The Loud Family was a San Francisco-based
power pop
Power pop (also typeset as powerpop) is a form of pop rock based on the early music of bands such as the Who, the Beatles, the Beach Boys, and the Byrds. It typically incorporates melodic hooks, vocal harmonies, an energetic performance, and ch ...
band formed in 1991 by songwriter and guitarist
Scott Miller, who previously led the 1980s band
Game Theory
Game theory is the study of mathematical models of strategic interactions among rational agents. Myerson, Roger B. (1991). ''Game Theory: Analysis of Conflict,'' Harvard University Press, p.&nbs1 Chapter-preview links, ppvii–xi It has appli ...
. The Loud Family released six studio LPs and one live LP from 1991 through 2006. After Miller's death in 2013, three Loud Family members participated in recording sessions for ''
Supercalifragile
''Supercalifragile'' is the sixth and final studio album by Game Theory, a California power pop band founded in 1982 by guitarist and singer-songwriter Scott Miller. At the time of his death in 2013, Miller had started work on the recording, whic ...
'' (2017), Miller's posthumous Game Theory album.
[
]
Background
Scott Miller, founder of the group, was a singer, songwriter and guitarist. Prior to forming the Loud Family, he was best known as the leader of the band Game Theory
Game theory is the study of mathematical models of strategic interactions among rational agents. Myerson, Roger B. (1991). ''Game Theory: Analysis of Conflict,'' Harvard University Press, p.&nbs1 Chapter-preview links, ppvii–xi It has appli ...
. Miller and his bands were often described as cult favorites, finding critical acclaim but little commercial success.
In 1977, Miller formed Alternate Learning
Alternate Learning (or ALRN) was a power pop/ new wave band from 1977 to 1982, based in Davis, California and fronted by Scott Miller, a singer-songwriter later known for his work as leader of the 1980s band Game Theory and 1990s band the Loud F ...
(also known as ALRN), his first band to release commercial recordings, along with future Loud Family bandmate Jozef Becker. Alternate Learning released a self-titled 7" EP in 1979, and a full-length LP called ''Painted Windows'' in 1981, on Rational Records.[ Alternate Learning was based in ]Davis, California
Davis is the most populous city in Yolo County, California. Located in the Sacramento Valley region of Northern California, the city had a population of 66,850 in 2020, not including the on-campus population of the University of California, Da ...
, and frequently performed at U.C. Davis
The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a public land-grant research university near Davis, California. Named a Public Ivy, it is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The institut ...
. Miller dissolved Alternate Learning in May 1982.
Game Theory was founded by Miller later in 1982. From 1982 to 1990, Game Theory released seven studio albums (including two EPs), distributed from 1985 to 1988 by Enigma Records
Enigma Records (also known as Enigma Entertainment Corporation) was a popular rock and alternative American record label in the 1980s.
History
Enigma Records launched as a division of Greenworld Distribution, an independent music importer/dis ...
, with later CD compilations and re-releases on Alias Records. Initially formed in Davis, the group changed personnel and moved its base to the San Francisco area after recording the album ''Real Nighttime
''Real Nighttime'' is the second full-length album from Game Theory (band), Game Theory, a California power pop band founded by guitarist and singer-songwriter Scott Miller (pop musician), Scott Miller. Released in 1985, the album is cited as "a wa ...
'' (1985).
The early Game Theory was described as a "pseudo-psychedelic pop quartet" for which Miller sang and wrote almost all of the material.[ The group, a college-rock favorite associated with the ]Paisley Underground
Paisley Underground is a musical genre that originated in California. It was particularly popular in Los Angeles, reaching a peak in the mid-1980s. Paisley Underground bands incorporated psychedelia, rich vocal harmonies and guitar interplay, owin ...
scene of L.A. and Davis, developed a strong cult following.[
In 1989 and 1990, Game Theory's final touring line-up introduced several of the songs that would later appear on the Loud Family's debut LP.
Miller nominally disbanded Game Theory in 1990, and continued to perform shows as a solo artist in the Bay Area until forming his new band.
]
Musical career
Formation
By late 1991, Miller had formed the Loud Family, which began playing Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Gov ...
clubs that year.[
Drummer Jozef Becker stayed on from the final 1989–1990 line-up of Game Theory; Becker had previously been a member of ]Thin White Rope
Thin White Rope was an American rock band fronted by Guy Kyser and related to the desert rock and Paisley Underground subgenres. The band released five albums.
Origins
The band was formed in Davis, California, during a period spanning 1981 and ...
, as well as Miller's earlier band Alternate Learning.[
Miller and Becker were joined by three members of This Very Window: guitarist Zachary Smith, keyboard player Paul Wieneke, and bassist R. Dunbar Poor, who had at various times been co-workers with Miller at ]Lucid Inc.
Lucid Incorporated was a Menlo Park, California, Menlo Park, California-based computer software development company. Founded by Richard P. Gabriel in 1984, it went bankrupt in 1994.
History
The first CEO was Tony Slocum, formerly of IntelliCorp ...
[ Miller had produced "For Beginners Only," a 12" single released by This Very Window in 1988.][ He described Poor and Wieneke as "hypermusically educated guys from Stanford,"][ noting that Wieneke had earned a Ph.D. in music there.][
Zachary Smith became lead guitarist for the Loud Family, with Miller moving to rhythm guitar until Smith's departure after '']The Tape of Only Linda
''The Tape of Only Linda'' is the second full-length album by The Loud Family, released in 1994. The title of the album is a reference to the notorious tape recording of a live performance of "Hey Jude," by Paul McCartney, in which an engineer had ...
'' (1994). Smith had appeared as a guest musician on ''Lolita Nation
''Lolita Nation'' is the fourth full-length album by Game Theory, a California power pop band fronted by guitarist and singer-songwriter Scott Miller. Originally released in 1987 as a double LP, the album was reissued by Omnivore Recordings in Fe ...
'' (1987), and had previously played guitar in a short-lived band with Donnette Thayer
Donnette Thayer is a vocalist, guitarist, and songwriter most active in the 1980s and early 1990s indie rock scenes of Northern California. Thayer was a member of the band Game Theory, and later formed Hex with Steve Kilbey of The Church.
She ...
called No Matter What, before Thayer joined Game Theory.[
Miller stated that he had chosen not to use the name Game Theory out of deference to its past members, rather than "passing off this lineup as ''yet another'' Game Theory."][ According to Poor, the members of This Very Window had each signed on individually to join Game Theory, and the group had rehearsed several times before Miller "decided that the energy and sound of the band was different enough to warrant a new name."][
The Loud Family was named after a real-life family that was the subject of the television documentary '']An American Family
''An American Family'' is an American television documentary series that followed the life of a California family in the early 1970s. Widely referred to as the first example of an American reality TV show, the series drew millions of weekly vie ...
''.[ Miller later described the intended reality-show metaphor: "Going through life is a lot like having cameras on you and you have to perform, but there's no script; you just have to do the normal kind of bumbling thing. Besides, it had the word 'loud' in it."][ '']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 ...
'' described the name as both "a hip allusion to the mid-Seventies PBS series" and "a clever way to describe the sound and feel of the band. Either way, it's a great hook – smart, funny and instantly memorable. All of which, appropriately enough, are qualities shared by Miller's songs."[
]
Releases on Alias Records (1993–2000)
The Loud Family debuted on Alias Records in 1993 with ''Plants and Birds and Rocks and Things
''Plants and Birds and Rocks and Things'' was the 1993 debut album by The Loud Family, a band formed by singer, songwriter and guitarist Scott Miller after the dissolution of his 1980s band Game Theory. It was Miller's fifth album to be produced ...
''. The album was produced by Mitch Easter
Mitchell Blake Easter (born November 15, 1954) is a musician, songwriter, and record producer. Frequently associated with the jangle pop style of guitar music, he is known as producer of R.E.M.'s early albums from 1981 through 1984, and as frontm ...
, who had produced Game Theory's records since 1986's ''The Big Shot Chronicles
''The Big Shot Chronicles'' is Game Theory's third full-length album, released in 1986. Produced by Mitch Easter, it was recorded with a new line-up of Game Theory members after leader and songwriter Scott Miller moved the band's base from Davis t ...
''.[
According to the ]Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
, the band's debut album (named after a phrase from America
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
's song "A Horse with No Name
"A Horse with No Name" is a song by the folk rock band America, written by Dewey Bunnell. It was the band's first and most successful single, released in late 1971 in Europe and early 1972 in the United States, that topped the charts in Canada, ...
") established the Loud Family as "critics' faves" upon its release.[ '']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 ...
'' referred to the Loud Family as a more evolved version of Game Theory, with "a bunch of interspersed jangle and woof" and a "more guitar-heavy approach."[
''Spin'' noted that "Miller's songs and voice are immediately identifiable. Interpersonal relationships are discussed in sweet, brusque terms."][ According to Miller, those songs reflected a "depressing time" of his life, a three-year period in which "I'd lost my girlfriend ... and I'd lost my band. There was also a period where I got laid off from my job. I was hitting rock bottom, nothing was working out in my life at all. It seems like I was always in some state of trying to get things together, trying to get my situation out of some state of brokenness and hopelessness. I missed everything – I missed having a record deal and making records; I missed playing live."][
'']Plants and Birds and Rocks and Things
''Plants and Birds and Rocks and Things'' was the 1993 debut album by The Loud Family, a band formed by singer, songwriter and guitarist Scott Miller after the dissolution of his 1980s band Game Theory. It was Miller's fifth album to be produced ...
'' was later acclaimed by Aimee Mann
Aimee Elizabeth Mann (born September 8, 1960) is an American singer-songwriter. Over the course of four decades, she has released more than a dozen albums as a solo artist and with other musicians. She is noted for her sardonic and literate lyr ...
as "one of the five best records ever made"[ and "a record that I listened to like a million times."][
A follow-up EP, '']Slouching Towards Liverpool
Slouching Towards Liverpool is an Extended play, EP that includes live performances of songs from The Loud Family's first album, ''Plants and Birds and Rocks and Things (album), Plants and Birds and Rocks and Things'', as well as some live studio ...
'', was released later in 1993. It included songs that had previously been recorded as demos by the final line-up of Game Theory, including Michael Quercio
Michael Quercio (born March 13, 1963) is an American musician. He is the founder, bassist and lead singer of The Three O'Clock, and coined the term Paisley Underground as the name of a musical subgenre.
Paisley Underground
Quercio is best known ...
, in late 1989.[
'']The Tape of Only Linda
''The Tape of Only Linda'' is the second full-length album by The Loud Family, released in 1994. The title of the album is a reference to the notorious tape recording of a live performance of "Hey Jude," by Paul McCartney, in which an engineer had ...
'' (1994) took its name from a legendary bootleg concert recording of the isolated backup vocals of Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...
's wife, Linda
Linda may refer to:
As a name
* Linda (given name), a female given name (including a list of people and fictional characters so named)
* Linda (singer) (born 1977), stage name of Svetlana Geiman, a Russian singer
* Anita Linda (born Alice Lake i ...
.
In 1995, Zachary Smith and R. Dunbar Poor left the band. Poor was replaced by bassist Kenny Kessel.
The band's 1996 release, ''Interbabe Concern
''Interbabe Concern'' is The Loud Family's third full-length album, and their first to be produced by Scott Miller (pop musician), Scott Miller instead of Mitch Easter. With the exception of keyboard player Paul Wieneke and Miller, this was a new ...
'', included the song "Don't Respond, She Can Tell," for which the band recorded a black-and-white music video inspired by Ernie Kovacs
Ernest Edward Kovacs (January 23, 1919 – January 13, 1962) was a Hungarian-American comedian, actor, and writer.
Kovacs's visually experimental and often spontaneous comedic style influenced numerous television comedy programs for years afte ...
. While touring with Aimee Mann in support of the album, Miller told the ''Los Angeles Times'' that he was unwilling to compromise artistic purity in return for stardom and riches, but still hungered for an opportunity to make his living as a full-time musician.[
The 1998 album '']Days for Days
''Days for Days'' is an album by the Loud Family, released in 1998. The band's leader, Scott Miller, and the bass guitar player, Kenny Kessel, are the only members of the band remaining from the previous album. Gil Ray, who had been a member of ...
'' featured more line-up changes, with Gil Ray
George Gilbert "Gil" Ray (September 17, 1956 – January 24, 2017) was an American rock drummer, guitarist, and vocalist, best known for his recordings in the 1980s and 1990s as a member of the bands Game Theory and The Loud Family. In late 2 ...
of Game Theory joining as drummer, and Alison Faith Levy
Alison Faith Levy is a San Francisco-based musician and songwriter, known as a pop and jazz performer on keyboards and vocals, most notably as a member of power pop group The Loud Family, as well as for her later work as a children's musician i ...
on piano and keyboards, bringing a softer edge and more mature feel to the music. Describing Levy's contribution, Miller stated, "To me she brought in that classic 1967 to '74 way of doing piano pop–rock that I'm all in favor of but can't accomplish because I don't play piano. She had the most sheer musicianly keyboard chops of anyone I've played with. And her vocals are pretty distinctive. More toward the soul end of things than other female singers I've had in the band. So that line-up had more of a Todd Rundgren
Todd Harry Rundgren (born June 22, 1948) is an American multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, multimedia artist, sound engineer and record producer who has performed a diverse range of styles as a solo artist and as a member of the band Ut ...
, Cat Stevens
Yusuf Islam (born Steven Demetre Georgiou; ), commonly known by his stage names Cat Stevens, Yusuf, and Yusuf / Cat Stevens, is a British singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. His musical style consists of folk, pop, rock, and, later in ...
, Rod Argent
Rodney Terence Argent (born 14 June 1945) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, composer, and record producer. In a career spanning more than 50 years, Argent came to prominence in the mid 1960s as the keyboardist, founder and leader of the ...
, Carole King
Carole King Klein (born Carol Joan Klein; February 9, 1942) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician who has been active since 1958, initially as one of the staff songwriters at 1650 Broadway and later as a solo artist. Regarded as one ...
approach."[
The album '']Attractive Nuisance
The attractive nuisance doctrine applies to the law of torts in some jurisdictions. It states that a landowner may be held liable for injuries to children trespassing on the land if the injury is caused by an object on the land that is likely ...
'' appeared in 2000, and was expected by Miller to be the final one for the group. After touring in 2000 in support of ''Attractive Nuisance'', the band's recording contract with Alias Records expired.
Releases after disbanding
125 Records (2001–2006)
Although the Loud Family took a six-year hiatus from recording for a variety of career and family related reasons, Miller signed with 125 Records during 2001. The independent recording label, then newly formed, was founded by Joe Mallon and Sue Trowbridge, who had a long acquaintance with Miller and his bands.[ As its fifth release, 125 Records released a live CD by the Loud Family.][
'']From Ritual to Romance
''From Ritual to Romance'' is a 1920 book written by Jessie Weston.
Weston's book is an examination of the roots of the King Arthur legends. It seeks to make connections between the early pagan elements and the later Christian influences. Th ...
'' featured performances recorded live in San Francisco on October 5, 1996, and August 8, 1998, featuring band members Miller, Kessel, Levy, Ray, Wieneke, and Tittel, with guest vocals from Anton Barbeau
Anton Barbeau is an American psychedelic singer-songwriter and producer from Sacramento, California. He is a multi-instrumentalist, playing guitar, piano, bass guitar, drums, synthesizers, and Mellotron.
Barbeau is known for combining surreal l ...
. Three of the songs on this CD were covers ("Here Come the Warm Jets" by Brian Eno
Brian Peter George St John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno (; born Brian Peter George Eno, 15 May 1948) is a British musician, composer, record producer and visual artist best known for his contributions to ambient music and work in rock, pop an ...
, "Debaser" by the Pixies
A pixie (also pisky, pixy, pixi, pizkie, and piskie in Cornwall and Devon, and pigsie or puggsy in the New Forest) is a mythical creature of British folklore. Pixies are considered to be particularly concentrated in the high moorland areas aro ...
, and "When You Sleep" by My Bloody Valentine).[ Critic ]Brett Milano
__NOTOC__
Brett Milano (born 1957) is a Boston-based music critic and columnist. His fourth book, a biography of Game Theory's Scott Miller, was published in October 2015.
Music journalism and writing career
According to the ''Boston Globe'', M ...
, writing in the ''Boston Phoenix
''The Phoenix'' (stylized as ''The Phœnix'') was the name of several alternative weekly periodicals published in the United States of America by Phoenix Media/Communications Group of Boston, Massachusetts, including the ''Portland Phoenix'' and ...
'', praised the band's "usual blend of finely crafted pop hooks, elusive yet resonant lyrics ... and more self-depreciation", citing the album's opening medley with "dark, ominous keyboards ... and a throat-shredding Miller vocal; it's the sound of a band who'd explode if they hadn't gotten to play those songs at that minute."[ ''Scram'' magazine wrote that the live CD showed the band's "rough, antagonistic power ... which made the fundamental prettiness of the music seem more touching and fragile," calling the concluding songs "a closing salvo that left me breathless and punching the replay button."][
In 2003, the label released a concert tour documentary on DVD, ''Loud Family Live 2000''.][ The DVD, directed by ]Danny Plotnick
Danny Plotnick is an American independent filmmaker. In addition to making over 20 films, he has released three videotape compilations and a DVD compilation which have garnered international distribution, embarked on five national film tours, two ...
, included live performances of 20 songs, along with band interviews and tour footage.[
Scott Miller was persuaded by 125 Records to record the 2006 CD '' What If It Works?'', a final studio collaboration between Miller and ]Sacramento
)
, image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg
, mapsize = 250x200px
, map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...
pop musician Anton Barbeau
Anton Barbeau is an American psychedelic singer-songwriter and producer from Sacramento, California. He is a multi-instrumentalist, playing guitar, piano, bass guitar, drums, synthesizers, and Mellotron.
Barbeau is known for combining surreal l ...
. Members of the Loud Family also contributed to the album, and at the label's request, the album was credited to "The Loud Family and Anton Barbeau," to avoid confusion between Miller and a similarly named country musician. The ''Sacramento Bee
''The Sacramento Bee'' is a daily newspaper published in Sacramento, California, in the United States. Since its foundation in 1857, ''The Bee'' has become the largest newspaper in Sacramento, the fifth largest newspaper in California, and the 2 ...
'' called the album "a mixture of sweet pop and jangly rock," as if "the Beatles
The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...
were covered by the Replacements."[ '']USA Today
''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...
'' described it as a "terrific album... by one of underground pop-rock's best-kept secrets, the Loud Family."[
]
After Scott Miller
At the time of Miller's death in 2013, he had begun work on the album ''Supercalifragile
''Supercalifragile'' is the sixth and final studio album by Game Theory, a California power pop band founded in 1982 by guitarist and singer-songwriter Scott Miller. At the time of his death in 2013, Miller had started work on the recording, whic ...
'', intending to revive the name Game Theory, rather than release it under the Loud Family name.[ The album was completed after Miller's death by producer ]Ken Stringfellow
Kenneth Stuart Stringfellow (born October 30, 1968) is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, arranger, and producer. Best known for his work with The Posies, R.E.M., and the re-formed Big Star, Stringfellow's discography include ...
and Miller's wife Kristine Chambers, who enlisted Miller's past bandmates and musical collaborators to turn Miller's incomplete set of recorded guitar and vocal tracks, sound notes, acoustic demos, and other materials into a finished album.[ Miller had long intended the album to be a collaborative project; he had approached Stringfellow several years earlier, and had co-written one song with ]Aimee Mann
Aimee Elizabeth Mann (born September 8, 1960) is an American singer-songwriter. Over the course of four decades, she has released more than a dozen albums as a solo artist and with other musicians. She is noted for her sardonic and literate lyr ...
and several with Stéphane Schück.[
The Loud Family's Jozef Becker, ]Gil Ray
George Gilbert "Gil" Ray (September 17, 1956 – January 24, 2017) was an American rock drummer, guitarist, and vocalist, best known for his recordings in the 1980s and 1990s as a member of the bands Game Theory and The Loud Family. In late 2 ...
, and Alison Faith Levy
Alison Faith Levy is a San Francisco-based musician and songwriter, known as a pop and jazz performer on keyboards and vocals, most notably as a member of power pop group The Loud Family, as well as for her later work as a children's musician i ...
participated in recording sessions for ''Supercalifragile'' in 2015 and 2016, which included a song co-written by Levy as a posthumous collaboration with Miller.[ Other partially-completed Miller songs were posthumously co-written with ]Jon Auer
Jonathan Paul "Jon" Auer (born September 29, 1969) is an American musician who co-founded the power pop band The Posies, along with Ken Stringfellow. Auer and Stringfellow also participated in the rejuvenated Big Star and in 2003 released ''Priv ...
, Doug Gillard
Douglas Scott Gillard (born December 23, 1965) is an American guitarist and songwriter. He has been a member of major indie pop and punk bands, most notably Guided by Voices, Nada Surf, Bambi Kino, Death of Samantha, and Cobra Verde.
Early ...
, Ted Leo
Theodore Francis Leo is an American singer and musician. He is the frontman and lead guitarist of the rock group Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, and in 2013, he and Aimee Mann formed the indie rock duo The Both.
Early life
Born in South Bend, I ...
, Will Sheff
Will Sheff (born July 7, 1976) is the frontman for the Austin, Texas-based indie band Okkervil River (1998–present). Originally from Meriden, New Hampshire, he is also a founding member and co-songwriter (along with former Okkervil bandmate Jo ...
, Anton Barbeau, and Stringfellow. The album was released in August 2017.[
]
Critical reception
According to ''Scram'' magazine's Kim Cooper, "Just because you write the smartest pop lyrics of your generation, and have a master angler's facility with hooks, and a few thousand people love what you do, that doesn't mean ''anything''. Scott learned that in the nineties, and left the gentle fields of Game Theory for pricklier experiments as the Loud Family."[
Although they were praised by ]critics
A critic is a person who communicates an assessment and an opinion of various forms of creative works such as art, literature, music, cinema, theater, fashion, architecture, and food. Critics may also take as their subject social or governme ...
and fellow musicians – notably Aimee Mann and Stephin Merritt
Stephin Raymond Merritt (born February 9, 1965) is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, best known as the songwriter and principal singer of the bands the Magnetic Fields, the Gothic Archies, and Future Bible Heroes. He is ...
of The Magnetic Fields
The Magnetic Fields (named after the André Breton/Philippe Soupault novel ''Les Champs Magnétiques'') are an American Band (rock and pop), band founded and led by Stephin Merritt. Merritt is the group's primary songwriter, producer, and vocali ...
– and adored by a small fan base, mainstream success eluded the band throughout the 1990s. Though this may have been connected, in part, to lingering association with Game Theory's connections to the no-longer-hip 1980s "college rock" scene, it was more likely due to the group's complex, unpredictable song structures, and to Miller's cryptic lyrics, which tended to place rock's standard lyrical concerns (love, heartbreak, alienation, nascent spirituality, etc.) within the much-wider contexts of modernist
Modernism is both a philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new forms of art, philosophy, an ...
literature, politics, art history, semiotics
Semiotics (also called semiotic studies) is the systematic study of sign processes ( semiosis) and meaning making. Semiosis is any activity, conduct, or process that involves signs, where a sign is defined as anything that communicates something ...
, relativity and contemporary academic sociocultural theory.
In 1996, ''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 ...
''′s review of 1996's ''Interbabe Concern'' categorized the music as "pop of the most depraved variety," and wrote, "There's always some jarring detail added or subtracted, some unsettling minor component that takes these tunes out of the realm of the normal. Gently plucked acoustic guitars will suddenly be ripped apart by a mutinous fuzzbox, seemingly at random."[ The review continued, "If pop's purpose is to soothe and delight, then this is either half-pop or fullblooded mutation/mutilation, as there's nothing soothing about this in the least. It's disturbing, but the sort of disturbance you'll be whistling at work.][
Conversely, by 2000, the '']Chicago Tribune
The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...
'' noted the group's more mature direction, citing Miller
A miller is a person who operates a Gristmill, mill, a machine to grind a grain (for example corn or wheat) to make flour. Mill (grinding), Milling is among the oldest of human occupations. "Miller", "Milne" and other variants are common surname ...
as a "quirky visionary" contemplating "real-life riddles" such as the "facts of entropy," and quoting the line "I don't know what the radio wants when the radio taunts."[ ''Attractive Nuisance'' was criticized as "not as consistently strong as some earlier outings," and drew praise for its "supple melodies" that contrasted with "dense, often opaque lyrics ... whether exploring the lush orchestral contours of 'One Will Be the Highway,' the nearly avant-garde interludes of 'Save Your Money' or the acid metal roar of 'Nice When I Want Something.'"][
In a 2003 book, ''Sonic Cool: The Life & Death of Rock 'n' Roll'', the Loud Family was cited as "perhaps the most sophisticated 'pop' band that ever lived."][ According to author Joe Harrington, "the songs are beautiful, but they inevitably lampoon some aspect of the culture with biting accuracy. It's the perfect juxtaposition between old/new Pop/Punk that makes the Loud Family simply too good to be true in this day and age."][
]
Discography
Studio albums and EPs
Live albums
Singles and promotional releases
Various artist compilations
Music videos and DVDs
References
External links
*
125 Records
– The Loud Family's label
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Loud Family
Jangle pop groups
Musical groups from San Francisco
Musical groups established in 1991
Musical groups disestablished in 2006
American power pop groups
1991 establishments in California
2006 disestablishments in California
Scott Miller (pop musician)