Only in 1993 could a song like "Cannonball" become a hit. I know it's mandatory these days to praise the 90s as some sort of alternative utopia when really radio and MTV was as staid and predictable as ever when you look at the big picture (Black Crowes and Def Leppard were still the staples on early 90s rock radio, and Pearl Jam got plenty of airplay from "classic rock" stations, something that nostalgia enthusiasts conveniently ignore), but in that weird little window of opportunity when MTV knew there was something out there called "alternative," but no one really knew what that was yet, a handful of videos that in years past would have been deemed too "fringe" for MTV's audience made the cut. "Cannonball" with its "any art student could make this" video, and "ummm-umm" chorus was one of those videos.
It's kind of disappointing, really, that "Cannonball" is the Breeders' only claim to fame among mainstream music fans, because the album it came from, Last Splash, is a pretty good -- nay, pretty great -- hard rock album.
Part of the problem, I think, is the refusal the believe a woman could front a "rock band." Though conversely, this was a good thing to come out of the alternative revolution (sorry, that's a hackneyed phrase for sure, but I'm pretty sure we called it that). A lot of female, or female-fronted bands did get significant airtime and attention, while pigeonholing them as "alternative" shortened their shelf life. Pearl Jam? Of course they transitioned pretty easily, but they would have fit in nicely, sonically, if not politically, with mainstream rock's old guard anyway.
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