Retro Reviews > Silverchair
The Overlooked Evolution Of Silverchair
By Skwerl
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
In the summer of 1996, I was 15. Pearl Jam was working on their fourth album already, Soundgarden on their fifth, and Kurt Cobain was dead. So when Silverchair hit the scene, saturating MTV and radio with a well-produced three chord slow pitch right over the plate entitled Tomorrow, a few of my friends hopped on the bandwagon, while most, like myself, considered them too clone-y, too late.
I was aware of a second and third album following Frogstomp, but I skipped them. By 2002, they had fallen so far below my radar, I didn’t even know a fourth had dropped.
But the following year, one of those friends that had not only bought in, but followed the band ever since, made me listen to that fourth album. It was called Diorama, and it was produced by the talented David Bottrill, known for his work with Tool and King Crimson.
I was shocked to find anything but a three chord grunge band. Diorama opens with an epic, masterfully written opus, backed by a full string orchestra. Which flows right into a richly layered rocker, and continues to deliver through eleven tracks. It’s a truly amazing album start to finish- one of the best and most overlooked of the entire decade.
Assuming I had missed the opportunity to ever see the band live, I set out on an archaeological dig for some quality live videos from the Diorama tours. I was blown away by what I found- still a three piece, yet even more musically mature than I expected after my discovery of Diorama. All of their songs had clearly evolved from tour to tour over the years, and often the band would spontaneously drop into expert improvisational jam sessions that lit the stage on fire.
Last year, the band announced the completion of a new album entitled Young Modern. Here in the states, and in fact just about everywhere but Australia, the hype was largely even more ignored than Diorama’s besides some light radio play of the lead single Straight Lines. I however waited with baited breath. I bought tickets to their LA shows, by which point they had added two new guys to their live lineup, and I went alone when everyone I knew balked at the idea of seeing some “90s rip-off has-beens.” And it’s that perception that inspired me to write this. When the Young Modern track The Man That Knew Too Much came out of my iPod on shuffle mode this afternoon, I found myself determined to set the record straight in spite of the skeptics and haters.
Here are a couple videos from the live debut of Young Modern, which went down at Carriageworks in Syndey last year; Straight Lines from Young Modern…
…and The Greatest View, from Diorama:
Young Modern is less ambitious than Diorama, but that doesn’t mean it’s in any way dumbed down or half assed. It’s just a bit more direct, carried mostly by hook-laden rockers, with only one truly epic masterpiece, the seven minute trilogy Those Thieving Birds Part 1 / Strange Behavior / Those Thieving Birds Part 2, that provides the climactic midpoint between a strong beginning, and a happy, choir-backed closer entitled All Across The World.
If you still think about Silverchair the way I did (or didn’t) in 2002, I strongly recommend giving them another chance. Start with Diorama and see where it goes from there.
- 01. Young Modern Station
- 02. Straight Lines
- 03. If You Keep Losing Sleep
- 04. Reflections Of A Sound
- 05. Those Thieving Birds, Pt. 1/Strange Behaviour/Those Thieving Birds, Pt.
- 06. Man That Knew Too Much
- 07. Waiting All Day
- 08. Mind Reader
- 09. Low
- 10. Insomnia
- 11. All Across The World
I too fell in love with them on Diorama. I didn’t listen after that…they were gone into the ether. Perhaps I will give them another shot.
You should check out Neon Ballroom as well, by far my favourite Silverchair album, tho the new one is pretty tasty aswell.
urk… I unfortunately saw these guys at the big day out at the beginning of this year and I still haven’t managed to erase from my mind the image of a man in tights screaming in a girly/camp voice for the crowd to “scream one time, oooww!” whilst dogding bottles thrown by the increasingly alienated audience.
have you heard “if you keep losing sleep” the best mid-tempo-alt-rock song since queen`s bohemian rhapsody…
OK, I gave them another chance. Matured they have, but making better music? For some reason, the singer always reminded me of Joe Elliot from Def Leppard, even during the Frogstomp era when he swore they weren’t trying to copy Nirvana or Pearl Jam.
Still have to say, they remind me of Def Leppard. Maybe not the music so much, but Diorama really sounded like something a 40-year old that doesn’t stray too far out of their chosen favorite genre would listen to.
Usually the Antiquiet recommends are pretty good, but I’m going to have to substract a point for you this time for making me waste my bandwidth on this stinker.
For the record, I totally dug some of Silverchair’s soundtrack & compilation appearances in the late 90s.
Totally with you on this one, man. Diorama changed the game. Johns feels absolutely free to take his melodies wherever the hell he wants. And his song structure is super innovative, too — goes to a million different places while never feeling incoherent. AZB — I really think you owe it to Daniel Johns to give Diorama another spin or two. Once it settles in and you start to learn the songs, it’s an album you can just keep coming back too. It’s like Arrested Development — it’s a bit of a stretch for the listener at times, but it’s worth it. And I’m not really seeing the Def Leppard thing…maybe the vocalist, but the music is a lot more complex.
Not that I demand complexity, at all. I loved their raucous garage band era, too, but their stuff now is great. Hats off to them for maturing (it’d be kinda weird if they were just recycling Frogstomp now, right?), and hats off to fans who are willing to accept anything beyond any bands first two or three albums.
Personally, I think they started off really good, and evolved into smelly shit. But I guess the entire industry did.
I lost interest whenDiorama came out but man was i happy as a pig in shit when Young Modern was realeased.
Their tour with Powderfinger showed just why these two bands are the biggest in Australia.
ps Paul Mac is the Yoko Ono of Silverchair and he should be stopped
[...] agree with Skwerl: Diorama is good, and Young Modern is gooder. Well, it’s actually quite hard to choose [...]
[...] times. Why, I once tried to convince everyone that has-been 90s alt-rockers Silverchair deserved a closer look, and I damn near lost an arm. And oh, how I’ve been disciplined by the wrathful flames of the [...]
[...] off as innocuous teens signed onto a trend, but developed over time into great, mature acts. Silverchair comes to mind [...]
[...] sort of Ladytron meets Peter Murphy tip that’s a hike from the grand string orchestrations of Diorama and Young Modern. It’s different, alright, but we have faith in this band. They’re one [...]