The Afghan Whigs
Encyclopedia : T : TH : THE : The Afghan Whigs
The Afghan Whigs were an American soul-influenced alternative rock band of the 1990s. While they achieved moderate success—Rolling Stone described the band as spending "the bulk of their career on the brink of stardom"—they've "never quite broken beyond a substantial legion of devotees enamored of their thinly veiled sleaze."
Band history
Greg Dulli (vocals, rhythm guitar), John Curley (bass), Rick McCollum (lead guitar) and Steve Earle (drums -- not to be confused with Steve Earle) formed the band in Cincinnati in 1986. Their 1988 debut album Big Top Halloween on their independent record label called Ultrasuede created a buzz in the independent music community, and the band soon signed to Sub Pop of Seattle in 1989, the first non-local band to do so. In 1990, Up in It was released; this was followed by the critically acclaimed 1992 album Congregation and a covers EP, Uptown Avondale.The Afghan Whigs then signed to a major label, Elektra Records, and released another critically acclaimed album, Gentlemen that failed to break the band into the mainstream, though it spawned the minor hits "Debonair" & "Gentlemen". They contributed "Fountain and Fairfax" to the soundtrack for the television series My So-Called Life in 1994.
For the next few years, personnel problems interfered with recording and touring, and the band released two more albums - Black Love in 1996 (with Paul Buchignani taking over drumming duties) and 1965 in 1998 (with Michael Horrigan replacing Buchignani) on Columbia Records - before they broke up in 2001.
In 1994, Greg Dulli was a lead vocalist in the Backbeat Band, an alternative-rock supergroup that recorded the soundtrack to the Beatles biopic, Backbeat. Other members of the Backbeat Band were Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth), Don Fleming (Gumball), Mike Mills (R.E.M.), Dave Grohl (Nirvana, later Foo Fighters) and Dave Pirner (Soul Asylum). The Backbeat soundtrack was produced by Don Was.
In 1996, Greg Dulli served as executive producer for the soundtrack for the Ted Demme film Beautiful Girls. The Afghan Whigs appeared in the film as a bar band and contributed the Frederick Knight cover "Be For Real" and the Barry White cover "Can't Get Enough of Your Love, Babe" to the soundtrack.
Current projects
- Greg Dulli is currently recording and performing as The Twilight Singers
- John Curley is the bassist of the Staggering Statistics
- Rick McCollum is the guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter for Moon Maan
Discography
Studio albums
- 1988 Big Top Halloween (Ultrasuede)
- 1990 Up in It (Sub Pop)
- 1992 Congregation (Sub Pop)
- 1993 Gentlemen (Elektra Records)
- 1996 Black Love (Elektra Records)
- 1998 1965 (Columbia Records)
Singles and EPs
- 1989 I Am the Sticks/White Trash Party (Sub Pop)
- 1990 Retarded (Sub Pop)
- 1990 Sister Brother/Hey Cuz (Sub Pop)
- 1991 My World Is Empty Without You (Sub Pop)
- 1992 Turn On The Water (Sub Pop)
- 1992 Conjure Me (Sub Pop)
- 1992 Uptown Avondale (EP) (Sub Pop)
- 1993 Debonair (Blast First)
- 1993 Gentlemen (Blast First)
- 1994 What Jail Is Like (Sub Pop)
- 1996 Honky's Ladder (Elektra Records)
- 1996 Going To Town (Mute Records)
- 1998 Somethin' Hot (Columbia Records)
- 1999 66 (Columbia Records)
External links
- [Summer's Kiss - A Tribute to The Afghan Whigs]
- [The Twilight Singers]
- [Staggering Statistics]
- [Moon Maan]
- [The Afghan Whigs Allmusic entry]
- [The Afghan Whigs Lyrics]
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.