Friday, March 28, 2008

The Hated - Every Song


hated / moss icon show flyer. (amazing line-up for a show.)
in terms of 'emo' history, The Hated essentially bridge the gap between the Rites of Spring sound and the Jawbreaker / Sunny Day Real Estate sound. in my mind, that would technically make them not 'emo' as they represent the beginning of the scene that is often mislabeled in popular culture as 'emo'. The Hated are kind of a combination of Husker Du's more serious arty side and the brand of indie rock that was coming out of Minneapolis at the time (R.E.M., The Replacements, etc.). with a variety of acoustic instruments as well as some of the most raw sounding vocals put to tape The Hated brought a more pristine compressed version of post-hardcore. while Fugazi was tampering in very raw noise around the time The Hated was around, the Annapolis group was paving out the start of a extremely melodic and musically eclectic genre that would rule the charts in a few years time. the intro to this record is so powerful and youthful. 'promises' is a surprisingly poppy vocal piece. all of the tracks on here are just great, sincere lyrics, tearful yearning from teenagers and lastly The Hated really succeed at pulling off a very original sound that incorporates all of the great trends of the late '80s college rock scene.

the hated's 'every song'
'Every Song's'' reputation kind of precedes itself. Lets just say distribution wise The Hated really didn't have their ducks in a row. While the sound was certainly progressive it obviously would not catch on for a few more years, kind of like a Green River of the more emo shaded side of indie rock. Arguments of whether the material should be rereleased and other such issues have been seemingly going on for years, The Hated certainly have a fan base.. the main problem is that a percentage of those fans are just hopeful ones that haven't even heard or seen the record. hopefully this post helps a few people get into one of the most inventive, melodic, groups of the '80s as well as one of the most unknown.

8 comments:

gabbagabbahey said...

yes, I have this and 'No More We Cry'. I still really like the latter, and probably prefer it for its immediacy, but Everysong is a really accomplished reading of their sound.

Very good write-up; I totally agree with the Husker Du + REM comparisons. It really fits into that late 80's alt-rock sense as well as being a terrific emo record. Not sure I'd slot them in between the Rites of Spring and Jawbreaker etc., but certainly Moss Icon and the Hated go together as really interesting early emo stuff.

Amazing flyer too, wacky poetry and all.

The Hated was something I'd been thinking about posting on my blog, because it's pretty obscure (if you haven't heard No More We Cry, I might do that). I don't know if you seen this, but Jimmy Buttons posted a couple of really interesting Hated-related bands: http://jimmybuttons.blogspot.com/search/label/the%20hated

Jared Dillon said...

I have a rip of 'No More We Cry' that isn't even split up. its just two like five minute tracks that seem to be raw recorded straight off the 7".

I guess Jawbreaker is a little far of a stretch, but I can really see these guys being the start of SDRE, Mineral, The Promise Ring, all of those groups that are alot more artsy than the standard punk 'emo' bands.

thanks for the heads up on the other projects also, they look pretty great.. after my shift tonight i'll check them out for sure.

gabbagabbahey said...

I think I downloaded the same thing - I seem to remember converting things into .wav and chopping them up myself. It's not like it's that hard, with Audacity at least, to make separate tracks from a vinyl rip.

I understand you comparison better now - I listen to way more Jawbreaker than SDRE (or any of that more indie stuff) so that's why I jumped on it! Yeah, Hated/Moss Icon take a folky, minimalist "artsy" line on the emo sound that you really don't get in the Swing Kids!

feltherfeather said...

Jawbreaker and Sunny Day? Are you out of your gord?

And I have no idea where the Fugazi reference comes in either. Annapolis and D.C., though close in proximity, were pretty disparate scenes. And Littleton and co. had been playing for 4 years before 13 Songs dropped.

And what are you talking about their distribution? Out of print now, but not hard to find at the time.

Ignorant and uninformed post.

blend77 said...

wow... feltherfeather, you rule...

can you come over to my blog and treat me like shit too? please?!?!

or maybe you are aware of something called relativity. we all stand around the mountain, looking up at it from different sides, we see the same mountain, but it doesnt look the same from each of our respective viewpoints.

Jared Dillon said...

hm, i've gotten lots of hardcore realists to go against the whole notion that these guys set the example for groups like SDRE and Jawbreaker. i think it is a pretty clear relation, but i guess i can't really argue that hard with it.

as for the Fugazi comparison. Every Song was released in '89.. I'm not necessarily saying that The Hated and Fugazi had anything in common.. just in term of historical documents Fugazi was doing something completely different than The Hated at the time when both of those bands were being revolutionary.

distribution wise i'm talking really about how difficult it has been for any of their material to be repressed.

don't really think it was extremely ignorant. but whatever. thanks for the comments i guess.

CHURLIE said...

I REALLY LIKED THIS BAND, THANK YOU FOR SHARING!!!!

Ape Mummy said...

Jared,

Fantastic stuff. I came here from Just Another Kid on the Beat, and I have been far from disappointed. Looks like a fantastic mix of music...I'll be checking back regularly.