After 22 Years, The Vaselines Finally Invade America

Scottish indie-pop band the Vaselines formed in 1986 and existed just long enough to release a handful of much-loved cult EPs and a single album (and become Kurt Cobain's self-proclaimed favorite band) before splitting. This week the Vaselines played their first-ever string of U.S. shows, and last night at Brooklyn's beyond-sold-out Southpaw anyone who managed to score a spot caught an absolutely incredible set of the group's punky folk-pop classics, including the two tunes everyone wanted to hear: "Molly's Lips" and "Jesus Don't Want Me For a Sunbeam," which Nirvana famously covered on MTV Unplugged. But the highlights of the Vaselines' set were some of the deeper cuts, including a sublime version of the haunting ballad "No Hope," which features the killer lyric, "My life is such a bore/ I need to drink more." On top of the ace performances, singers Eugene Kelly and Frances McKee (who doesn't look a day over 20) showed off their quirky sense of humor, exchanging sexual barbs much to the amusement of the crowd. "We're having a nice time tonight," McKee said, referring to her all-male backing band. "Well, except me. [The rest of the band] is having a ball. They're having a few balls." Kelly retorted: "We don't have any merchandise to sell you. But Frances will give you all a lap dance for $20."

• 
  MUSIC Exclusive Live Chat With Linkin Park and Incubus
• 
  MOVIES & TV Peter Travers: 'The Avengers' Has it All
• 
  POLITICS Matt Taibbi: Jon Corzine Is the Original Zimmerman
• 
  VIDEOS Exclusive Premiere: Tenacious D's 'Tinnitus'

Song Stories

“Baby Got Back”

Sir Mix-a-Lot | 1992

While watching a Budweiser commercial during the Super Bowl, Sir Mix-a-Lot thought the skinny female models in the ad didn’t represent reality. So he wrote this ode to ample bottoms, featuring its famous to-the-point lyric: “I like big butts and I cannot lie.” MTV banished the video, featuring shaking booties and sexually suggestive fruit, to 9 p.m. or later. “I thought my career was over,” he told Rolling Stone. “Then I called Rick Rubin, and I told him the video was banned, and he was like, 'Great!' We sold another 2 million records.”

More Song Stories entries »

Twitter