A twisting path through Austin's underground music scene in the twentieth century's last decade, narrated by the people who were there.
It's 1990 in Austin, Texas. The next decade will be a tipping point in the city's transformation from sleepy college town to major city. Beneath the increasingly slick exterior, though, a group of like-minded contrarians were reimagining an underground music scene. Embracing a do-it-yourself ethos, record labels emerged to release local music, zines cheered and jeered acts beneath the radar of mainstream media outlets, and loads of small clubs opened simply because music-minded people wanted a place to play.
This vibrant scene valued expression over erudition, from the razor-sharp songcraft of Spoon to the fuzzed-out poptones of Sixteen Deluxe, and blurred the boundaries between observer and participant. Evolving in tandem with the city's emergence on the national stage via the film Slacker and the SXSW conference and festivals, Austin's musical underground became a spiritual crucible for the uneasy balance between commercial success and cultural authenticity, a tension that still resonates today.
The first book about Austin underground music in the '90s, A Curious Mix of People is an oral history that tells the story of this transformative decade through the eyes of the musicians, writers, DJs, club owners, record-store employees, and other key figures who were there.
By:
Greg Beets,
Richard Whymark
Imprint: University of Texas Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions:
Height: 254mm,
Width: 178mm,
Spine: 36mm
Weight: 739g
ISBN: 9781477328132
ISBN 10: 1477328130
Pages: 288
Publication Date: 31 October 2023
Audience:
General/trade
,
ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Introduction. Nobody Here but Us Wounded Chickens The Cavity: The Cavity Creeps Emo’s: Johnny Cash Sat Here Radio: None of the Hits, All of the Time Hole in the Wall: Cheap Music, Fast Drinks, Live Women Blue Flamingo: Those Horses Do Bite! Chances: We’ll Just Rock for Ourselves Sweatbox Studios: Sweatbox Is Burning (or, Honk If Dick Cheney Shot Your Landlord in the Face) TV and Video: Raw Meat in the Studio Zines, Flyers, and the Press: Putting the Word in the Streets Sound Exchange: Bitter People with No Future Selling Music Record Labels: Bitter People with No Future Starting Labels Trance Syndicate: Love and Napalm Electric Lounge: My Childhood Hero Is Getting Pelted with Roses Liberty Lunch: By the ’90s, We Were Rocking The End: It Doesn’t Go On Forever Acknowledgments Cast of Characters Chronology 100 Essential Underground Releases of the 1990s (in Chronological Order) A Curious Mix of the Departed: In Memoriam Notes Index
Greg Beets is a music journalist and musician who wrote for the Austin Chronicle and performed as a vocalist with the 1990s Austin bands Cheezus, Noodle, and the Peenbeets. Richard Whymark is a documentary filmmaker and the executive producer of the documentary series A Curious Mix of People.
Reviews for A Curious Mix of People: The Underground Scene of '90s Austin
Featuring members of the Big Boys, Butthole Surfers, Spoon, and more – including the unsung ladies who made Austin DIY more than a boys club – this new oral history should be required reading for all contemporary scenesters interested in learning more about the slacker generation. * The Austin Chronicle *
