Hater

One of my favorite CDs is the EP "Hater" by the band Hater. Hater was a side project of members of Soundgarden, Monster Magnet, and the brother of Andrew Wood (dude who died in Mother Love Bone, band which became Pearl Jam). It was released to little fanfare in the early 90s during the heyday of grunge. In fact, the only reason I ever knew about the band was because my brother was a fan of Matt Cameron (Soundgarden drummer and current Pearl Jam drummer) and it was positively reviewed in his Modern Drummer magazine. Without his purchase of the tape, I never would have been exposed to this fantastic music. The more I think about it, "Hater" is easily in my list of the top 50 CDs I own, even though only a handful of people have ever heard it. The people that have heard it love it though.

I'm pretty sure the reason why no one at A&M ever promoted this CD is that it was nothing like they expected. In their minds, coming off the success of Temple of the Dog, they were expecting a grunge supergroup they could push to the masses. Instead, they got a garage rock classic. If it sounds like a record made in a few days by a bunch of talented musicians who happened to be friends, that's because that's exactly what it was. And that is definitely part of its charm - the laidback feel of people hanging out in a house coming up with classic songs. Yet the music is extremely catchy and very accessible. In some alternate universe, Hater was the biggest band on the planet.

The CD is rather brief and definitely leaves you wanting more. It opens with a cover of the Cat Stevens song "Mona Bone Jakon" and just picks up steam from there. "Who Do I Kill?" follows and by the time you finish "Tot Finder" you will have a smile on your face as you end up singing along. Like most garage rock, the songs are fairly straightforward and simple (hell, I learned to play most of these songs). But they are also insanely catchy and it's hard not to sing along.

The second half starts with "Down Undershoe", which resembles a song from Peanuts and follows with "Circles" and "Putrid". Then, it's their cover of the country song "Blistered" which is worth it just for the ending. By the time the CD ends with "Sad McBain", it's almost impossible not to press play and start all over again.

While this was just a one-time side project, John McBain, Ben Shepherd (Soundgarden bassist and one of the most underrated musicians of our time), and Matt Cameron did form The Wellwater Conspiracy and released the almost as good CD "The Wellwater Conspiracy". Subsequent releases started declining in quality, but at the very least had a few good songs. In the past year, Hater regrouped to release "The 2nd". While not nearly as amazing as "Hater", it was still good and it was definitely a pleasure to get more music from this band. If they ever tour Chicago, I'll be there in a heartbeat.

I have to admit that Hater and The Wellwater Conspiracy influenced me to seek out garage rock and lead me directly to truly amazing bands such as The Stooges, The MC5, The Rationals, etc which years later lead me to the Elephant 6 bands. It's truly amazing to think about how much one CD influenced my life. Sure, I may have discovered those bands on my own. But it's hard for me to imagine my life without The Stooges or Neutral Milk Hotel. And it all started with Hater.

Tags: * entertainment * pop culture * music * grunge * Soundgarden * Pearl Jam * Monster Magnet * Matt Cameron * John McBain * Ben Shepherd * Brian Wood * Andrew Wood * Hater * Mother Love Bone * Wellwater Conspiracy * Mona Bone Jakon * Who Do I Kill? * Tot Finder * Down Undershoe * Circles * Putrid * Blistered * Sad McBain * The Stooges * MC5 * The Rationals * Elephant 6 * Neutral Milk Hotel * YouTube