How did you get into Soul Asylum?

Discuss any aspect of Soul Asylum, their music, and the band's members.
Rebel Yell5
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Post by Rebel Yell5 »

I think it was mid 92' perhaps 93' memories fail me. Loved Black Gold. first heard it on the Loop in Chicago. This hooked me. I was a huge Stones, early, original Van Halen, Queen, Bowie, Faces fan and metal and hard rock fan. Had to have my Ozzy, Metallica, Kiss, Anthrax, and Megadeth. I started to sway at this time to mod rock, 70's glam rock, etc.

I loved Grave Dancer's Union and I think Let Your Dim Light Shine was a personal fave still is. Such a great album. I always thought SA should have been way bigger than they were. I am sure I am not alone in that thought. To me they still will be the top though.
See You Later

derickson
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Post by derickson »

Great stories everyone! I don't remember what year it was, had to be 88 or 89. I was 15 or 16 and my best friends step dad was in a band that opened a show or two for them. He brought back Made to be broken and Hang Time. I didn't listen to anything else for about a month.
I have owned every album I could since that day and I go to every show I can.
Great hard driving music and meaningful lyrics. What more do you need to say??

crawl
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Post by crawl »

Great idea for a string of pearls. What more can I say. Can't believe I am just getting to it. Enjoyed reading everyones stories and am pretty much at the "remember ?... me ?... I am way too old" and also had the frontal lobotomy years (when my children were small toddlers). Any chance the Easy Street reference earlier lead to the break out at First Avenue?

So back to the topic. I really liked Runaway Train. Got the album. Kids were getting a little older and we had a good babysitter so we started to go to more shows. Now, having seen them so many times I can't recall which venue or when but is was definitely a Chicago show. At the time I was like well I don't know about that Dave guy... He looks like Cousin It, but I love Danny!!! He really rocks! And so does the band! That was it... I was hooked.

Since then, I have not missed many Chicago shows although there have been a few... opening for Sharyl Crow. I love the old catalog, wish I had live shows, and Hang time is without a doubt my favorite album. If my son Marc had been born a minute earlier it would have been to Gullibles Travels, instead it was to Nice Guys ... I love them both. That was '95 so I had already seen them and started on the old stuff.

As to Dave and Dan, well... I can't think of Nicer Guys (hint, hint). Any time I have talked to either of them I can barely stammer out "Great show" "I am a big fan", It is amazing how nice they can be to idiots like me. Both of them always seem so willing to chat and sign stuff... If only I could think of something say! I am too busy swallowing my tongue.

Seriously though, SA is and has been the best band out there for decades. From cover songs (I can remember exaclty what I was doing when I first heard Sexual Healing and Waterfalls) to their songs... I can't think of one I don't like, they are So Amazing.

Woo Hoo!

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lucy
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Post by lucy »

I'm fairly new to the site, and I haven't answered this question yet, so here goes:

I was 16 and X was (is) one of my favorite bands. I lived in Sturgeon Bay, WI, which is about 45 minutes north of Green Bay, WI and X was playing a show there at the Riverside Ballroom on Sept. 29th, 1985. The opening bands were Capitol Punishment and Soul Asylum. I'd never heard of them before the show, but after the show went out and bought Made to Be Broken immediately and While You Were Out I believe was a brand new album that fall. Since then I've been to close to 20 shows including flying in from San Franscisco for the infamous Chicago Metro show a couple days before Dim Light came out and was able to get into the Capital Records party downstairs afterward when Dave and Dan were bartending. (there was a photo in Rolling Stone magazine ) They made me an awesome Long Island Iced Tea (or two...) -he said he forgot the tea. So they've been a part of my life and an incredible soundtrack to much of it, for over 20 years now. The rest is history...

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Judgmental Patient
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Post by Judgmental Patient »

Miss Fitt 2 wrote: I also think that "Ain't That Tough" is one of their best and most underrated songs.
It's one of the best and most underrated songs in Rock n Roll history. Definitely tops my iTunes most played. (Also on the list: Miracle Mile).

I am a total sucker for a good rock piano though. Love GnR's 14 Years.

Anyway. I was 6. My uncle bought GDU. Played Somebody to Shove. I was hooked. It was all I listened to until 1995, and I am not exaggerating. Then Dim Light came out and it rotated with GDU until 1998... you get the picture. But in 2001, when no new album came out, I began to panic. Found a used Hang Time cassette in a store, and loved it. Found Horse shortly thereafter. Loved it more. Then one day that store magically had SWYW, WYWO, and Clam Dip. After I cremed myself, I took them home, threw them on, and said "wtf". Then I gave them another listen, still thought SWYW sucked, but realized that the other two were definitely made AFTER Dave Dan and Karl developed the magic touch.

Finally ordered Made to Broken off of Amazon earlier this year, and it rocked my socks in a way that no album has since my mom took away Grave Dancer's Union because one song had the word "hooker" in it. (Best SA video, btw). If I had known that I was missing something this good, I would never have waited.

Well. Yeah. I <3 Soul Asylum.
What happened son, you could have been someone
You could have been much more

theswine
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Post by theswine »

I had always enjoyed the lyrics - thought they were clever - but it was when I say them live that I was really hooked. The passion that they played with was overwhelming.

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whileyouwereout
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Post by whileyouwereout »

Great thread - I've truly enjoyed reading how many of you got into them and I love that there are others who dig these guys as much as I do.

The first time I saw SA was in the summer of '88 at the State Fair in St. Paul. They played in the middle of the day and I was completely blown away. Their music and lyrics were so real, smart, clever, catchy, and rockin'. I remember Dave wearing sunglasses and saying that they were usually asleep at that time of the day. At that point I could only imagine how amazing it'd be to see them at night, when they were totally on. Their music spoke to me something fierce and still does - EVERY single time I hear them.

I picked up Hang Time as soon as it was released (from my favorite record shop, Northern Lights) and the next week I picked up Made to Be Broken, While You Were Out and Time's Incinerator. I was hooked and still am. First favorite SA song was Masquerade. Wow.
Other bands I was listening to at the time: The Phones (Stickmen), REM, The Replacements, Husker Du, The Cars, Billy Idol, Psychedelic Furs, Boston, Yaz, Oingo Boingo, Alphaville, Prince, Bob Marley...and on and on.

I've actually met Dave twice and both times he was so gracious, humble and friendly. The first time was in Denver when they played at the Mercury Cafe in November of '90. I was recovering from a pretty bad bike accident two weeks prior and was still in rough shape, and my good friend Andy (who owns a record shop in Boulder) introduced me to him after the show. We talked for a moment and Dave signed a poster for me and gave me a big bear hug before he went on to talk to someone else. It made my day, hell, it made my year! :D

The second time was in Denver in '95 - they opened for Radiohead (or vice versa, can't remember) and the friend I was with had backstage passes...long story short we ended up on the SA bus and it was just the three of us (Dave, my friend and I) hanging out smoking and drinking. So casual - felt like we were chillin' with an old friend. I mentioned that we had met back in '90 and he said he remembered my face, but I'm sure he was just being nice. At one point he asked us what we thought was the worst part about the show and I told him that Tied to the Tracks sounded pretty rough. (The nerve!) Dave laughed and agreed. I think he appreciated my honesty, but who knows.

I've seen them live many times both in Minnesota and Colorado and I will never get enough of them. The most recent was at the Walnut Room in Denver this past March. So amazingly good. They seem to only get better and better - don't know how that's possible. Sure wish I could've made it to the shows in December - seeing the set lists gave me chills. They are my all-time favorite band.
There's men without gods and gods without men and a spirit of which none of them can transcend...

Belly T Jones
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Post by Belly T Jones »

July '93. A buddy and I were travelling across the US, east coast to west. Two 17 year old Brit metalheads taking in as much of America as they could over a month or so, with MTV soundtracking our journey the whole while. And so it came to be, in a crappy motel room in Cape Cod, that I discovered Soul Asylum, that first glimpse of the video for Runaway Train reeling me in.

By the time we got to San Diego I finally picked up a copy of Grave Dancer's Union, from Sam Goody in Horton Plaza if memory serves. Back in my hotel room, I slapped the cassette into my trusty Walkman, and pressed play... By the time Somebody To Shove reached its second chorus, I was hooked. One album listen later and I was a convert.

Back in the UK, I cautiously delved into their back catalogue, first with Hang Time, then And The Horse They Rode In On. I never stood a chance really - everything they ever released on cassette soon followed. The gradual process of trying (and failing!) to replace that collection on CD continues to this day!
Don't worry - be money.

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lune ellise
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Re: How did you get into Soul Asylum?

Post by lune ellise »

I have to be honest, I mistaken Soul Asylum as Def Leppard, so naturally I was shocked when I realized that:

1. I can't sing Runaway Train in karaoke like I can sing Two Steps Behind
2. my favorite songs at that time: Somebody To Shove, Black Gold, Runaway Train, was not sung by Def Leppard or White Lion (don't ask me why I think that, I have no idea now)
3. Soul Asylum is not a 70s band, the era that my Mom and Dad was into (because it is they who bought the Soul Asylum CDs, and my feeble mind hastily concluded that Soul Asylum is as old as Keith Richards).
3. to my horror of my supreme idiocy, I learned that Dave Pirner is NOT a woman
4. Mom also possessed Soul Asylum's Let You Dim Light Shine and Candy From A Stranger, and found out that only Mom has those CDs in the whole city.

So I researched about them (just 3 months ago) and VOILA, I'm now hooked by the most under-rated artists trapped in the fame-whoringstudded industry of rock!
"There's no such thing as a man-tamed girl."
My reviews of Soul Asylum albums: http://fritzi.gironella-cdo.com/search/ ... l%20asylum

sheryl
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Re: How did you get into Soul Asylum?

Post by sheryl »

lune ellise wrote:I have to be honest, I mistaken Soul Asylum as Def Leppard, so naturally I was shocked when I realized that:

1. I can't sing Runaway Train in karaoke like I can sing Two Steps Behind
2. my favorite songs at that time: Somebody To Shove, Black Gold, Runaway Train, was not sung by Def Leppard or White Lion (don't ask me why I think that, I have no idea now)
3. Soul Asylum is not a 70s band, the era that my Mom and Dad was into (because it is they who bought the Soul Asylum CDs, and my feeble mind hastily concluded that Soul Asylum is as old as Keith Richards).
3. to my horror of my supreme idiocy, I learned that Dave Pirner is NOT a woman
4. Mom also possessed Soul Asylum's Let You Dim Light Shine and Candy From A Stranger, and found out that only Mom has those CDs in the whole city.

So I researched about them (just 3 months ago) and VOILA, I'm now hooked by the most under-rated artists trapped in the fame-whoringstudded industry of rock!
I can karaoke the hell out of Two Steps Behind, too! haha. Def Leppard were my hair band boys, Soul Asylum were my others. But every so often I get hit with one of those "Soul Asylum does this song????" moments still.
"Crashing Down" was a big one with that. I hadn't heard the song since the 80's and had forgotten all about it. It got a ton of play on WUNH back when it was a new song, and I'm not sure I ever knew who did it. A couple of years ago when I started rebuying SA's back catalog and found that song I was utterly shocked. "THIS is THEM?!?!?" haha.

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