Wild Seeds were a

roots-rock Roots rock is a genre of rock music that looks back to rock's origins in folk, blues and country music. It is particularly associated with the creation of hybrid subgenres from the later 1960s, including blues rock, country rock, Southern rock, ...

band from

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...

formed in 1984. Michael Hall, the band's lead vocalist and guitarist, was inspired to found the band by successful

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 ...

bands of the time, including

the Fleshtones The Fleshtones are an American garage rock band from Queens, New York, United States, formed in 1976. History 1976–1979 The Fleshtones were formed in 1976 in Whitestone, New York, by Keith Streng (born September 18, 1955, New York City) an ...

and

Dream Syndicate A dream is a succession of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that usually occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. Humans spend about two hours dreaming per night, and each dream lasts around 5 to 20 minutes, alth ...

. The band broke up in 1989. They have been identified as one of multiple

New Sincerity New Sincerity (closely related to and sometimes described as synonymous with post-postmodernism) is a trend in music, aesthetics, literary fiction, film criticism, poetry, literary criticism and philosophy that generally describes creative works ...

bands active during the 1980s, along with the Dharma Bums, True Believers, and

Zeitgeist In 18th- and 19th-century German philosophy, a ''Zeitgeist'' () ("spirit of the age") is an invisible agent, force or Daemon dominating the characteristics of a given epoch in world history. Now, the term is usually associated with Georg W. F. ...

Critical reception

David Menconi wrote in '' No Depression'' that the Wild Seeds were "one of the coolest bands to call Austin home during the mid-'80s." He also described their 2001 compilation album, ''I'm Sorry, I Can't Rock You All Night Long: 1984-1989'', as "about the most fun you can have this side of an enchilada dinner with a case of Big Red".

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...

wrote that on their first release, the 1984 EP ''Life is Grand'', the Wild Seeds "show off a drummer supple enough to power their rock and roll eclecticism and a taste for serious fun wide-ranging and complicated enough to give them identity problems, which could clear up with one strong live show (like at the Pep Friday)." Christgau later awarded a B grade to the band's 1988 album ''Mud, Lies & Shame'', writing that "the first three cuts are everything one could have hoped, especially the self-explanatory "I'm Sorry, I Can't Rock You All Night Long," a true classic as these things are measured." A review of the band's 1986 album ''Brave, Clean + Reverent'' in ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' described it as a "crisp album of straight-ahead roof-raisers." Tom Popson wrote that on ''Brave, Clean + Reverent'', "Hall exhibits a knack for creating interesting, concrete images that listeners can see clearly in the mind`s eye, while leaving enough ambiguity between those images to render contexts and relationships open to individual interpretation."

Discography

*''Life Is Grand (Life in Soul City)'' (Aznut EP, 1984) *''Brave, Clean + Reverent'' (

Jungle A jungle is land covered with dense forest and tangled vegetation, usually in tropical climates. Application of the term has varied greatly during the past recent century. Etymology The word ''jungle'' originates from the Sanskrit word ''jaṅ ...

, 1986) *''Mud, Lies & Shame'' (

Passport A passport is an official travel document issued by a government that contains a person's identity. A person with a passport can travel to and from foreign countries more easily and access consular assistance. A passport certifies the personal ...

, 1988) *''I'm Sorry, I Can't Rock You All Night Long: 1984-1989'' (Aznut compilation, 2001)

References

{{Reflist Musical groups from Austin, Texas Musical groups established in 1984 Musical groups disestablished in 1989 Rock music groups from Texas