Beyond that, Schlesinger - a power-pop devotee- also made his mark on the legacy of The Verve Pipe, who ventured deep into the world of pop-infused rock ’n roll when they recorded “Underneath” with him. Sadly, Schlesinger died unexpectedly on Apdue to COVID-19 complications.īut his fingerprints were left on stacks of albums, for one: the bubbly title song to “That Thing You Do!,” which he wrote and co-produced for the 1996 Tom Hanks film. Firstly, it was produced by the songwriter/engineer Adam Schlesinger, a Grammy and Emmy Award winner - not to mention a founding member of wildly popular bands like Fountains of Wayne and Tinted Windows.
But now, obscurity aside, and on the eve of its 20th anniversary, the album remains special in many ways. Of course, there is a lot of baggage as to why “nobody” heard it.
It's an excellent summary of their three-album stint with RCA, and while this music is emblematic of its time, it does prove that of the one-hit post-grunge wonders of the second half of the '90s, the Verve Pipe had one of the most consistent bodies of work.Four years after The Verve Pipe’s “Villains” LP reached Platinum status, and its breakout single “The Freshman” became a legit mainstream radio hit, the East Lansing band returned to the studio to cut “Underneath,” its fourth proper full-length record - and their best record.ĭon’t agree? Talk to the band’s vocalist/guitarist Brian Vander Ark who told this to the Chicago Tribune in 2015: “I think ‘Underneath’ was our best, and that was the one that really nobody heard.” This naturally relies very heavily on their one big LP, 1996's Villains, with three tracks apiece from Verve Pipe and Underneath and a live version of the Pop Smear favorite "Spoonful of Sugar" added as a closing cut. While they were by no means trendsetters, they were a solid, reliable band, and this compilation proves that out. The Verve Pipe might have been able to retain a small cult if their second major-label album, an eponymous 1999 effort helmed by superstar producer Michael Beinhorn, didn't tank, bringing their career down with it by the time they released their very good, Adam Schlesinger-produced 2001 album Underneath, they were already considered a footnote to the alt-rock era. And they did have other hits, like "Photograph," "Villains," and "Hero," but while sturdy, none of them became a touchstone like "The Freshmen" since they had neither the immediate hook nor the universal subject matter of that single. If the Verve Pipe never had another hit to match "The Freshmen," it was not for lack of trying, nor was it for lack of material - as their first hits compilation, Platinum & Gold Collection (re-packaged in 2007 as Super Hits) proves, they had similarly hooky material that fit well into mainstream alt-rock radio. Starting as an acoustic ballad, by the time it turned into a radio hit it was given a brooding sensibility, heavy on heavy guitars and echo, that didn't just fit into the post-Nirvana landscape of '90s modern rock, it epitomized how alternative rock was no longer underground - it was a commercial juggernaut. That hit, of course, was "The Freshmen," a pained, earnest mid-tempo dissection of a relationship gone wrong that the band's lead singer/songwriter, Brian Vander Ark, wrote years before the Verve Pipe had formed.
The Verve Pipe were one of the handful of post-grunge bands that had a hit in the mid- to late '90s that was ubiquitous, and then had the bottom suddenly fall out from underneath them.
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