Robert Buck, Dennis Drew, Steve Gustafson, and Jerome Augustyniak would return to the studio to release 1987's In My Tribe, the Maniacs highest selling, and commercially successful album to date.

Overall, so far I'm getting about what I expected from 10,000 Maniacs, which is not much at all. They're not a bad group; they're just not hit singles good. For the most part, their tunes are forgettable, and that in and of itself is their biggest flaw.

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Retro Spins: 10,000 Maniacs - Secrets Of The I Ching

As I mentioned in my very first post on the band, 10,000 Maniacs, I don't know much about them. Sure, I've got the basics; Natalie Merchant is the singer, and they performed for MTV Unplugged in the 90's. In my write up of their 1989 album, Blind Man's Zoo, I was not too kind about my opinion on them.

The band was formed in 1981 as Still Life by keyboardist Dennis Drew, bassist Steven Gustafson, drummer Chet Cardinale, guitarist Robert Buck, and vocalist Terri Newhouse. Gustafson would extend an invitation to a young Natlie Merchant to provide some vocal work, as well as offer John Lombardo a full-time role in the band as an additional bassist and guitarist. Later that year, Newhouse and Cardinale and would quit, and Merchant would become their lead singer. This was followed by a temporary name change to Burn Victims, before settling on 10,000 Manicas, a name inspired by the horror film, Two Thousand Maniacs.

Several drummers would come and go, but it would be Tim Edborg who would debut with Merchant, Lombardo, Buck, Drew, and Gustafson on Labor Day, September 7, 1981. He'd depart soon thereafter, and Bob "Bob O Matic" Wachter would fill the role for the remainder of the year. He'd eventually be replaced by Jim Foti.

Tired of being a cover band, Merchant and Lombardo would take on the role of main song writers for the band, with Natlie focusing on lyrics, while John arranged music. Alongside Buck, Drew, Gustafson, and Foti, they'd record the 1982 EP, Human Conflict Number Five. The recording would be financed by Drew's mother, and a mere 1,000 copies would be pressed on vinyl by the label, Mark Records.

By 1983, Jerry Augustyniak had joined as their new drummer, and with this revised lineup in place, set to task on recording the tracks that would become their debut studio album, Secrets of the I Ching. Much like their EP, it was pressed in limited quantities of just 500 by Mark Records. The album would garner the attention of UK DJ John Peel, who began playing tracks from it, boosting their popularity around London.

One of the interesting aspects about their debut EP and studio album is that you won't actually find these on a standalone CD. Meaning, you're not going to find a CD titled Human Conflict Number Five or Secrets Of The I Ching. Instead, the band would remix all of these tracks, and compile them together on their 1990 compilation album, Hope Chest: The Fredonia Recordings 1982–1983. It's a convenient, and cheap way to get them both, but at the same time, a bit disappointing that they're not the original versions.

Back in New York, Peter Leak would also take an interest in the band, and upon reaching out would become their manager. It was through his efforts that they'd get signed to Elektra Records, and release their mass distributed The Wishing Chair in 1985. However, for now, I'm getting too far ahead.

I don't know if the album was mixed poorly, or my ears weren't working. I could barely understand Merchant's vocals, to the point that it felt like she was singing either gibberish, or in a foreign language. Another odd aspect was it seemed to be heavy reggae influenced, with her trying to sound like she had a South African accent. The whole thing was just weird, which was also part of its charm. It wasn't bad.

While Grey Victory and Daktari were the standout tracks to me, I can honestly, and surprisingly say, there wasn't anything bad from the album. I actually quite enjoyed it. I imagine hearing it in 1982 would have potentially been system shock for how different it is in comparison to the standard radio fare of that year. It almost seems out of place in comparison.

Bottom line is I'm down with this one and intrigued to jump into their 1985 mainstream follow-up. Further, I'm curious if I was too critical of their 1989 album that I initially listened to last year. Depending on how things go, I may have to revisit that one. We'll see.

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Retro Spins: 10,000 Maniacs - Blind Man's Zoo

I have to be honest. I don't understand what the big deal is with 10,000 Maniacs. I'd never even heard of them until their 1993 MTV Unplugged show, and even then, that didn't blow me away. Which is why it was odd that when my co-worker started listening to that album that I was like, "Hey, I know that song," with each and every tune that came and went.

This led me to start looking at their discography, and being a little shocked to find that not only were they around in the 80's, but that there were several songs on the records that I kind of wanted. Not necessarily because I "had" to have them. More so because I just kind of wanted to check that box. This was made easy to do when I came across a listing on ebay that had all three of the albums I was looking at a low starting bid of $4.00.

Well, apparently I was the only person on Earth looking for 10,000 Maniacs albums that week, because I won that listing for my opening bid. Neat! I love when that happens.

10,000 Maniacs were never really known to be mainstream, and this point was drilled home all the more harder by them mainly being played on college campuses where the students made it a point to not play well known artists or popular music. What's ironic is that this ultimately pushed them into the limelight as their popularity grew around schools.

The band started in 1981as Still Life, but by September of that same year had renamed the group, 10,000 Maniacs. They would self release their debut 1983 album, Secrets Of The I Ching, and had a minor hit with, My Mother The War. However, it wouldn't be until Peter Leak became interested in the group, and become their manager, that they would sign a recording contract.

Natalie Merchant would front the band as lead singer from 1981 to 1993, but then leave to pursue a solo career. Coupled with her haunting voice and the musical style of the band, they would garner great success, selling consecutive platinum albums for 1987's In My Tribe, 1989's Blind Man's Zoo, and 1992's Our Time In Eden.

When Merchant left, her role was filled by Mary Ramsey, the second half of the folk duo, John & Mary. However, under her lead, the band never saw the success and sales that previous albums received. Merchant, on the other hand, would find great success as a solo artist, releasing albums from 1995 through 2017.

Today, I want to see what all the fuss was about. Like I said, there were songs I discovered I knew, and wanted to add to my collection. But, what I wanted to see was if there was something else I may have missed from this multi-album platinum selling band. I decided to do so by starting with their last entry in the 80's, 1989's Blind Man's Zoo.

10,000 Maniacs has a unique sound to it. Somewhat folksy, definitely alternative rock, and pretty much not for me. While I didn't hear anything that I would label as "bad" on this particular record, it just overall wasn't for me.

I can see why people would like this group. Their tracks have a tendency to feel a little deeper rooted than most mainstream music. I can definitely envision young college students reading far more into the lyrics than perhaps was intended to be there, sparking philosophical conversations for hours.

In fact, in typing the above, it may have finally struck me. This music feels like it's for hipsters. Counter-culture, independent thinking. You know, those annoying people. It may very well be that reason that I don't particularly care for this music. Basically, just take all the lyrics from it, and replace select words with the likes of, "establishment," "organic", "my bad", and so on. Let's just try this with the opening lyrics to one of their most popular songs, Trouble.

Original Lyrics:

Trouble
Disturb me with all your cares and your worries
(Trouble me) on the days when you feel spent

New Lyrics:

Establishment
Disturb me with all your my bad, and your worries
(Establishment) on the days when you feel organic

Yeah, that definitely seems to work.

Well, now that I've insulted every 10,000 Maniacs fan out there, I guess I'm done. Long story short, 10,000 Maniacs has hits, but meh, passable.

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THIS WEEK ON THE CHARTS
January 12, 1980

THIS WEEK ON THE CHARTS
January 12, 1985