Come Around to Their Way of Thinking

Geffen Records/DGC, in the 1990s, snatched up some fantastic bands from indie labels. Some band named Nirvana…there was Sonic Youth and Beck. They also latched on to an alternative band out of Chicago who combined punk with a sonic noise quality. The band was Urge Overkill and their major label debut was Saturation - and it was released on this day in 1993.

After working with producers Steve Albini and Butch Vig on their previous releases, the boys turned to the Butcher Bros (founders of Ruffhouse Records and hot off producing Cypress Hill, among others). There’s a wide mix of influences - from Mott the Hoople to Sweet and so many more.

Kicking things off is what I think is one of the best rock songs from the decade, “Sister Havana.” Combining the best in guitar rock with just enough power-pop melody, it’s a perfect rock song and was the first single released. This should have been the song that broke this band big.

Of note, Urge Overkill started working out the music for this song in 1991 when they were on tour with Nirvana in Europe. They got a lot of support from Nirvana, and during one soundcheck, members of Nirvana joined Urge as they hashed out the song. Urge was impressed by how they could write songs that were very simple to play but could connect with a crowd.

Immediately after, you get a whole lotta fuzz and grunge with the track “Tequila Sundae.” Followed quickly by a more melodic tune with “Positive Bleeding.” You can hear shades of another great band from Chicago - Cheap Trick.

Other influences show up in “Back On Me” - combining Seattle’s The Posies (and by extension Big Star) with enough grunge from the other music neighborhood from Seattle.

Many critics will say that the band sold out and polished their sound to fit onto a major label, but if you dig into the songs a bit more, you’ll catch plenty of classic UO. You can hear the earlier sound of driving guitars rooted in garage grime with power rock vocals. What changed? Nash Kato, lead singer for Saturation, suggests that this is the band at the pinnacle of having fun and making music.

Titles like “Crackbabies” kept them enough at arm's length from a lot of the mainstream leaders. But it’s a fantastic song with driving guitars and a tight rhythm section. While the tribute to the fantastic soap-opera character, “Erica Kane” is an all-out punk rocker.

The band released a number of albums afterwards (I really liked their follow-up Exit the Dragon - but the band fought a lot during the recording and things went sideways). They never achieved the success so many thought was possible on first listen to “Sister Havana” but Saturation is still a really cool album worth the listen.