It seems hard to imagine that a band inspired as much by breakfast cereal and Saturday morning cartoons as rock & roll could have created the album that spawned an entire movement -- grunge. When
Neurotica was released in 1987, it inspired hordes of punk/hardcore kids to put down the safety pins and pick up the guitar. The perfect blend of
Beatles/
Kiss-style pop/rock and
Butthole Surfers art rock, the album blends the raw punk spirit of the band that included "Quit School" stickers in their second album, 1984's
Teen Babes From Monsanto, with the pure thrift store rock & roll of
Kiss,
the Rolling Stones, and
the Stooges.
Jon Auer from
the Posies remixed some of these tracks (including the obvious super hit "Peach Kelli Pop") for a potential reissue on Seattle's Sub Pop in the mid/late '90s, but, for whatever reason, this idea was quickly shelved. Largely ignored upon its release in 1987 (Big Time folded shortly after and the band were unable to record under their own name for three years),
Neurotica did manage to find its way into some very important young people's bedrooms.
Redd Kross had unwittingly created the rough, lo-fi, melodic, rock & roll template that bands like
Mudhoney and
Nirvana would become very successful exploring over the next few years. ~ Terrance Miles