Silverchair

Tomorrow is a great song.

Thought Frogstomp was a good album but never got anything else by them. Just couldn't figure out how dude ended up with Natalie Imbruglia.

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Very underrated IMO. Anyone agree?

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No. Part of their drop in popularity was that they were so overrated, they never could fulfill the hype.

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Natalie Imbruglia

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Look, you'll have people tell you their only album worth a damn was Frogstomp, or that they were "great when I was 17 years old." But there is very nearly not a more mood-inducing, dark, well-orchestrated album than Neon Ballroom. That is where the true musical genius of Daniel Johns manifests. You see a glimpse of it with him when he created Tomorrow at like 14 years old. But, yes, Silverchair is/was a very underrated band.

You'll be hard pressed to find two diametrically opposing sequential albums, musically, than Neon Ballroom and Diorama. And they are both great albums all the way through.

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Came up on Pandora...and I realized...Silverchair were a great band. Very underrated IMO. Anyone agree?

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TO an EXTENT.

First, let me say that they are incredible live. I saw them and Kent at HOB NOLA waaaay back in 1999. As a 3 man piece, their sound and their energy were as solid as any 3 piece band I have seen (King's X and Rush included). They obviously were never meant to be an arena band like RUSH -- and I actually like that better. "Pure Massacre" and "Israel's Son" were spot-on that night. "Tomorrow" was done acoustic style by Johns.

Frogstomp was a kick arse album that had the basic necessities -- some metal/grungy stuff (the songs I mentioned above); some great melodic pop stuff; and 1-2 "ballads" like "Shade". They carried themselves well for young guys. "Tomorrow" might have went into the top 20 US Billboards, but I forget.

Then, Neon Ballroom. It was to Frogstomp what Razorblade Suitcase was to Sixteen Stone. It was commercial fodder and the songs were so offensively bad and over-hashed in the studio, that the band lost its original insight. That's my belief anyway, because improvement was NOT made. They have been accused of trying to be obviously too much like Nirvana. I think there's some fair criticism there, but inspirations are what they are and flattery is tribute.

I'll always like what they did in the beginning, but obviously they could not carry on as they should have. Hell, they're still in their 30's today. IF, if, if...they were THAT good, they would have at least put out 5 gold albums in the U.S.

Anthem of the Year 2000 is one of the worst songs ever

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I don't know how you see that into THAT, but to each his own.

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I may have overstated that a bit, as there are certainly some throw away tracks on the album and it is disjointed upon further review. But there are some masterpieces that uphold the integrity of it as a whole. Anthem of the Year 2000 was the canned, commercial product to try to secure sales and is a terrible track. I wish Dearest Helpless had never made the cut. But the following are some I keep coming back to and can't find anything the creates a similar vibe or reaction musically, which is why I consider it a masterpiece of sorts.

Emotion Sickness
Ana's Song
Miss You Love
Black Tangled Heart
Point of View
Paint Pastel Princess


These are a great collection of songs IMO and have a certain artistic, dark undercurrent to them. And I disagree that they are Nirvana-esque. This was their first attempt to actually separate from that sound and stigma. Certainly, Johns was heavily influence by Nirvana, as evidenced in his first two albums which were the epitome of grunge and have a high place in grunge legacy. But I attribute those two MUCH more to being a product of their time and Nirvana-influenced and less so to originality. Frogstomp is not an original sound - it is almost copycat. In fact, Johns says so himself and goes so far as to nearly disown the first two albums. Neon Ballroom is where Johns comes into his own, IMO. Neon Ballroom and Diorama are where the band peaks and I believe showcase Johns as a true songwriter/composer talent.

I notice that with most fans of their music it's either pre- or post-Neon Ballroom.

I like seeing bands evolve over time and experiment. I think it's the true mark of an artist. I think the experimentation even went too far with Young Modern, but I still appreciate the effort to experiment.

Great band with repeated great releases... even if some individual tracks are confused. They are underrated in my book in the grand scheme of things. They weren't just some passing 90's band like Seven Mary Three or similar.