History Music / Spiderland

* WhamLine: "The ticket taker smiles, and the last car is ready. '[[SurpriseCreepy Who told you you could leave]]?'"

-->--'''"Good Morning, Captain"'''

In March 1991, a record with a black and white photo of four men -- no band name, no album name -- floating in an abandoned quarry, staring and [[TheUnsmile smiling]] right at the camera, began to appear in music stores. Those pulled in by the cover would find themselves [[ShroudedInMyth enwrapped in a world of mystique]] -- the band had broken up before the album's release, the music on the album was dark and depressing with lyrics emphasising isolation, and one of the members supposedly had to be institutionalised during/after the recording (the rumour varies); it was as if it was cursed. Despite being largely ignored on its release, the few that did hear it bore witness to something different, giving birth to a [[PostRock new genre.]]

''Spiderland'' is the sophomore and final album by American PostHardcore[=/=]MathRock band Music/{{Slint}}, released through Creator/TouchAndGoRecords on March 27, 1991. [[NewSoundAlbum A very marked departure from]] their first album ''Tweez,'' ''Spiderland'' set itself apart by removing itself of traditional hardcore structures, instead focusing on usage of long crescendos and sudden diminuendos (today, the term "Slint Dynamics" is used for dynamics similar to the ones featured on this album) and narrative lyrics delivered in [[SpokenWordInMusic spoken word.]] Fueling the mysteriousness around the album was the TroubledProduction: the entire thing was stressfully recorded over four nights, and singer Brian [=Mc=]Mahan threw his voice and became physically ill after recording the LP's final track, "Good Morning, Captain".

Notable for, along with ''Music/LaughingStock'' by Music/TalkTalk (also from 1991), [[TropeMakers pioneering the genre]] known as PostRock, which would in turn bring about artists such as Music/GodspeedYouBlackEmperor and inspire other bands, such as Music/{{Swans}} in their later years, to help [[TropeCodifier define what post-rock could be.]] Also brought profound influence on MathRock and underground music in general. The band has since reunited, are touring and are rumoured to be working on new material. ''Breadcrumb Trail,'' a {{Rockumentary}} about the album's recording, was released in 2015.

In March 1991, a record with a black and white photo of four men -- no band name, no album name -- floating in an abandoned quarry, staring and [[TheUnsmile smiling]] right at the camera, began to appear in music stores. Those pulled in by the cover would find themselves [[ShroudedInMyth enwrapped in a world of mystique]] -- the band had broken up before the album's release, the music on the album was dark and depressing with lyrics emphasising isolation, and one of the members supposedly had to be institutionalised during/after the recording (the rumour varies); it was as if it was cursed. Despite being largely ignored on its release, the few that did hear it bore witness to something different, giving birth to a [[PostRock new genre.]] Over twenty years on, it's now considered one of the most influential releases of all time.

Notable for, along with ''Music/LaughingStock'' by Music/TalkTalk, [[TropeMakers pioneering the genre]] known as PostRock, which would in turn bring about artists such as Music/GodspeedYouBlackEmperor and inspire other bands, such as Music/{{Swans}} in their later years, to help [[TropeCodifier define what post-rock could be.]] Also brought profound influence on MathRock and underground music in general. The band has since reunited, are touring and are rumoured to be working on new material. ''Breadcrumb Trail,'' a {{Rockumentary}} about the album's recording, was released in 2015.

* AlbumIntroTrack: "Breadcrumb Trail" is pretty much a preview for the rest of the album.

* TextlessAlbumCover: [[NightmareFuel Look at the damn thing.]]

* SpiritualAntithesis: To Music/TalkTalk's ''Music/LaughingStock'', the other TropeMaker for post-rock that came out in the same year. The two, while both considered cornerstones of the genre, are so starkly different from each other that they inadvertently illustrate just what a nebulous phrase "post-rock" actually is. ''Laughing Stock'' is a lush, jazzy record that uses diverse instrumentation and free flowing song structures to create a peaceful, spiritual, faintly melancholic atmosphere. It was made by a British band that already had several commercially successful NewWave albums under their belt, and featured over a dozen studio musicians playing everything from saxophone to viola. ''Spiderland'' meanwhile is a sparse, cold, eerie record made in a basement by a bunch of Louisville punks, which uses unusual song structures, deadpan vocals, and skeletal production to create an oppressive, macabre atmosphere. If ''Laughing Stock'' is a beautiful, Edenic garden, then this album is an old, rusting railroad bridge standing over a swamp.