Mooney Suzuki Sign to Columbia

[Jake]

"Columbia made them cancel a string of upcoming shows, so that they could re-tool their image." - Velvet Rope




I totally stole this from someone on the Velvet Rope, but it's so funny I had to repeat it here...

[amighty]

That sucks. I was reading on UBL, I think, that they were "best known for their version of Don't Fence Me In in a Nike spot". It seems like they've got a pretty busy tour schedule. What could possibly be wrong with their current image? Isn't that why they signed 'em????

[Jake]

I guess when you sign to a major, you can afford to get Jack Black in your video:

"In A Young Man's Mind" Video!

Watch the FULL video featuring Jack Black in Real Video | QuickTime | Windows Media: low medium high

[D. Phillips]

All I'm getting is ten second clips and no Jack Black from those links.

[Jake]

Hmph. That's what I get for relaying info directly a website without first fact-checking.

[Jake]

Twelve years later, here's that video:

[worpswede]

I happened to see the MTV2's 'Advance Warning' spring tour, featuring all of these bands and wrote a write up for a zine called "The Taylor County Review." It lasted for one issue. It could be found in bulk in men's rooms of Subway restaurants around Southern Iowa. Good times.
I liked nearly every band on the bill except the opener. I believe they were called White Light Motorcade or something. I liked Longwave a bunch, but only had their ep. The Ravonettes were cool and exotic for Iowa. For the Suzuki, I brough original copies of the Gammon release for the band to sign, which they did while complaining about Gammon. The entire time they were under the watchful eye of their Columbia rep who had put up a bunch of posters for Alive & Amplified but there were no copies of it. t was a truncated set, but they were AWESOME. Augue Wilson stood on top of his kit and played, Graham Tyler was sweating profusely due to a stomach flu (he passed out at the end of the set and was carried off, just like a Poison video), and Sammy James Jr. was in full on rooster mode.
Can't believe how good these guys were and how quickly they fell.

[Jake]

Jolie and I were listening to an Apple Music Liz Phair mix last night and a couple of the Matrix-produced monstrosities were on it. It's weird to think that there was a time not that long ago when record labels would even BOTHER to take someone "cool" and try to make them "popular." Why not just start from scratch?

[worpswede]

OK so I just watched that video and, OMG, nearly every move, strut, behind the back solo and in-the-crowd shenanigans was a flashback of the show that I saw. You're right: twelve years later, that video would give noobs with a passing interest in rock music a desire to check out the Mooney. The Matrix mixes? They've (rightfully) been forgotten along with the Madden PS2 video games that they were part of the soundtrack of.