''Grave Dancers Union'' is the sixth studio album by American

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

band

Soul Asylum Soul Asylum is an American rock band formed in 1981 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Their 1993 hit " Runaway Train" won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Song. The band was originally called Loud Fast Rules, with a lineup consisting of Dave Pirner ...

and was released in 1992. The album features the single "

Runaway Train A runaway train is a type of railroad incident in which unattended rolling stock is accidentally allowed to roll onto the main line, a moving train loses enough braking power to be unable to stop in safety, or a train operates at unsafe speeds d ...

", which reached number five on the

Billboard Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100, also known as simply the Hot 100, is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), ...

and was the biggest hit of the Soul Asylum's career. The album is certified double platinum by the

Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

for sales of two million copies in the United States.

Overview

During recording of ''Grave Dancers Union'', producer

Michael Beinhorn Michael James Beinhorn is a North American record producer, composer, author, and musician. He has produced albums for Red Hot Chili Peppers, Soundgarden, Hole, Korn, Kensington and Marilyn Manson. Career 1977–1983: early years, Material, Her ...

grew dissatisfied with drummer Grant Young's performance and brought in

Sterling Campbell Sterling Campbell (born May 3, 1964) is an American drummer and songwriter who has worked with numerous high-profile acts, including the B-52s, Duran Duran, Soul Asylum, Cyndi Lauper, Nena, Grayson Hugh, Spandau Ballet, Gustavo Cerati, and David ...

. He and Campbell would each wind up playing on half the record. Due to the band's reluctance to admit that a session musician was involved in the album's recording, Campbell was credited as "percussionist." Young would continue as the band's drummer for touring duties after the album was released, until he was dismissed and officially replaced by Campbell prior to the recording of their next album, ''

Let Your Dim Light Shine ''Let Your Dim Light Shine'' is the seventh studio album by American rock band Soul Asylum, released June 6, 1995, on Columbia Records. Critically, it suffered in comparison to its predecessor, '' Grave Dancers Union'', the band's breakout releas ...

''. The single "

", released in June 1993, reached number five on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and won a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

for best rock song in 1994. Though the album had sold moderately well to that point, the breakout success of that single was a major factor in the album's eventual multi-platinum sales figures. The album cover features a photograph by Czech

photographer A photographer (the Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who uses a camera to make photographs. Duties and types of photograp ...

Jan Saudek Jan Saudek (born 13 May 1935) is an art photographer and painter. Saudek's art work represents a unique technique combining photography and painting. In his country of origin, Czechoslovakia, Saudek was considered a disturbed artist and oppress ...

titled "Fate Descends Towards the River Leading Two Innocent Children", which was taken in 1970. The album's title comes from the line "I tried to dance at a funeral,

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

style, I joined the Grave Dancers Union, I had to file", from the song "Without a Trace".

Track listing

Personnel

Soul Asylum *

Dave Pirner David Anthony Pirner (born April 16, 1964) is an American songwriter, singer, and producer best known as the lead vocalist and frontman for the alternative rock band Soul Asylum. Early life and work Pirner was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota and ...

– lead vocals, rhythm guitar * Dan Murphy – lead guitar, backing vocals *

Karl Mueller Karl Mueller (July 27, 1963 – June 17, 2005)
- accessed February 2011 was an American

– bass * Grant Young – drums Additional musicians *

– percussion * Booker T. Jones III –

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert, first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding #Drawbars, drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, sound was created ...

* Kraig Johnson,

Gary Louris Gary Michael Louris (born March 10, 1955) is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter of alternative country and pop music. He was a founding member of the Minneapolis-based band the Jayhawks and their principal songwriter and vocalist a ...

– backing vocals * Meridian String Quartet – strings * Sonny Kompanek – arranger, conductor Production *

– arranger, celeste,

glockenspiel The glockenspiel ( ; or , : bells and : play) or bells is a percussion instrument consisting of pitched aluminum or steel bars arranged in a Musical keyboard, keyboard layout. This makes the glockenspiel a type of metallophone, similar to the v ...

, producer, horn arrangements * Chris Shaw - engineer * Eric Anderson, Bruce Ross – additional engineering * David Michael Dill, Dan Gellert, Bill Smith – assistant engineers * Andy Wallace – mixing * David Leonard – mixing of "The Sun Maid" * Steve Sisco – mixing assistant * Wally Traugott – mastering * Francesca Restrepo – art direction, design *

– photography

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Singles

Certifications

References

{{Authority control Soul Asylum albums 1992 albums Columbia Records albums Albums produced by Michael Beinhorn