''Platinum Jive'' is an album by the 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

Big Chief "Big Chief" is a song composed by Earl King in the early 1960s. It became a hit in New Orleans for Professor Longhair in 1964,Berry/Foose/Jones, ''Up from the Cradle of Jazz''. University of Louisiana at Lafayette Press, 2009, p. 148. featuring a ...

, released in 1994. Subtitled "(Greatest Hits 1969-1999)", the band presented it as a greatest hits collection, although it is made up entirely of original songs. Released by

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007) is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of note ...

, ''Platinum Jive'' was the band's major label debut, and also their final album. The band supported the album by touring with

the Goats The Goats were an American alternative hip hop trio from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. History The group (whose name, according to Swayzack, was chosen to join the word "scapegoats" and the saying "Don't get my goat," concluding that they felt t ...

, and then

the Cult The Cult are an English rock band formed in 1983 in Bradford, West Yorkshire. Before settling on their current name in January 1984, the band performed under the name Death Cult, which was an evolution of the name of lead singer Ian Astbury's ...

Production

The album was produced by

Phil Nicolo The Butcher Bros. is an American music production team made up of brothers Phil and Joe Nicolo, originally based out of Philadelphia in the mid-to-late '80s. Together and individually, the brothers have produced albums for a wide variety of ban ...

and Big Chief.

Schoolly D Jesse Bonds Weaver Jr. (born June 22, 1962), better known by the stage name Schoolly D (sometimes spelled Schooly D), is an American rapper from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Career Schoolly D teamed up with DJ Code Money in the mid-1980s. His ...

contributed a rap verse to "Bona Fide". Guitar player Mark Dancey designed the album artwork. The liner notes to the "greatest hits" album list the band's concocted albums, with titles such as ''We Gotta Impeach Nixon'', ''White Like Mike'', and ''Barry Henssler: The Sexual Intellectual''.

Critical reception

Trouser Press ''Trouser Press'' was a rock and roll magazine started in New York in 1974 as a mimeographed fanzine by editor/publisher Ira Robbins, fellow fan of the Who Dave Schulps and Karen Rose under the name "Trans-Oceanic Trouser Press" (a reference to ...

'' thought that "the rock/funk synthesis is even more seamless, resulting in heavy music that drives hard and with great invention—including ample spicy sonic details provided by flutes, horns and deftly arranged backup vocals." ''

Guitar Player ''Guitar Player'' is an American popular magazine for guitarists, founded in 1967 in San Jose, California. It contains articles, interviews, reviews and lessons of an eclectic collection of artists, genres and products. It has been in print si ...

'' deemed the album "workingman's grunge-funk with a nihilist's sense of black humor." The ''

Calgary Herald The ''Calgary Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Publication began in 1883 as ''The Calgary Herald, Mining and Ranche Advocate, and General Advertiser''. It is owned by the Postmedia Network. History ''The ...

'' concluded that "like the Beastie Boys, Big Chief manages to transcend their influences while blurring the distinction between black get-down funk and white riff-rock." ''

The Tampa Tribune ''The Tampa Tribune'' was a daily newspaper published in Tampa, Florida. Along with the competing ''Tampa Bay Times'', the ''Tampa Tribune'' was one of two major newspapers published in the Tampa Bay area. The newspaper also published a ''St. Pe ...

'' noted that the album "meshes all of

he band's He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...

hometown influences from the MC5 to George Clinton." ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'' determined that "the Chiefs really can play funk, metal and a credible hybrid of the two, and their affection for booming bass, swaggering guitar and cowbell accents is palpable." ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' described ''Platinum Jive'' as "a fake compilation that ranges from hard guitar rock written in the style of late 1960's Detroit bands like the Stooges and MC5 to rap." ''

The Atlanta Journal ''The Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the only major daily newspaper in the metropolitan area of Atlanta, Georgia. It is the flagship publication of Cox Enterprises. The ''Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the result of the merger between ...

'' wrote that "Big Chief fully embraces mindless, muscle-bound '70s riffage, making music that is equal parts raunchy homage and ironic cackle." The ''

Wisconsin State Journal The ''Wisconsin State Journal'' is a daily newspaper published in Madison, Wisconsin by Lee Enterprises. The newspaper, the second largest in Wisconsin, is primarily distributed in a 19 county region in south-central Wisconsin. As of September ...

'' stated that "Big Chief plays raggedy, guitar-fueled, funk-inflected, lighthearted alternative rock."

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 ...

called the album "a step backward musically, because the band seems to resort back to its heavy rock roots, not further developing the funk and soul elements of ''Skullgame''," writing that "it's not without its good moments, being more hit than miss and sufficiently enjoyable."

Track listing

References

{{Authority control 1994 albums Capitol Records albums