History
In 1984, bassist Stuart Hill formed the hardcore punk band Stuge, recruiting drummer Mike Russell, alongside guitarist Sam Fleming and vocalist Bobby Jones. In 1986, Fleming and Jones left for college, with Hill inviting guitarist Chris Matthews, who had been playing in new wave group 3-2-1, to join the band. Matthews in turn suggested vocalist Craig Wedren, a high school acquaintance, after seeing him perform at a school play and being impressed by his singing. Shortly after, the band changed its name to Shudder to Think, after Russell said that he “shuddered to think that we would be just another hardcore band” during a drive to practice. It was this lineup and name change that drove the band to abandon its previous hardcore influenced sound to something more akin to post-hardcore.[2]
In this incarnation, the band released one song on the Fetal Records compilation F-R-5 in 1987 ("Too little, too late"), two singles and one album (Curse, Spells, Voodoo, Mooses, 1989) before being signed by the Dischord label. Three albums were then released (Ten-Spot, 1990, Funeral at the Movies, 1991, and Get Your Goat, 1992), before the band gained greater exposure by touring with Fugazi and the Smashing Pumpkins; with their May 7, 1992 show in Albig, Germany being released by Tobby Holzinger as Your Choice Live Series Vol.21.[3]
Swiz ex-bassist Nathan Larson and ex-Jawbox drummer Adam Wade replaced Matthews and Russell in 1992 on guitar and drums respectively. Matthews and Russell last performed live with the band on January 1, 1992[4] and June 28, 1992[5] respectively, as announced by Wedren to the crowd during those concerts.
The band subsequently signed to Epic, with whom Pony Express Record was released in September 1994. The album's angular, mathematical post-hardcore earned it a devoted cult following - especially after the video for the track "X-French Tee Shirt" became a buzz clip on MTV and was regularly aired on the channel, as well as an article in Rolling Stone. The track also peaked at #36 on the Radio and Records Alternative chart.[6] The album had sold 30,000 copies in the United States by the end of October 1994,[7] and by February 1997 had sold 60,000 copies.[8]
Over the next few years, Wedren successfully battled Hodgkin's Disease, Larson recorded an album with side project band Mind Science of the Mind, and Wade left the group. He was replaced by Kevin March, formerly drummer with Dambuilders.
They released another album, 50,000 B.C. in 1997, touring in support of it with March on drums, and touring member Chuck Scott on keyboards and percussion.[9] The album was released to mixed reviews and was a commercial flop.[10] It was after this that the band pivoted to writing soundtracks for films, composing the soundtracks to First Love, Last Rites, High Art, and providing two songs for the film Velvet Goldmine in 1998.
However, 1998 marked Larson's departure and the end of the group. Wedren has pursued a solo career, including an appearance on the Down to You soundtrack with "Didn't Mean to Do You Harm", and contributed backing vocals to Verve Pipe's 1999 eponymous album.
Both Larson and Wedren have gone on to create highly regarded music for films. David Wain, founder of comedy troupe The State, was a high-school friend of Wedren's, and Wedren's music has appeared in many television series and films stemming from the troupe and its alumni, such as Reno 911! and Wet Hot American Summer. Wedren also makes solo music, and released his debut album, Lapland, in 2005. Larson has formed a new band called Hot One.
Reunions
Wedren, Larson, and March performed a brief set together on September 17, 2007, at The Mercury Lounge in New York City, which also featured guitarist Mark Watrous and Time of Orchids bassist Jesse Krakow playing in the lineup.[11] The band continued to perform shows with Watrous and Krakow throughout 2008, with March playing the eastern dates and Wade on the western dates and New Orleans. The band released a live album entitled Live from Home in 2009. Without Larson, the band played what was billed as a "final" show on September 2, 2009, at the Bowery Ballroom in New York City. This show also featured founding guitarist Chris Matthews, who played during the show's encore.[12]
Shudder to Think reunited again in 2013 for the 20th anniversary of the Black Cat venue. In addition to a full set by the Pony Express Record lineup of Wedren, Larson, Wade and Hill, founding members Chris Matthews and Mike Russell performed on the encore.
Musical style
The band, which has been classified as post-hardcore,[20] embraced "pop influences and a skewed sense of songwriting"[21] while coming from a hardcore punk background "courtesy of their affiliation" with Dischord.[21] Reviewer Charles Spano characterized some of the band's work as the result of the group skewing "their pop brilliance with Ric Ocasek grooves, a [David] Bowie and [...] Roxy Music glam bent [...], and the theatrics of Queen."[22]
In the 2018 book Long Live Queen, when DJ/VJ Matt Pinfield was asked if Queen was an influence on 1990s alt-rock, he replied:
"Look at a band like Shudder to Think and a song like 'X-French Tee Shirt,' which was such a great song, because [the middle part] was one note, and he was singing two octaves over that."[23]
In an interview from 1995, James Iha of The Smashing Pumpkins praised the band's originality, saying:
"Shudder to Think, I think, is a wholly original, amazing rock band. They're a rock band but they're totally different than what you've heard before in the guitar playing, the drumming, the bass, singing, it's all amazing. If you listen to a Shudder to Think record, you might be able to point to a few references but there's no way you could tag that band. And they're good, they write good songs. They're totally original."[24]
