Follow TV Tropes

Following

Context Music / MercuryRev

Go To

1[[quoteright:297:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Mercury_Rev_6100.jpg]]
2[[caption-width-right:297:The band's lineup circa 1998.]]
3
4Mercury Rev are a psychedelic AlternativeRock[=/=]DreamPop[=/=]NoisePop band from Buffalo, New York, formed in 1989. They are frequently compared to the Music/FlamingLips, since both bands experienced the same evolution from noisy, punky psychedelia to lushly orchestrated BaroquePop, Jonathan Donahue was a guitarist in the Lips for a few years early in TheNineties, and Dave Fridmann near-exclusively produces both bands.
5
6Their initial lineup was as follows:
7* David Baker - vocals
8* Jonathan Donahue - guitar, vocals
9* Grasshopper (Sean Mackowiak) - guitar, clarinet
10* Dave Fridmann - bass, keyboards, RecordProducer
11* Suzanne Thorpe - flute, horns
12* [[MyNaymeIs Jimy]] Chambers - drums
13
14This lineup produced two CultClassic albums, ''Yerself Is Steam'' (1991) and ''Boces'' (1993), which found a large audience and some chart success in the indie-rock-happy UK. The album's styles are marked by [[EpicRocking extended run-times]], ragged self-production, use of Grasshopper's homemade Tettix Wave Acumulator synth, a chaotic sound that constantly shifts between poppy accessibility and freaky guitar noisescapes, {{Word Salad Title}}s and [[WordSaladLyrics lyrics]], and the interplay between Baker's deranged, low-pitched vocals and Donahue's more [[Music/SigurRos Jónsi]] sounding voice.
15
16The lineup was plagued by instability, drug abuse and CreativeDifferences, and ''Boces'' (named after New York's Boards of Cooperative Educational Services) earned infamy as a particularly TroubledProduction even by their RuleOfCool standards - one famous story is that either Donahue or Baker tried at one point to [[EyeScream gouge out Grasshopper's eye]] [[CutHisHeartOutWithASpoon with a spoon]].
17
18Baker eventually departed in 1995, and the band's next album ''See You on the Other Side'' (1995) captured the resulting transition: Baker took the noisy, confrontational side of the band's sound with him, leaving Donahue to steer the band towards a more accessible, melodic, lush BaroquePop-influenced sound. However, ''See You on the Other Side'' sank like a brick on the UK charts and attracted no attention, leaving Donahue despondent and pushing the band into a hiatus.
19
20Mercury Rev finally regrouped to record 1998's ''Deserter's Songs'', which surprisingly became their most successful album in the UK and Europe, and gave them a minor hit with "Goddess on a Hiway". This convinced them not to disband, and they've continued making BaroquePop[=/=]PsychedelicRock albums ever since. Their lineup had also been reduced with Chambers and Thorpe leaving soon after ''Deserter's Songs'', leaving Donahue, Grasshopper, Fridmann (who by then retired from touring to focus on his career as a producer), and new drummer/pianist Jeff Mercel. However, as of 2015, only Donahue and Grasshopper remain as official members.
21
22Discography:
23* ''Yerself Is Steam'' (1991)
24* ''Boces'' (1993)
25* ''See You on the Other Side'' (1995)
26* ''Deserter's Songs'' (1998)
27* ''All Is Dream'' (2001)[[note]]with the incredible misfortune of coming out on September 11, 2001[[/note]]
28* ''The Secret Migration'' (2005)
29* ''Snowflake Midnight'' and ''Strange Attractor'' (2008)
30* ''The Light in You'' (2015)
31
32----
33!Mercury Rev provide examples of:
34
35* BrokenRecord: "Car Wash Hair", "Very Sleepy Rivers".
36* BunnyEarsLawyer: All the members, all the time.
37* CoverVersion: They've covered "If You Want Me to Stay" by Music/SlyAndTheFamilyStone, "Shhh/Peaceful" by Music/MilesDavis, "He Was a Friend of Mine" by Music/BobDylan, "Motion Pictures" and "Philadelphia" by Music/NeilYoung, "Caroline Says Pt. II" by Music/LouReed and the standard "I Only Have Eyes For You".
38** In 2019, the band released a cover of the album ''The Delta Sweete'' by Music/BobbieGentry in its' entirety.
39* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: All the members, but Grasshopper most of all.
40* CreepyMonotone: David Baker's singing on "Very Sleepy Rivers". He also pulls the CarefulWithThatAxe.
41* DemotedToExtra:
42** Suzanne Thorpe was credited as part of the guest orchestra from ''All Is Dream'' onwards. It was generous to credit her as a band member to begin with considering that she didn't play on every song and didn't appear with the band in interviews and photo shoots.
43** David Fridmann gradually phased himself out of the band, first declining to tour with them from 1995 onwards and then quitting as bass player before 2005's ''The Secret Migration'' while continuing to produce the band's albums. However, he remained credited as the band's bass player while still a studio player, making this case an aversion.
44* EpicRocking: "Chasing a Bee", "Sweet Oddysee of a Cancer Cell t' th' Center of Yer Heart", "Frittering", "Very Sleepy Rivers", "Car Wash Hair", "Meth of a Rockette's Kick", "Snorry Mouth", "Empire State (Son House In Excelsis)", "Racing the Tide", "Lincoln's Eyes", "Hercules".
45* FallingBass: "Opus 40".
46* FunWithHomophones: Despite the song title, the first line of "Goddess On A Hiway" is "Well, I '''got us''' on a highway...". Only in the last verse do they make the LyricSwap to "She's a goddess on a highway...".
47* HiddenTrack: Their previously released single "Car Wash Hair" on ''Yerself Is Steam'' (some editions list it on the back); the almost ''Zelda''-esque orchestral experiment hidden on ''Deserter's Songs''.
48* IdiotBall: Fridmann stupidly wasted the band's advance on buying his mother a Bermuda vacation package, forcing them to seek assistance from [[Music/{{Galaxie 500}} Dean Wareham]] to record "Car Wash Hair".
49* IndecipherableLyrics: More than half of "Very Sleepy Rivers".
50* LighterAndSofter: What they became after David Baker left.
51* MadnessMantra: "Very Sleepy Rivers".
52* MurderBallad: In a very cryptic way, "Very Sleepy Rivers" is about a serial killer who pretends to be a [[StepfordSmiler normal person]].
53* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Sean "Grasshopper" Mackowiak.
54* PersonaNonGrata: In a Music/{{Swans}}-like example, during the Lollapalooza tour in 1993, they were thrown off the stage for being too loud and noisy.
55* RougeAnglesOfSatin: Some of their titles are prone to this, like "Girlfren" or "Sweet Oddysee of a Cancer Cell t' th' Center of Yer Heart".
56* ShoutOut: "Delta Sun Bottleneck Stomp" inverts a lyric from Music/FlamingLips' "Felt Good To Burn": the former has the repeated lyric "Waving goodbye, I'm not saying hello" while the latter had "I wasn't waving goodbye, I was saying hello".
57* SopranoAndGravel: In the early days, the contrast between David Baker's low-pitched mumbling and Jonathan Donahue's very high-pitched voice.
58* StepUpToTheMicrophone:
59** Jonathan Donahue sang a handful of songs on the first two albums before becoming full time lead vocalist after David Baker's departure.
60** Grasshopper sings lead on the ''Deserter's Songs'' track "Hudson Line"
61* TitleDrop: "Chasing a Bee", for ''Yerself Is Steam''.
62* WordPureeTitle: ''Boces'' is named after the acronym of a New York vocational school system: Boards of Cooperative Educational Services, or BOCES.
63* WordSaladLyrics: Baker's specialty. Jonathan Donahue did the same at first, but seems to have shifted to more straightforward lyrics recently.
64* {{Word Salad Title}}s: Keepers like "Syringe Mouth", "Sweet Oddysee of a Cancer Cell t' th' Center of Yer Heart" and "Continuous Trucks and Thunder Under a Mother's Smile" almost give the Music/FlamingLips a run for their money.
65----

Top