Sweetheart Jawbox

When I saw Jawbox one night on Fallon, in 2009, I realized how much some of these indie rock artists should be praised for their music. I remember growing up and being out of High School searching for something new to listen to. Sure I was ready to graduate High School and saw the mother of all new rock shows. I saw Smashing Pumpkins, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Pearl Jam in New York. I even went to Lollapalooza that next summer and saw Pearl Jam and Red Hot Chili Peppers again. I wanted something more.

The summer after I saw that I Helmet, Primus and Rollins Band. I kept on going to these big shows and then one day I said stop. I wanted more personal shows. I wanted to see bands in small clubs. These shows included seeing artists such as Rage Against the Machine, Uncle Tupelo, Soul Coughing and one of my favorite shows was Jawbox.

The Jawbox show was in New York City. It was at my one of my favorite places to see a show. The Irving Plaza has hosted some memorable shows in my concert going career. I knew about Jawbox from watching MTV 120 Minutes. Matter of fact I used to watch a lot of that show in the early 90's. They turned me on to many cool acts. This Jawbox show had two acts. One of the openers was Jawbreaker.

When Jawbreaker came on the stage I was amazed of the energy they played. It was a performance that had a lasting impression. They teared through songs like nobody can. Then Jawbox came out and played. My friend is a drummer. He is a very good drummer, but when the drummer from Jawbox played he made both our jaws drop.

The musicianship of this band is amazing. Each part of them is done with power and technique. It's like a high output engine that is running on good fuel and is calibrated to perfection. What made it more fun was their non post-hardcore ways. Each played a roll. The drummer did a spoken word intro to a song and his drumming was not hitting the drums on the beat, but to play them with a different kind of beat that the guitar and bass were doing.

Small shows like this you could never get an experience like I had. Each band had the crowd on their feet. Jawbox was the lasting Impression. I liked Jawbreaker, but it might have been an off night. A good off night, because of Jawbox's performance I saw then again and they were awesome. Jawbox I have seen a few times again, and each was very impressive before they called it quits in 1997.

What makes For Your Own Special Sweetheart, such a great album is the drummer and also the guitar interplay. Their lyrics are amazing and very smart. They also make reference to a J.G. Ballard book Concrete Island. This all produces an album that is heavy on songs that gracefully batter and flit unpredictably between mid-tempo and charging speeds. (AM) This album is a benchmark of the Washington DC scene and you should own it. Now that it got re-issued it has a grasp on what you should listen to. Enjoy it as much as I have remembering a great band from an era where we dominated by Weezer, Beck and Nine Inch Nails on MTV.