by Carrie Brownstein

There are the exalted bands and those that are reviled, the revered artists and the perennially mocked. For every Led Zeppelin there is a Great White, and with every Nirvana comes a Collective Soul. The extremes are easier to grasp; they form each end of the musical measuring sticks, and they mark either side of the best-of/worst-of dichotomies.

But what about everyone in between?

Most of the middle-of-the-road bands are virtually forgotten on an everyday basis, on account of them being neither consistently wonderful nor consistently awful. For instance, unlike Warrant's "Cherry Pie" — a terrible song that elicits a collective groan immediately followed by a sing-along — a band like Tesla usually inspires nothing more than a shoulder shrug. Therefore, even if we think an artist or song is particularly heinous (as with Warrant), there's still a passion behind the sense of disgust; so not only does our distaste for the song keep it memorized and memorialized, but it also elicits just as much sentimentality and nostalgia as those songs and bands we consider our favorites.

An average band, on the other hand, is remembered only when one of its songs comes on the radio; while rifling through our old CDs, cassettes or LPs; or when we stumble upon a discounted compilation album. Or maybe this list might help to jar your memory: Toad the Wet Sprocket, Live, The Smithereens, Gene Loves Jezebel and the Toadies.

 

Possum Kingdom

Most of my music examples herein come from the 1980s and '90s, probably because that's when I was most privy to the entire range of music being released: the best, the worst and everything in between. Whereas by the time I discovered music from the '50s, '60s and '70s, the best and worst of those decades had already been filtered and established; it was the Gene Loves Jezebels of those decades that I'll never know, or that I'm less likely to know. Wait a second, do Bread and The Atlantic Rhythm Section constitute middle-of-the-road? Slightly older and younger folks will have to help me out with their respective decades of expertise.

Personally, my vote for the ultimate middle-of-the-road band goes to Gin Blossoms. They are neither amazing nor horrendous; they're just, you know, okay.

Found Out About You

Please share your thoughts on the ultimate M.O.T.R. bands, either of all time or ones from the various decades.