Veruca Salt

The well-nigh incessant rotation of Veruca Salt's massive hits was a burden on many a radio listener back in 1994. But perhaps all the critical hostility directed at this band was something of a backlash to the still-recent success of Nirvana and resultant transition of Grunge from an underground phenomenon to the sort of thing played over the speaker system at K-Mart. But today their music is easier to take. Their Cheap Trick-meets-Pistols formula, no longer bogged down by any perceived sellout baggage, is lean and mean, with the added bonus of sounding best when turned up very loud. The fact of their talent with Punk-damaged AOR hooks cannot be disputed, and the bad-ass Chrissie Hynde tone of their vocals is fun now that nobody cares about the credibility of Grunge anymore. After a long hiatus, Veruca Salt have returned with an even tougher sound that appears to pick up where L7 left off.