Genre Analysis: Everything You Want - Vertical Horizon

This week I decided to look at Vertical Horizon’s 1999 album, Everything You Want.  You may not know many Vertical Horizon songs but if you’re a true millennial then I guarantee you will recognize the single that shares the name with the album.  Vertical Horizon is the epitome of a 90’s alternative rock band which is why they fit perfectly into this week’s theme of a genre analysis.  My goal for this week is that we can talk about the music and the roots of the genre and hopefully gain a better appreciation for this album.  

Everything You Want was the band’s first actual major record label album.  Vertical Horizon actually started out as the duo of Matt Scannell and Keith Kane who started the duo in college at Georgetown.  They started out with a couple indie albums before getting a record deal to produce bigger albums.  Alternative rock, in general, is a result of underground indie bands becoming more popular and bringing this genre with them into the spotlight.  Being just a duo at first, their original album, There and Back Again, had a very strong acoustic presence which evolved in their more recent albums to include other instruments and band members while still keeping that simple yet strong guitar sound.  That semi-simplistic rock sound with a strong acoustic (and really just guitar in general) focus is very representative of most alternative rock bands.  

The four singles released from this album are “We Are,” “Everything You Want,” “You’re a God,” and “Best I Ever Had.”  Each of these singles did pretty well on the charts and when you listen to them it’s not difficult to see why.  “We Are” is definitely one of their more straightforward rock songs that deviates a little bit from their normal alternative sound.  Content wise it is similar to the rest of their songs but it definitely has a harsher guitar sound.  “Everything You Want” is the classic Vertical Horizon song that everyone knows or can at least hum along to.  “Everything You Want,” “You’re a God,” and “Best I Ever Had” are all relatively similar in that they all have that very distinct acoustic sound.  “Best I Ever Had” is on of the softer songs on the album; it basically revolves around the acoustic guitar with a hint of keyboard.  The whole song is kind of at the same tempo in that it never really reaches a climax; but that doesn’t take away from the song at all because it sticks to its soothing melody and focuses on lyrical content.

From a lyrical perspective this album fits in with the rest of the alternative rock genre.  Each song is an individual story but there is a common theme that weaves through each of them.  This album heavily revolves around love, relationships, breakups, and all that other mushy stuff.  However, it's not one of those albums that you would make fun of your friend for if you walked into his room and found him listening to the album alone.  A lot of alternative music seems to deal with similar topics.  Most alternative bands are mostly male so it makes sense that they often times sing about a girlfriend or a girl from some former relationship.  In my last post I was talking about the Goo Goo Dolls' album, Dizzy Up The Girl which is another classic alt rock album.  When listening to the Goo Goo Dolls' album you will hear a lot of similarities in lyrical content.  Also much like the Goo Goo Dolls, Vertical Horizon has a sort of soft rock sound in their vocal delivery.  

Alternative music came up as a reaction to the mainstream rock from the late 80's.  The alternative bands of the 90's reacted by essentially creating their own new genre.  This new genre still had its roots in rock and roll music as well as the other music from these band members' childhoods.  Earlier I said that Vertical Horizon originally started out as the duo at Georgetown University; well during their time in college they often just played small gigs at local bars and stuff like that.  Because they were just starting out they didn't have that many songs of their own to play so they usually played a lot of Simon and Garfunkel covers.  That is one of their main influences and how the band came to get its simplistic, heavily guitar centered sound.  This sound is especially present in "Give You Back" and "Shackled."  However, you can still hear the rock roots in these songs when you get to the choruses which are much more elevated and energized as opposed to the more laid back verses. 

Vertical Horizon is one of the bands that perfectly encapsulates all of the aspects of the alternative rock genre as a whole.  From a lyrical, instrumental, appearance, and stylistic standpoint, they exemplify all of the best qualities of alt rock.  Everything You Want is the ideal album to discuss when talking about alternative music as an entire genre.  Even though most people may have only hear one or two songs off this album I would strongly recommend listening through the whole thing because there really aren't any weak links.  I obviously have a few favorites on the album that I am partial towards, but other than that each song is just as strong as the last.

Album Review: Dizzy Up The Girl - Goo Goo Dolls

The Goo Goo Dolls are one of the classic bands that just has to be brought up when talking about 90’s and early 2000’s alternative and alternative rock (although the Goo Goo Dolls lean more towards alt rock).  This week I’ll be looking at their 1998 album, Dizzy Up The Girl.  This is their biggest album to date as it was the first album released after the band went big with the song “Name” off their 1995 album, A Boy Named Goo.  

The band is a trio from Buffalo, New York consisting of the lead guitarist/vocalist, Johnny Rzeznik; bassist, Robby Takac; and drummer, George Tutuska (replaced by Mike Malinin in 1995).  Part of the reason that I think the Goo Goo Dolls fit so well into this genre and time frame is because they don’t have a lot of other members like a keyboard player or a DJ.  The mix of just guitar, bass, and drums allows their songs to be centered around a strong guitar melody which is very apparent in Dizzy Up The Girl.  One of my favorite songs on this album is “Acoustic #3.”  It is a relatively short song at only 1:53 which is kind of odd for a current song but that doesn’t take away from its quality.  It’s a simple acoustic song (I’m sure you could guess that from the title) with a really strong lyric.  I think it really highlights how the Goo Goo Dolls have a simplistic sound that focuses on vocals and guitar.

Four major singles also came from this album: “Iris,” “Slide,” “Black Balloon,” and “Broadway.”  “Iris” and “Slide” are too of the most iconic songs of the 90’s.  Sometimes songs that are popular are overplayed and aren’t actually anything special from a musical standpoint.  That’s not the case for the Goo Goo Dolls’ singles.  Both “Slide” and “Iris” are characterized by an infectious guitar melody with lyrics that are both catchy and meaningful.  “Black Balloon” is another one that I really like because it’s kind of like the popular song that flew under the radar.  A lot of people who aren’t hard core Goo Goo Dolls fans or just really into 90’s music probably don’t recognize the name, but when it gets to the chorus you’ll be humming along.  Out of these singles, “Broadway” is the one that got the least airtime on radio stations but it’s still just as good as the others in my opinion.  While the other songs are really catchy and you could just sing along without really understanding the lyrics, this is the song where the lyrics really tell a story and it is hard to listen to the song without being drawn into that story. 

The majority of the songs by the Goo Goo Dolls are written by Johnny Rzeznik who also does lead vocals.  However, Robby Takac usually likes to write a few songs and take the lead on those.  In Dizzy Up The Girl, Takac has three songs: “January Friend,” “Amigone,” and “Full Forever.”  If you’re just playing the music for background noise while doing homework or something, you might not notice the difference; but if you’re paying attention to the music while you listen it should be pretty easy to catch the difference.  I would consider most Goo Goo Dolls songs to be alternative rock ballads.  The Takac songs, on the other hand, are more heavy rock.  While the guitar in the Rzeznik songs is more subtle and warm, the Takac songs have a much harsher sounding guitar focus and overall his songs sound darker. (The song on the left is "Broadway" and the one on the right is "January Friend" so you can hear the difference for yourself).  In the SputnikMusic review of this album written by the author under the pseudonym “Sendor,” it is pointed out that Takac songs are generally just filler songs to make the album longer.  In the case of “January Friend,” and “Full Forever,” I completely agree.  However, “Amigone” is actually a pretty solid song.  It is still a little darker sounding but the vocals don’t seem as harsh and heavy metal-esque as some of the other Takac songs.  All in all I would say that the Takac songs are the weaker points in the album but they don’t take away from this album being one of the best in the 90’s.

Dizzy Up The Girl was the sixth album released by the Goo Goo Dolls.  Up to this one none of their albums had really made it big.  After the success of “Name” on their previous album, there was more hype around the new album in ‘98.  With the chance to become big, the Goo Goo Dolls created this album which is more mainstream than their others.  While many artists lose their genuine sound when they go mainstream, the Goo Goo Dolls thrived in the mainstream sound environment.  They still kept a lot of their original sound qualities while releasing more radio singles.  Their mainstream sound led to some of the best music that they’ve made.  After Dizzy Up The Girl came the Gutterflower in 2002 which had a bit of a darker sound to it (it still did pretty well on the charts).  In 2006 they returned back to their classic Goo Goo Dolls 90’s sound with Let Love In.   Overall I think that it’s hard to leave the Goo Goo Dolls out of the conversation when discussing the best 90’s music.  They’re the classic alternative and alt rock band and in my opinion their best work came off their 1998 album, Dizzy Up the Girl.