Twenty years ago: The Verve Pipe Villains

It was twenty years ago on this very day that West Michigan alt-rockers The Verve Pipe put out an amazing album. The record is called Villains and it is an incredibly solid album, filled with catchy, well-written and well-performed alternative rock tunes. Their major label début, Villains ended up going platinum and becoming the band's best selling album.

The most popular and well-known tune is surely "The Freshmen". I can't be alone in identifying strongly with the opening lyric, "When I was young I knew everything". My favourite tunes include that song, plus "Photograph", "Penny is Poison", "Cup of Tea" and "Reverend Girl". I love the sound and the playing on this album, from the driving beats and solid drumming, to the exquisitely distorted guitars to Brian Vander Ark's vocals, it's a fantastic rock record.

Check out my personal favourites from this now classic album.

"The Freshmen"

"Photograph"

"Penny Is Poison"

"Cup Of Tea"

"Villains"

"Reverend Girl"

Pic from Pandora.

Favourites: The Verve Pipe

With all the great music released during 2014 and all the bands that I photographed, there weren't as many days to post about some of my favourite older music as there once was. Now that we're into a relatively slow period of concerts and new releases, I can write a bit about some cool stuff from past years. A bunch of cool songs from The Verve Pipe popped up in a playlist yesterday and inspired this post.

The Verve Pipe are from East Lansing Michigan and formed in 1992. Their biggest tune is "The Freshmen" which I featured in one of my lyrical snippets posts. They play straight up alternative rock with well-crafted, anthemic and catchy songs.

Here are some of my favourites.

"Penny Is Poison" from 1996's Villains

"Photograph" from Villains

"Never Let You Down" from 2000's Underneath

Pic from Facebook.

Lyrical snippet of the moment: The Verve Pipe's Freshmen

"When I was young I knew everything"

In 1996, The Verve Pipe released Villains. It's a fantastic album featuring the songs "Freshmen", "Photograph" and "Penny is Poison" among others.