University - Throwing Muses

The Indie scene, especially in the late 1980s, had several tiers of 'alternatism'. Firstly there were the more mainstream independent acts, such as Depeche Mode and R.E.M. Beneath these bands there were several other levels of alternative music. If I am being honest, I preferred the mainstream indie music - stuff with obvious melodies and relatively obvious lyrics. Then there were bands like The Pixies and Throwing Muses. Noisy, brash and impenetrable. I was desperate to like these type of bands but try as I might I just could not get my head around it. I was convinced that those who professed to like this stuff only did so to try and appear different to everyone else. In one last desperate attempt I rented a CD of 'Hunkpapa' from Alpha Video in Hartlepool. It did after all have a catchy single 'Dizzy' on it so maybe the rest of the album would be like that.....
I was wrong - 'Dizzy' was not characteristic of the album (and the band have even since disowned it!).
I put it down to another failed attempt and went back to what I knew best.
It would've remained that way but then I started work at CYC in 2002 and discovered that one of my new colleagues had similar taste in music to myself..... and loved the Throwing Muses.
His enthusiasm was infectious and persuaded me to give them another go. I bought a copy 'Hunkpapa' and apprehensively gave it a listen. At first it was business as usual - noisy guitars, impenetrable lyrics and feedback. Then, out of the cacophony, melodies started to emerge. Slowly I became attuned to the music and it all started to make sense. And thankfully still does! I've not listened to 'University' for a good few years but it still sounds as fresh as it did when I first heard it. Cheers JW!