Forgotten Album of the Month: Tad














Forgotten Album of the Month: Tad

Tad are one of the most underrated bands of the whole grunge scene and that’s saying a lot because there were a ton of bands in that same predicament. But Tad were different because not only did they have the sound and the power but they also had the lyrical ability to back up the sound. It’s all clearly demonstrated best on 1991’s 8-Way Santa.

The album was produced by Butch Vig, before Nirvana and Smashing Pumpkins and he does an amazing job here. The sound is phenomenal and even the weak tracks still hold up almost twenty years later. While Tad Doyle’s vocals are a bit rough and wouldn’t sound totally together until 1993’s Inhaler, you have to give him props because he’s singing with all of his power and it’s only making the songs that much stronger.

While songs like “Jinx,” “Giant Killer” and “Flame Tavern” get the blood flowing and the head throbbing, it’s gems like “Jack Pepsi,” which later got the band in a heap of legal problems as well as “3-D Witch Hunt” and the classic “Plague Years” that really help set the band apart from their contemporaries. “Plague Years” in particular is an amazing song; semi-acoustic but loaded with power and an excellent way to close the song.

As previously stated, even the weak songs still sound good all these years later and it’s absolutely astounding that the band aren’t more well-known. It should be noted that 8-Way Santa comes in a choice of two different covers, one featuring a stoned hippie couple with a woman wearing a bandanna for a bra and her husband groping her and the more legal cover of the band standing in a barnyard. Whatever the cover, the music inside is excellent and it’s damn time this band got the recognition it deserved.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pv7N6Wt7PZw&feature=channel_page (Plague Years) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvOslApgmIE (Stumblin’ Man)

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