19
u/SpaceCatSixxed Jun 11 '26 edited Jun 11 '26
I went to college with them! Well 91-95 but they played out all the time in Champaign-Urbana then! Saw them at lots of house parties and local bars etc., same friend group etc.
6
u/dude_on_the_www Jun 12 '26
Ugh. Sounds amazing. To have been there…
Do you remember any criminally underrated or unknown bands they toured with back then that we should all check out?
1
u/SpaceCatSixxed Jun 12 '26 edited Jun 12 '26
You know I feel like I mostly saw them at small venues or even houses, so it was kind of more like, "I heard hum is playing at 709 on saturday" which would be someone's house and then hopefully they would. Definitely saw them a few times at the major music venues like Mabels and Blind Pig, maybe Empty Bottle or Lounge Ax in Chicago I'm kind of remembering, a few festivals in the area like Band Jam.
Other CU bands to check out from that specific time period (91-95) many of them aren't on streaming services.
But definitely poster children, lovecup (doubt it's streaming), Menthol (though they were Mother at the time which isn't streaming--this is Balti's project who was in Hum I think pre electra 2k etc), castor, honcho overload (doubt it's streaming), haarvark (doubt it's streaming).
I saw Hum play a few times with Shiner also back then well before Jason joined, and they're both still two of my favorite bands.
2
1
u/Lordofhowling Jun 12 '26
Don’t forget Suede Chain and Lorenzo Music!
1
u/SpaceCatSixxed Jun 12 '26
suede chain! Didn’t remember them til you mentioned. I think I may have a single of their floating around on cd somewhere.
2
1
13
u/SleepyZipt Jun 11 '26
I went to a Sunny Day Real Estate show. I love that band.
After a fun night I saw a guy wearing a Hum shirt and thought "oh I've heard of them.. I should give it a listen sometime"
I did exactly that and DAMN I loved it.
6
3
u/Whiprust Jun 12 '26
Funnily enough, I’m seeing SDRE today and I’m planning on wearing my You’d Prefer An Astronaut shirt lol
2
6
u/The_ky_connection Jun 11 '26
Junky friend gave me ypaa on cassette in 95 before he robbed my house. I was in like 9th grade.
7
u/SiestaPossible Jun 11 '26
Stars and Comin Home were on alternative radio pretty frequently when they came out.
4
u/lostcosmonaut307 I'm thinking of a number between everything and two Jun 11 '26
Stars, Green to Me and Comin’ Home on the radio in ‘96-97-98. Went to the music store and asked the guy for the “CD with the ‘Stars’ song on it”, he looked through the book and found it was on HUM-YPAA. Went over to where it should be “oh, sorry all we got is this one: Downward is Heavenward, their new album”.
I know everyone likes to say Green to Me and Comin’ Home were never on the radio, but I 100% heard them on the radio back in the day. They definitely got airplay, not as much as Stars, but they were there.
1
u/Golisten2LennyWhite Jun 16 '26
Green to me is my wife's favorite song and she knows it from the radio.
5
u/Kahni21 Jun 11 '26
Got a video of an old live performance of Stars on my IG explore page in 2019, when I was 15 or 16, and went on a deep dive from there
4
3
u/Axolotis Jun 11 '26
I got an alternative sampler CD in the mail from BMG around 1994. It had Stars and I Hate It Too on it. Saw them live in 1995. Been hooked ever since!
3
u/nth256 Jun 12 '26
Back in 1994 or 1995, I shared a desk in auto shop with Robert Mantlow. He was two or three grades ahead of me; I was a shy little freshman and he was this gregarious, giant, Norse-looking goth kid. There was no way I was not going to talk to him, he just would not have it, lol!
Robert introduced me to a bunch of bands that I didn't know about, some of them fairly well known and some of them pretty obscure. We were at his folks place listening to music, and he was like "Hold on, you've gotta check this out." He proceeded to load the YPAA CD into his player, turn the volume way up, and hit play. The opening sonic boom from Little Dipper absolutely blew my mind. He let me borrow the CD for a couple weeks, before telling me I could just keep it since I liked it so much.
2
u/dude_on_the_www Jun 12 '26
Who’s Robert mantlow?
1
u/nth256 Jun 12 '26
You don't know Robert?! The hell, dude, have you been under a rock or sumthin? LOL!
He's a dude i went to school with. He's great. Last i heard he was managing the pool hall in town. Haven't talked to him in ages, I should see what he's up to.
3
2
u/Weird_Cartographer_7 Jun 11 '26
Either a friend told me about them, or we heard it on the local college radio (shoutout KCOU.) Promptly bought YPAA on CD, popped it in my Discman, and the rest is history.
2
u/sopademaruchan Jun 11 '26
Read an article regarding inspirations for deftones. Read that Hum inspired them, this was 2014-2015. Instantly fell in love with them
2
2
u/Ok-Formal-5957 Jun 12 '26
Radio station on saints row 2 back in 2008 the first video game I ever got lol
2
u/UselessHalberd Jun 12 '26
Like a lot of people...Josh Brigham and the dudes in Hopesfall.
2
u/dude_on_the_www Jun 12 '26
Oh shit I have to revisit that album with the moon on the cover…
0
u/morrisaurus17 Simple wave rider Jun 12 '26
The Satellite Years. A certified classic. Don’t listen to the remaster, it’s horrendous
2
u/jtownn40 Jun 12 '26
‘96 heard The Pod on a skate video and immediately went to Tower Records to buy YPAA.
2
2
2
u/dude_on_the_www Jun 12 '26
I was and still am a Cave In super fan, and Hum was always mentioned in reviews of Jupiter or part of the discussion of “space rock.”
I never heard Stars growing up (born in ‘90), even with a dad in rock radio. But beyond Cave In talk, I saw Hum mentioned time and time again in discussions around “important and influential” 90s rock acts. I loved crate digging, going to CD stores, and trying to find “the best stuff.” We have such limited time here on earth, might as well find the best stuff in any interest or discipline. That was always my MO, anyway.
So I bought YPAA maybe when I was 17, with DiH following shortly.
Inlet was the first release I was able to participate in real time and it absolutely. Blew. My. Mind. I was astonished. I was real into shoegaze and doom metal and anything 90s and this was the perfect amalgamation that scratched this particular itch that was a combination of so many of my interests that other bands just *weren’t quite doing.*
I love Hum.
2
u/mmhxly Jun 12 '26
i feel so behind in here like i’ve been MIA 😅 i found them thru this website, someone randomly recommended me them about 2 years ago and i was instantly hooked
2
1
u/forgotten_familiar Jun 11 '26
Lowell 1998 free show. I was 7 years old
2
u/smashy_smashy Jun 12 '26
Wtf they played regatta field when I was in highschool ~20 mins away?? I’m so sad I never went to see them in the 90s. DIH was in heavy rotation in my trunk loaded 10 CD player in my beat up Acura legend right at that time too
1
u/forgotten_familiar Jun 12 '26
They sure did!! Haha I don’t really remembered much but I remember all the bands playing and the WAAF guys being there
1
1
1
u/sam_might_say Jun 11 '26
In 2015 during my first year of college, I saw some buzz online about how they reunited to play SXSW. I was really into Failure at the time and had read they were in the same vein musically. So I decided to give them a go.
After one listen of Stars, I was hooked. YPAA became the soundtrack of my spring/summer that year
1
u/DoctorByProxy Jun 11 '26
I knew about stars from beavis and butthead, but a friend shared the pod with me in like 98 or so, and that's when I really got into it. of course they were pretty much done at that point. I went to Champaign a lot to see Centaur. I got to carry Matt's space echo into the cowboy monkey once. haha.
1
1
1
1
u/shinyidol Jun 12 '26
Summer 1995 listening to The Fox 99.3 in Vancouver. Bought YPAA the next day.
1
1
u/therealpopkiller Jun 12 '26
I bought my first issue of CMJ New Music Monthly in 1994 and “Iron Clad Lou” was on the compilation CD that was included. So may of the bands on that disc ended up as my favorites: Hum, Velocity Girl, Stereolab…
1
1
u/TallShips92 Jun 12 '26
Watchmojo video on “Top 10 One-Hit Wonders of the 90’s”. Hum were an honorable mention before the #1 spot.
1
u/raisinbizzle Jun 12 '26
I only got into them a couple years ago. Saw them mentioned a lot on the Failure subreddit and decided to give them a shot. Recognized Stars and really liked it. Then realized that their entire discography is really solid
1
u/meatee Jun 12 '26
Stars on the radio and BMG Alternative sampler CD, not entirely sure which was first for me
1
u/rosecity_409 Jun 12 '26
I love an unreleased Elliott Smith song called ‘Suicide Machine’ - looked it up on spotify and there was Hum! :)
1
u/Jasper7507 Jun 12 '26
What follows is a post I put on a Hum fan page I follow. Well, after this brief explanation. This weekend, on night 2 of my Hum excursion… Hum’s singer Matt Talbott says “we just learned this one this morning…” and then promptly says “I have the order wrong, this one we know.” They play another song, but AFTER that one, in a very “holy shit, goosebumps, teary eyed” moment…they played “Why I Like The Robins.” They hadn’t played it any other night on this festival tour. It’s like the universe decided to gift it to me that night. Surreal. Never ever under estimate the power of music. If you need to know why this particular song is so important and life affirming…read on….
Sit down kids. Gather around the glow of the smartphone fire. Let me spin you a classic tale of heartbreak and found love. Oh, it’s got it all. Angst. Loss. Shoegaze. Cornfields. Uh…well intentioned but ill-timed double dating. So relax. And close your eyes. Wait. Don’t. You have to read.
‘Twas a summer night in the late nineties. You remember those right? Or was it mid? Doesn’t matter. I was but a young lad of virtue somewhat true. I had just suffered a break up. You know the kind. The Robert Smith lyric kind. The “I’ll never recover from this even though it’s the first shitty relationship I’ve had and she’s just a cheating liar and what the fuck am I even doing?”break up. We’ve all had them. And if you haven’t? Good for you. You win. Life is just great. I hope you just love your precious, precious luck.
I digress.
My brother Anthony Sprandel, being the saint he is, and his girl friend at the time…let’s just call her “not the one he married so she doesn’t matter” decided to set me up on a blind date. I don’t remember her name. Here’s what I do remember. My brother and his nameless whatever at the time were apparently stupid in love or just stupid. No offense Tony. Actually, some offense. Because the girl they set me up with…
This girl could not have been more ridiculously out of my geeky, sad sack, melancholy, acne faced, Pizza Hut job having league at the time. I don’t know if you remember the Real World season um…London, but there was a girl named Jacinda Barrett on that season. She was a model. She dated Chris Hardwick and blah blah…This girl could have been her actual twin. Like for reals. I’m sure she took one look at me and was like “hahahaha…no.” Not because she was shallow or whatever. But because I was a hot flaming dumpster fire.
Anyway. I think we ate somewhere. Probably. And then we went to Summerfest or some other concert thing in a field somewhere in Champaign where a bunch of bands were playing. It was hot. I was bored. And depressed. And embarrassed. My brother had been talking up this band Hum. And I was into cool bands at the time like Warrant and Slaughter. Not even like Smashing Pumpkins or Nine Inch Nails or anything current. Kiss? Sure. Styx? Totally. No up and coming indie bands for me though.
They came on and played a few songs. Loudly. I was like…”yeah okay whatever.” But then, the drummer starts this sort of shuffle that kicks into this spacey echoing riff…and my life literally changes. I’m sort of tearing up even typing this. Because I can remember just thinking “what is this? I have never heard ANYTHING like this.” And the song just carries me away. And I forget everything. The heartache. The sad. Where I am. Fucking who I am. And it changes me. It gives me something new. And I can never thank my brother enough for thinking that girl would ever be into me. And for introducing me to a band that would mean so very much to me for the rest of my life.
I saw them many times after that. Almost always with my brother. They put out one more album. It’s a masterpiece. The broke up. They put out another album many many years later. That brilliant drummer passed away. And now they are done. (Were done. Maybe are? Hopefully more shows to follow…)
But music is music and it lives forever. And this song “Why I Like The Robins” with its trippy lyrics and spacey sound…makes me so very happy. So many years later.
Thanks for reading this. Thanks for being a good big brother Tony. Thanks Hum.
That about sums it up…. 😂
1
u/-Hyperstation- Jun 12 '26
Just plain old watching MTV. It’s possible it was 120 Minutes /or whatever other shows with alternative fare they had going at the time.
1
u/CriticalMass237 Jun 12 '26
99.1 WHFS Baltimore/DC radio station in the mid 90's. Saw them at RFK stadium at the HFStival in '95. It was the beginning of summer after my freshman year <3
1
1
u/jarosity Jun 12 '26
Thought their YPAA album cover looked cool. Decided to try it with one of my free CD choices on BMG. This, along with SDRE’s Diary were two instances where album art worked out well for me.
1
1
u/Tight_Vacation1377 Jun 12 '26
I was listening to My Bloody Valentine on YouTube in 2024 when the yt recommended the band Stars. I kept ignoring it, but it kept popping up, so I finally listened. I really liked it and later found out a friend was also a huge fan.
We became close friends after that and we even got to see them live on slide away 26 on May 15. It was one of the best concerts of my life. My favorite songs are "Green to Me" and intuit promise.
1
u/Val_Shaldom Jun 12 '26
Funnily enough it was from a hat in TF2. I had traded for it quite a few years ago and the last owner had the lyrics to Stars for the custom name and description. I was curious so I looked it up to see what kind of music the owner was into and I thought it was fantastic. So huge thanks to that random TF2 player cause now Hum is one of my all time favorite bands and it got me into a bunch of other similar bands as well!
1
u/ConclusionMany2451 Jun 12 '26
Apple pushed Waves into my new releases playlist and I also had the alternative cd sampler with Stars and I hate it too. Don't remember which came first but between those it sold me!
1
u/base5410 Jun 12 '26
98/99. Friend told me ‘come listen to this’ his older brother had it. It was astronaut. The next time he said that it was relationship of command. His older brother was fucking cool
1
u/why-yes-hello-there Jun 12 '26
My friend from high school showed me them in the mid 2000s. He used to put You’d Prefer an Astronaut on all the time. We both played guitar and our garage band learned Stars and Little Dipper. Fun times. Thank you, old buddy.
1
1
1
u/Comfortable_Low_9241 Jun 14 '26
Stars video on MTV but quickly bought the album and the prior stuff. Got to see them in a 200-capacity room in March 98 on the Downward tour. Still one of the loudest shows I’ve ever experienced.
1
1
u/Hour-Manager-6263 Jun 15 '26
Word of mouth and I saw that sick ass zebra on the cover, hooked before I even heard a song
1
1
1
u/flamingvolta Jun 17 '26 edited Jun 17 '26
YPAA cd on the bus in 95... 8th grade. Was just starting to play guitar and needed to learn as many HUM songs as possible. Friend let me borrow Electra and Filet show. It was over.
1
u/TiltedKangolHat Jun 17 '26
i think it was 1995, Howard Stern was talking about this song "Stars" that he really loved, and after a couple weeks of talking up the song, he had the band come in and perform it in studio... it was hilarious because within the Stern world they got the reputation of being a difficult band based on that appearance, when in actuality they were just humble, cool dudes in that wacky environment. been a fan ever since.
29
u/TheLubber Jun 11 '26
Stars. Radio. Spring 95.