When it comes to favorite eras of mine for music, the '90s were hard to beat. Sure, the majority of my all-time favorite music was probably released in the late '70s and early '80s. But the '90s were truly formidable. You had the glory days of pop-punk, the '70s punk revival, early '90s college radio, the new wave of new wave, and the prime years of lo-fi garage punk all thriving. One particularly underrated musical movement was one I still can't quite put a name to. You had a bunch of alternative rock bands with loud guitars and massive hooks. They didn't necessarily identify as power pop, but that's fundamentally what they were. Major labels were quick to snatch them up and even quicker to drop them when they didn't become overnight sensations. Their CDs were fixtures of cut-out bins for a few years and then more or less disappeared from the face of the Earth. And a lot of those releases that fell into the dustbin of history were really damn good.
Emotional Rollercoaster by Los Angeles-based trio Ridel High was one of them. If you happen to come across it at a yard sale, in a thrift store, or in the attic of your childhood home, it's worth snagging. Even better, you can head on over to Bandcamp and purchase a brand-new Ridel High release comprised of B-sides and demos. Conveniently, it's called
B-Sides + Demos!
The thing that struck me about
B-Sides + Demos is that it's all killer, no filler. This is not one of those cases where an old band is dusting off a bunch of tracks "just because." These songs are
hits. Listening to this EP, I can say with complete confidence that out of all those almost famous later '90s alt-rock power pop bands, Ridel High was one of the very best. The band consisted of Kevin Ridel (vocals/bass), Steve LeRoy (guitar/backing vocals) and Steve Coulter (drums/backing vocals). Ridel High signed to Joey Cape's My Records and released its debut long player
Hi Scores in 1997. A&M Records later signed the band and re-issued
Hi Scores under the title
Emotional Rollercoaster (that should have been the first sign that A&M didn't know what the hell it was doing — why change a perfect title?). Once A&M dropped the band, that was pretty much all she wrote. Ridel and LeRoy went on to form Peel, and later Ridel formed AM Radio. Coulter joined Tsar and now runs one of the best music
sites on the internet.
B-Sides + Demos consists of tracks recorded in 1995, 1997, and 1998. Opening tracks "Facelift" and "Mindblower" sound so much like the '90s with their cranked-up distorted guitars and melody-forward approach. It becomes obvious that bands like this (that had mostly contemporary influences) were an important link between "classic" power pop and modern-day power pop. If we didn't necessarily call this power pop in 1997, we certainly do now. "Motorboat" was one of the first songs the band wrote but one of the last it recorded. It's quintessential '90s SoCal geek rock, and it holds up fantastically well. There was a time when I would have wanted to fight anyone who put "Weezer" and "power pop" in the same sentence. Clearly things have changed. "Winona Ryder," which the band demoed in 1995, was later used as the B-side to its first 7", "A Mouthful Of You." In contrast to the more power poppy material on the EP, this is vintage buzzing slacker rock and a forgotten classic of its time. Although with its re-release, maybe we won't be able to call it "forgotten" anymore! If you forgot what it felt like to be twentysomething in the early-to-mid '90s, this song will take you back! The lyrics are hilariously on-point in reflecting on a very specific cultural moment. Given what culture is today, I find myself missing those days.
Whether you fondly recall, barely remember, or never heard of Ridel High,
B-Sides + Demos is sure to be up your alley if you dig quality power pop that will give you all those '90s feels without sounding like it should have been left in the past. The band was wise to focus on quality over quantity, and this is a blast from the past that ought to be fully welcomed.
