In 1991, the band signed onto Caroline Records to release their debut album, and Love sought Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth to produce the record. She sent a letter, a Hello Kitty barrette, and copies of the band’s early singles to her, mentioning that the band greatly admired Gordon’s work…
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As it toured Europe during late 1991, the band found that its shows were dangerously oversold, that television crews were becoming a constant presence onstage, and that “Smells Like Teen Spirit” was almost omnipresent on radio and music television.
The band embarked on a European tour in the fall of 1991 supporting Mudhoney .
They also toured intermittently in the United States between July and December 1991, playing primarily at hard rock and punk clubs, including CBGB and the Whisky a Go Go , where they opened for the Smashing Pumpkins .
Around the time of Locust Abortion Technician’ s debut, the group bought a home in Driftwood, Texas , approximately 30 miles (48 km) outside Austin. It was a ranch house built into the side of a hill, with 5 acres (20,000 m ) of surrounding property. As with the rental…
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In mid-1991, the band began to get the attention of the major labels. The first to court them was Maverick — a Warner subsidiary founded by Madonna and music executive Freddy DeMann . Love, however, was uninterested: “[They] would have me riding on elephants. They don’t know what I am.…
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Rough Trade filed for bankruptcy in 1991, but not before releasing Leary’s solo project, The History of Dogs . The following year, Butthole Surfers shocked many fans and critics by signing with the major label Capitol Records . In 2017, Paul Leary reflected: “I grew up listening to The Beatles…
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The band’s first album, Unsane , was released in 1991, and was known for its harsh music and gruesome cover art with a photo of a decapitated man on a New York subway track wearing a Members Only jacket. The band obtained this photograph from a friend who was working…
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In 1991, the band released their full-length debut album Grippe , which was also issued by Dischord. Grippe featured both newly written material and re-recordings of older tracks. Around the same time as Grippe ‘ s release, Wade’s friend and roommate Bill Barbot joined the band as an additional guitarist…
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In 1991 they released their first full-length album, 13-Point Program to Destroy America on Dischord Records .