For Your Own Special Sweetheart
Album | Jawbox
Bridging the gap between muscular noise of DC post-punk and the melodic shape of alt-rock to come
When DC post-punkers Jawbox left indie stalwart Dischord for Atlantic in 1994, few realized it was a sign of things to come. (Jawbox were the first-ever Dischord band to make a leap to the majors.) At the time, such a move was still seen as a slap in the face to the insular punk scene that had spawned the band, rather than evidence of a cultural shift. It's a shame that For Your Own Special Sweetheart was dogged by cries of sellout, because not only is it Jawbox's best album, it remains one of the best post-punk albums of the '90s. The dueling guitars and bottom-heavy rhythm section kept things grounded in mosh-appropriate hardcore world, but the melodicism of songs like "Savory" and "Cooling Card" (along with their MTV-worthy videos) made the band a perfect candidate for the still-burgeoning Alternative Nation. The 2009 reissue not only delivers better sound (courtesy of a Bob Weston remastering), it ropes in three tracks not included on the original version. Many of DC's more typically "hardcore" bands would have longer careers than Jawbox, but few would produce albums as powerfully dynamic or influential as this.
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