Web in Front explained

Web in Front
Type:Single
Artist:Archers of Loaf
Album:Icky Mettle
Recorded:February 1993
Genre:
Label:Alias

Web in Front is a song by American indie rock band Archers of Loaf, originally released as a 7" single on Alias Records in 1993. It was their first release on the Alias label, and their first single from their debut album Icky Mettle.[2] [3] The original single also included the tracks "Bathroom" and "Tatayana".[4]

Impact

"Web in Front" launched Icky Mettle to high-ranking positions on the college charts, including #18 on the CMJ New Music Report Top 150.[5] The single was played regularly on both college radio and MTV,[2] and its music video was featured in an episode of Beavis and Butthead.[5] Additionally, the track was featured in the 1995 Kevin Smith film Mallrats.

Critical reception

When "Web in Front" was originally released, music critics often compared it to Pavement and Superchunk.[3] For example, Charles Aaron wrote in Spin that the song was "...a less fettered and more frolicsome rewrite of Pavement's "From Now On" (from Perfect Sound Forever).[4] The New York Times Neil Strauss described the song as frontman Eric Bachmann's "...own tongue-in-cheek version of a love song, and a perfect combination of weirdness with pop intuition."[6]

Retrospective

In a review of Seconds Before the Accident, a 2000 Archers of Loaf live album, Pete Nicholson described "Web in Front" as a "pop classic".[7] In 2012, Pitchfork Media's Matt LeMay wrote that "..."Web in Front" is quite simply among the finest indie rock songs ever written. That a song whose lyrics are all but impossible to parse literally comes off as so immediate and relatable speaks both to Bachmann's skill with words-as-sounds, and to his bandmates' ability to put force and nuance behind his voice."[8] Also in 2012, Pitchfork's Paul Thompson wrote that the song "...isn't just their finest song, it's their defining moment, their rocket-shot into the canon."[9]

Pitchfork ranked the song as the 77th best track of the 1990s in a 2010 list.[10]

Covers and samples

Punk rock band Alkaline Trio covered the song in 2010 for The A.V. Clubs A.V. Undercover web series.[11]

Chris Carrabba of the rock band Dashboard Confessional covered the song in 2011 for a Daytrotter session.[12]

Track listing

  1. "Web in Front"
  2. "Bathroom"
  3. "Tatayana"

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Kurland. Jordan. The Mix: 100 Essential Noise Pop Songs. NPR.
  2. Web site: Archers of Loaf . 2004 . en . Contemporary Musicians . 2018-01-17.
  3. Book: Buckley, Peter . The Rough Guide to Rock . 2003 . Rough Guides . 9781843531050 . 38 . en.
  4. Aaron . Charles . August 1993 . Singles . Spin . en . SPIN Media LLC . 90.
  5. Grady . Ross . April 1995 . Archers of Loaf . CMJ New Music Monthly . en . CMJ Network, Inc. . 17.
  6. News: Pop and Jazz in Review . Strauss . Neil . 1994-04-26 . The New York Times . 2018-03-04 . en-US . 0362-4331.
  7. Web site: Archers of Loaf: Seconds Before the Accident Album Review . Nicholson . Pete . 2000-06-30 . Pitchfork Media . en . 2018-01-17.
  8. Web site: Archers of Loaf: Icky Mettle Album Review . LeMay . Matt . 2011-08-01 . Pitchfork Media . en . 2018-01-17.
  9. Web site: Archers of Loaf: Reissues Album Review . Thompson . Paul . 2012-08-14 . Pitchfork Media . en . 2018-01-17.
  10. Web site: The Top 200 Tracks of the 1990s: 100-51 . 2010-09-01 . Pitchfork Media . en . 2018-01-17.
  11. News: Alkaline Trio covers Archers Of Loaf's "Web in Front" . . March 30, 2010 . July 29, 2024 . Chicago.
  12. News: Dashboard Confessional Daytrotter Session - May 13, 2011 . . May 13, 2011 . July 29, 2024.