Throwing Muses
New England Art-Indie Pioneers By T. Cole RachelOne of college rock's most unforgettable bands.
Though they later were overshadowed by friends and fellow New Englanders the Pixies, Newport, Rhode Island's Throwing Muses were the first American band signed by the influential British label 4AD, and they were at the forefront of the college rock movement of the late '80s. Led by the fascinating singer-songwriter Kristin Hersh, whose interviews tended to focus on her ongoing struggles with mental illness, the Muses sounded like no other band. Though later albums would flirt with more conventional alternative rock sounds, the band's early efforts (particularly career high point House Tornado) are crammed with angular guitars, loopy song structures, tightly-wound drumming and Hersh’s manic, roaring voice and surreal, sometimes frightening lyrics. Hersh's strained relationship with stepsister Tanya Donelly, Throwing Muses' secondary songwriter, led to the latter's departure following 1991's The Real Ramona. Donelly went on to greater mainstream success with her short-lived early '90s trio Belly, but the creative tension of their partnership couldn't be recaptured by either singer-songwriter on her own.
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