Green Magnet School was an
experimental rock band formed in
in 1987. The founding members included Tim Shea on guitar and vocals, Rob Hamilton on drums, Can Keskin on guitar and bass, Steve Rzucidlo on bass, and Chris Pearson on guitar and vocals. Later the line-up would change to feature Jeff Iwanicki on bass and Greg Gilmartin on drums.
Overview and biography
The band defied easy categorization, but the three-guitar cacophony of its music was often referred to in the subgenres of
noise rock
Noise rock (sometimes called noise punk) is a noise music, noise-oriented style of experimental rock that spun off from punk rock in the 1980s. Drawing on movements such as minimal music, minimalism, industrial music, and New York hardcore, a ...
,
post punk
Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and non-roc ...
,
no wave, and even
industrial music
Industrial music is a genre of music that draws on harsh, mechanical, transgressive or provocative sounds and themes. AllMusic defines industrial music as the "most abrasive and aggressive fusion of rock and electronic music" that was "initiall ...
. After releasing a string of
indie singles, the band briefly signed with
Sub Pop
Sub Pop is a record label founded in 1986 by Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman. Sub Pop achieved fame in the early 1990s for signing Seattle bands such as Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Mudhoney, central players in the grunge movement. They are often ...
records in 1992 and released their debut CD Blood Music, named after a
science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...
novel of the same title by author
Greg Bear. The album was critically acclaimed, and the bleak,
dystopian
A dystopia (from Ancient Greek δυσ- "bad, hard" and τόπος "place"; alternatively cacotopiaCacotopia (from κακός ''kakos'' "bad") was the term used by Jeremy Bentham in his 1818 Plan of Parliamentary Reform (Works, vol. 3, p. 493). ...
nature of both the lyrics and music were compared by
UK music journalists to such groups as
Killing Joke
Killing Joke are an English rock music, rock band from Notting Hill, London, England, formed in 1979 by Jaz Coleman (vocals, keyboards), Paul Ferguson (drums), Geordie Walker (guitar) and Youth (musician), Youth (bass).
Their first album, ''Ki ...
,
Live Skull
Live Skull is a post-punk/experimental rock band from New York City, formed in 1982.
In an overview of their abrasive no wave-influenced music, ''Trouser Press'' said, "As part of the same New York avant-noisy scene that spawned Sonic Youth, Lyd ...
,
Gang of Four
The Gang of Four () was a Maoist political faction composed of four Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials. They came to prominence during the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976) and were later charged with a series of treasonous crimes. The gang ...
, and early
Sonic Youth
Sonic Youth was an American rock band based in New York City, formed in 1981. Founding members Thurston Moore (guitar, vocals), Kim Gordon (bass, vocals, guitar) and Lee Ranaldo (guitar, vocals) remained together for the entire history of the b ...
.
After playing and touring extensively with both
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
-based and national acts such as
The Lemonheads
The Lemonheads are an American alternative rock band formed in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1986 by Evan Dando, Ben Deily, and Jesse Peretz. Dando has remained the band's only constant member.
After their initial punk-influenced releases and tour ...
,
Come
Come may refer to:
* Comè, a city and commune in Benin
* Come (Tenos), an ancient town on Tenos island, Greece
Music
* Come (American band), an American indie rock band formed in 1990
* Come (UK band), a British noise project founded in 1979
** ...
,
Galaxie 500
Galaxie 500 was an American alternative rock band that formed in 1987 and split up in 1991 after releasing three albums: ''Today'', '' On Fire'' and '' This Is Our Music''. The band was made up of guitarist/vocalist Dean Wareham, drummer Damon K ...
,
Dinosaur Jr.
Dinosaur Jr. is an American rock band formed in Amherst, Massachusetts, in 1984, originally simply called Dinosaur until legal issues forced a change in name.
The band was founded by J Mascis (guitar, vocals, primary songwriter), Lou Barlow ( ...
,
The Afghan Whigs
The Afghan Whigs are an American rock band from Cincinnati, Ohio. They were active from 1986 to 2001 and have since reformed as a band. The group – with core members Greg Dulli (vocals, rhythm guitar), Rick McCollum (lead guitar), and John Cur ...
,
The Flaming Lips
The Flaming Lips are an American psychedelic rock band formed in 1983 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The band currently consists of Wayne Coyne (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Steven Drozd (guitars, keyboards, bass, drums, vocals), Derek Brown (keyb ...
and
The Jesus Lizard
The Jesus Lizard is an American rock band formed in 1987 in Austin, Texas and based in Chicago, Illinois. They were "a leading noise rock band in the American independent underground… hoturned out a series of independent records filled with s ...
, as well as playing the second stage at
Lollapalooza
Lollapalooza (Lolla) is an annual American four-day music festival held in Grant Park in Chicago. It originally started as a touring event in 1991 but several years later made Chicago the permanent location for the annual music festival. Musi ...
in 1992, the group released a CD
EP titled Revisionist in 1993, and what would be their final CD, ''
Illuminatus'', in 1995. After several line-up changes, GMS finally disbanded in 1997. Now regarded as a highly underrated, influential band ahead of its time, Green Magnet School is considered one of the seminal
indie rock
Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...
groups that sprouted from the fertile, post-
grunge
Grunge (sometimes referred to as the Seattle sound) is an alternative rock genre and subculture that emerged during the in the American Pacific Northwest state of Washington, particularly in Seattle and nearby towns. Grunge fuses elements of p ...
Boston music community of the late 1980s to early 1990s.
The band reunited for one night on October 7, 2004 to play a sold-out benefit/memorial show at The Middle East nightclub in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Post-breakup activity
Several former members of the band remain currently active in ongoing musical projects including
Black Helicopter
The black helicopter is a symbol of an New World Order (conspiracy theory), alleged conspiratorial Military dictatorship, military takeover of the United States in the American militia movement, and has also been associated with UFOs, especiall ...
, Ekranoplan,
Low-Country Messiahs and Teleffonic (see External Links below.)
Notable live shows
* 1993 or (Friday, February 11, 1994?) at Brownies (NYC)
*
CMJ
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 ...
New Music Marathon (with Babe the Blue Ox and
Godplow)
Discography
Singles
* "CO" split with God's Acre (Toxic Shock Records) 1990
* "White People" (Sonic Bubblegum Records) 1991
* "White People" split with Six Finger Satellite (Hippy Knight Records, Australia) 1991
* "Singed" (Sub Pop Records Single-of-the-Month Club, Dec. 1991)
* "Blind in My Mouth" (Hippy Knight Records, Australia) 1992
* "Declaration of Techno-Colonial Independence" 2×7 with
Six Finger Satellite
Six Finger Satellite (a.k.a. 6FS) are an American synthesizer-based post-hardcore band, based in Providence, Rhode Island, United States.
History
The band formed in 1990 around a line-up of J. Ryan (singer/keyboards), John MacLean (guitar) ...
(Sub Pop Records) 1993
Albums
* "Blood Music" (Sub Pop/Genius Records) 1992
* "Revisionist" (Sonic Bubblegum Records) 1993
* "Illuminatus" (Sonic Bubblegum Records) 1995
Miscellaneous
* "Windshield" on "Where's Stanton Park?"-LP (Stanton Park Records) 1989
* "Blood Music"-LP (Sub Pop/Glitterhouse Records Germany) 1992
* "Throb" on "Revolution Come and Gone"-CD (Sub Pop Europe) 1993
* "Blind in My Mouth" on "Self Mutilation"-CD (Hippy Knight Records, Australia) 1994
* "Slipper" on "Pipeline!"-CD (Kimchee Records) 1996
External links
official Green Magnet School Bandcamp pageSub Pop band page for Green Magnet School
{{Authority control
American experimental musical groups
American noise rock music groups
Indie rock musical groups from Massachusetts
Musical groups disestablished in 1997
Musical groups established in 1987
1987 establishments in Massachusetts
1997 disestablishments in Massachusetts
Sub Pop artists