''American Thighs'' is the 1994 debut

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by American

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...

band

Veruca Salt Veruca Salt is an American alternative rock band founded in Chicago, Illinois, in 1992 by vocalist-guitarists Nina Gordon and Louise Post, drummer Jim Shapiro and bassist Steve Lack. They are best known for their first single, " Seether", that ...

. The album features the hit single "

Seether Seether are a South African rock band founded in 1999 in Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa. The band originally performed under the name Saron Gas until 2002, when they moved to the United States and changed it to Seether to avoid confusion wit ...

" and received positive critical reviews.

Background and release

Singer-guitarists

Nina Gordon Nina Rachel Gordon Shapiro (born November 14, 1967), known as Nina Gordon, is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. She co-founded the alternative rock band Veruca Salt and played on their first two studio albums, ''American Thighs'' ( ...

and

Louise Post Louise Lightner Post (born December 7, 1966) is an American musician. She is best known for being a vocalist and guitarist of the alternative rock band Veruca Salt, which she co-founded with Nina Gordon in 1993. Early life Post was born in St ...

started working together in 1992.Erlewine, Stephen Thomas
"Veruca Salt"
allmusic.com. Retrieved September 28, 2020. They eventually formed Veruca Salt with bassist Steve Lack and drummer Jim Shapiro, and the four had been a full band less than a year when they signed with the independent label

Minty Fresh Minty Fresh is a Chicago-based record label, founded in 1993 by Jim Powers with Anthony Musiala. The label is known for launching the careers of Veruca Salt. They also gave the Swedish band The Cardigans their first US release and released the d ...

.Gladstone, Eric
"Next Big Things"
''CMJ New Music Monthly''. February 1995. pp. 20-24. In 1994, they released the single "Seether"/"All Hail Me". "Seether" became a hit on college and alternative radio stations, and the band recorded the album ''American Thighs'' with producer

Brad Wood Brad Wood is an American record producer located in Los Angeles. He has produced many albums, including Liz Phair's ''Exile in Guyville'' and Placebo's debut. Career Wood is from Rockford, Illinois, United States. In 1988, Wood, along with ...

. The album was released through Minty Fresh on September 27, 1994, the title a reference to a line from the

AC/DC AC/DC (stylised as ACϟDC) are an Australian Rock music, rock band formed in Sydney in 1973 by Scottish-born brothers Malcolm Young, Malcolm and Angus Young. Their music has been variously described as hard rock, blues rock, and Heavy metal ...

song "

You Shook Me All Night Long "You Shook Me All Night Long" is a song by Australian hard rock band AC/DC, from the album ''Back in Black''. The song also reappeared on their later album ''Who Made Who''. It is AC/DC's first single with Brian Johnson as the lead singer, rep ...

". Veruca Salt then signed with the major label

Geffen Records Geffen Records is an American record label established by David Geffen and owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M Records imprint. Founded in 1980, Geffen Records has been a part of Interscope Geffen A&M since 1999 and h ...

, which re-released the album. "Seether" became a hit on

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

. Two more singles, "

Number One Blind "Number One Blind" is a song by Veruca Salt. It was released previously on the album '' American Thighs.'' It was written by Nina Gordon. The song references the window blind manufacturer Levolor in the chorus. The music video for the song was ...

" and "

Victrola The Victor Talking Machine Company was an American recording company and phonograph manufacturer that operated independently from 1901 until 1929, when it was acquired by the Radio Corporation of America and subsequently operated as a subsidi ...

", were released from the album, but neither matched the success of "Seether". ''American Thighs'' was eventually certified gold.

Critical reception

''American Thighs'' received generally positive reviews from critics.

Stephen Thomas Erlewine Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance writer, occ ...

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

gave the album 4 stars out of 5, calling it "a pure pop album masquerading as the next big thing." Nick Kelly of ''

Hot Press ''Hot Press'' is a fortnightly music and politics magazine based in Dublin, Ireland, founded in June 1977. The magazine has been edited since its inception by Niall Stokes. History ''Hot Press'' was founded in June 1977 by Niall Stokes, who co ...

'' said, "Given that this is their first record, you can't help asking yourself how a band so young can sing songs so good." Eric Gladstone of ''

CMJ New Music Monthly CMJ Holdings Corp. is a music events and online media company, originally founded in 1978, which ran a website, hosted an annual festival in New York City, and published two magazines, ''CMJ New Music Monthly'' and ''CMJ New Music Report''. Th ...

'' wrote that "the album works an infectious formula: thick harmonies layered over attack-formation guitars and drums, with lyrics shifting from childlike innocence to guiltless brutality." ''

Spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thread by twisting fibers together, traditionally by hand spinning * Spin, the rotation of an object around a central axis * Spin (propaganda), an intentionally b ...

'' ranked it number 8 on its list of the 20 best albums of 1994. In 2014, ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' ranked it number 21 on its list of the 40 best alternative rock albums of 1994.

Track listing

Personnel

Credits adapted from liner notes. Veruca Salt *

– guitar, vocals *

– guitar, vocals * Steve Lack – bass guitar * Jim Shapiro – drums, background vocals Additional musicians *

Christian Lane Christian Lane (born May 9, 1975) is an American singer-songwriter and music producer. His first band, Loud Lucy, was part of the Chicago indie-rock scene of the early-to-mid-1990s. Career Loud Lucy's debut album, ''Breathe was released by Geff ...

– additional vocals (on "Victrola") Production *

– production, recording, mixing * Casey Rice – additional engineering *

John McEntire John McEntire (born April 9, 1970 in Portland, Oregon) is an American recording engineer, producer, drummer and multi-instrumentalist, based in Chicago, Illinois. He is a member of both Tortoise and the Sea and Cake. McEntire started playing dr ...

– additional engineering * Roger Seibel – mastering

Charts

References

External links

* * {{Authority control 1994 debut albums Veruca Salt albums Minty Fresh Records albums Albums produced by Brad Wood