Jawbreaker
Sluttering (May 4th)
Good morning!
Today we’re listening to “Sluttering (May 4th)” by Jawbreaker
This isn’t the first I’ve written about Jawbreaker, and it likely won’t be the last. The challenge for me isn’t picking songs by the band I want to share; it’s making sure that I don’t do it every week.
It’s pretty safe to say that everyone has at least one band that completely rearranged your mind the first time their sound met your ears. Jawbreaker is one of those for me, and in fact, I can remember excitedly picking up each of their 1st three records.
But it was also the early-mid 90s, and people were still drawing extremely Talmudic definitions of what constituted “selling out” or not. Jawbreaker happened to sign to DGC and release “Dear You” at exactly the wrong time, and the blowback was swift—and wholly unfair.
If “Sluttering” is the tale of someone being done wrong (it is), Dear You is the story of a band being turned on by its fans (also yes). For years, it was a dividing line amongst a fan base otherwise monolithic in their love for everything the band put out.
More:
“The word ‘sluttering’ means a kind of drunk muttering,” he added. “I actually defined it once as ‘pontification under duress.’ There was an angry love triangle and then an elaborate revenge plot designed to incur maximum humiliation. It succeeded horribly and I wound up in the hospital in Concord.”
Read the rest of the article here.
I didn’t buy this record right away. In fact, I waited some time before picking up the CD, and even then it was at a pawn shop in one of Portland’s suburbs. What a waste. The record is different from the previous three but no less excellent.
In the fallout, the band split up. They reunited for 2017’s Riot Fest, and I consider that show one of the best I’ve ever been to.
And for all the thrashing and wailing about “Dear You?” The setlist had quite a few tracks off the album, and the crowd never missed a beat.
Listen:
“Sluttering (May 4th)” by Jawbreaker | Dear You, 1995
Click the record to listen on the platform of your choice:
What’d you think of this one? Are/were you a fan of the band? If so, what side of the line were you on back then?
Thanks for being here,
Kevin—
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