311 - Grassroots: part of my personal 90's soundtrack

I don't have any idea where these guys are now. I presume they are still making albums. I have to look into that.

I'd never heard anything like this before

I wrote the intro and then became curious: YES, they are still making albums. I will have to check them out later. However, this article is about the album that was released in 1994 and was a huge hit among me and my friends.

Let's start by saying that I first wanted to check them out because they are from Omaha, Nebraska. I lived a lot of my childhood in Nebraska and let me tell you this. Except for football (the American kind) and corn, nothing is from Nebraska. Therefore, when someone tells you about this great band from Nebraska you better listen to it because there is a very good chance that it must be something amazing for anyone in the music industry to even notice it.

this is what most of Nebraska looks like

Grassroots was the first album I acquired of theirs although they did have one other (not self-produced) album before that simply entitled "Music". Lots of fanbois (back in the 90's) claimed they like the album "Music" better but I seriously doubt they even knew the album existed until Grassroots became popular.

I don't really know how to describe their sound: They are clearly influenced by reggae, rock, metal, ska, and rap and fused them all together quite nicely. Nick Hexum, the band's guitarist and singer writes most of the music for the band and it just works. Since it was different than everything else at the time that is probably why they got noticed. Nick is not a terribly good singer and relies heavily on lots of effects, but i think everyone does that now.

I think something else that appealed to me about this album is that they had a really good producer. The mix on the sound was just perfect for the 90's and I think stands up to today's standards for the most part.

As I mentioned many articles ago I had a very nice stereo in my car in the 90's including a sub-woofer that could shake the mirrors at full capacity. Therefore, having a good producer was very important if I was going to like your stuff.

I think this was so popular in the 90's because it had a little bit of everything for everyone. If you liked rock, reggae, rap, or pretty much anything, it would be fine on the system at a party or bar. Maybe it was just for the college folk... i dunno. It was also pretty great that they didn't achieve massive success right away because I was able to see them twice at smaller venues for less than $20 per time.

Check out Grassroots first track, which is called "Homebrew"

and maybe "8:16 AM" - which is likely the song people are most likely to recognize from the entire album.

that bass player is just off the hook

Grassroots had a pretty decent level of success but failed to really attract the wide-spread attention of the masses in the US or the world. That would come later and we'll talk about it in the future.

by the way the name 311 comes from the police code in Nebraska. It is for indecent exposure and the guys in the band found this out when one of the members was arrested for streaking.

As usual I hope you appreciate these articles. I welcome your comments, even if they are negative.