undertheskin's Full Review: American Thighs by Veruca Salt
My introduction to the band, Veruca Salt, occurred very early. Way too early, if you ask me. My older brother had purchased a Skunk Anansie Record and me, being a fifteen year old copycat, bought Veruca Salt’s Eight arms to hold you just to keep up with his increasingly loud musical tastes. I appreciated some songs in it like “Volcano Girls” and “Loneliness is Worse” but I found out that those weren’t enough to sustain my interest. I moved on to softer, more mainstream sounds like Lisa Loeb (I even bought Toni Braxton, I was going through a phase) but before I tossed Eight arms to hold you, I secretly vetoed Veruca Salt and pledged that I would try to listen to them when I’m older.
It’s strange how five years can change a person. Fast forward to 2003 and I’m now 20 and had just discovered Liz Phair and had rediscovered Juliana Hatfield. I had sealed my stance as a listener. I had found out that I’m a rocker, and I had found out that I like, more than anything, female sung rock. It’s kind of weird because I’m male. Maybe I’m gay but that’s a whole different story.
Anyway, one day when I was looking for something to do in the internet and when I had looked at all the porn I can take (kidding!), the thought came to me like a bubble. Why don’t I download some songs of Veruca Salt? So I went to Kazaa and it probably was illegal but I typed Veruca Salt and some songs from their first effort popped. Then I went to AllMusic and searched American thighs and apparently, this debut effort was their best. So I downloaded Seether and once I listened to it, I was hooked.
I was off to the record stores, asking about American thighs and Jesus, was it difficult to purchase this. Some people offered Resolver, some recommended Eight arms and some people weren’t even aware of the band. But eventually, I found it.
It’s been months now and I’m still not over my devotion to this record. It’s just a lovely, hard rocker of a CD. Not one song annoys me, I even adore the fast “Victrola”. But of course, like all parents, I have favorites.
Like many, I find Gordon’s voice more appealing than Post’s. Hers is a golden, sugary voice that can fit in any musical genre and thank God, she placed hers in rock.
Seether- This rocking, driving tune is the perfect car song. When you’re driving and you want to impress people with the fact that you haven’t yet succumbed to all the hip hop madness, this is the song.
Twinstar- A lovely bittersweet song that features the best lyrics. It’s slow and heartfelt without being sappy.
25- Probably their best song in the record, 25 is an epic that talks about how it is to be in one’s 20s or something. It makes me want to be a mess and sleep around. But hopefully, I’m an obsessive compulsive so I just listen to this song and meditate. It starts with a bang and ends with a bang. Gordon’s voice is so beautiful.
Wolf- Post sang this and I still adore it, mostly because of the overlapping of the two girls’ voices. When that part with the I slept in hell arrive and Gordon’s voice overtakes, I just bawl (well, not really but I almost do). And that part when they howl like wolves, it’s just a really beautiful song.
I won’t say anything about the other Veruca Salt records and the other formations of the band. As far as I’m concerned this is their best. American thighs is unpretentious and tries its very best to please and it, of course, succeeds. I know some music critics compare the band with The Breeders and they even went as far as labeling them as a poppier imitation which is unfair. Veruca Salt’s American thighs is more direct and more understandable than “Pod” and “The last splash”.
It’s weird because it’s by Veruca Salt that I got introduced to the Breeders and their music.
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