Grither
All Smiles (MCA)
by Marc Hirsh

originally published in the Public News, November 15, 1995

If it weren't for the Stone Temple Pilots, Grither might well be a leading candidate for the prefab alternative crown. It's hard to listen to All Smiles and not think that MCA made a list of every desirable (i.e., salable) feature of alternative music and formed a band in the perfect image.

Of course, they probably didn't. They likely merely stumbled upon Grither and discovered everything they were looking for. Loud guitars. Skewed, but still melodic, songs. An ironic understanding of their own contribution to music ("Repetitive Song of Joy," indeed). The desire to put the words "play loud" on the packaging.

And the kicker is, it's not bad. There's nothing particularly innovative, or even original, in songs like "Trickle Down Justice" or "One Piece Missing," but there's nothing offensive, either (like, say, a tendency to sound like every successful Seattle band). And that's the point. When you're floating in a sea of crap, eventually you start to embrace even the mediocrities.

So the era of prefab alt-rock is well underway. And I haven't heard this on the radio yet.

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