It’s a Shame about Ray

Dando cut his losses and flew to Australia to write some songs with friends Nic Dalton and Tom Morgan . These songs formed the basis for It’s a Shame about Ray , the Lemonheads’ breakthrough album. In the intervening time, Jesse Peretz had left music, and had taken up a career in photography and film; he would remain as the band photographer, and would eventually go on to direct music videos, TV shows, and feature films. Replacing Peretz in the band was Juliana Hatfield , who provided bass and backing vocals. Hatfield would leave the band shortly after recording the album to found her own band, the Juliana Hatfield Three, and would be replaced on bass by Nic Dalton. A cover of ” Mrs. Robinson ” (recorded to promote the video release and the 25th anniversary of The Graduate ) was released as a single and got them the most exposure they had had so far. This cover was also used in the film Wayne’s World 2 and in Martin Scorsese ‘s 2013 film The Wolf of Wall Street . When the Ray album was reissued, the track was tacked on to the end. The band enjoyed some success on college radio as well as mainstream exposure. The title track, ” It’s a Shame About Ray “, also saw commercial success. Despite the popularity of grunge, Dando confounded fans and his own mother by dialing down the amps on the album, he told Guitar World writer Jim Beaugez: “We were going for an AM radio sort of sound. It sounded really different; it stuck out at the time. My mom was like, ‘What are you doing? Your kind of music has gotten really popular. Why are you changing it?’ She was worried.” During 1992–1993, Dando’s face graced many magazine covers, and he was included in People ‘ s 50 Most Beautiful People list.