Letters to Cleo "Here and Now"

What was it about '90s rock music that lent itself so easily to female-fronted rock groups? How many times did you turn on MTV to see a cute girl sporting a dress she probably stole from her grandma and a hair color not found in nature standing in front of a wall of Marshall stacks singing about how much guys suck? They certainly weren't invented in the '90s. Janis Joplin, Patti Smith and Debbie Harry had held their own as the only girl in serious rock bands decades earlier, and certainly the '80s had their share with Chrissy Hynde of The Pretenders leading the way.

To look at it from an academic point of view, perhaps it was inspired by third-wave of feminism, which started in the early '90s and suggested that women's sexuality was a positive thing that could be empowering, challenging earlier views of sexuality as exploitative. It also allowed women the ability to "take back" words such as "bitch" and "whore." But perhaps that's a discussion probably best left for the Meredith Brooks entry...

Whatever it was, it was certainly popular. Besides the ultra-feminist bands of the riot grrrl movement like Bikini Kill and L7 (the latter infamous for an incident at a concert in which the lead singer removed her tampon and tossed it into the crowd, shouting, "Eat my tampon, fuckers!" in response to mud being slung at the stage), popular bands like The Breeders, No Doubt, The Cardigans, Veruca Salt, Hole, Luscious Jackson, and Belly all featured women in prominent roles--usually serving as lead vocalist and songwriter. At this point I could probably use Freudian analysis to dissect why so many of those type of bands--that is to say, bands in which a small, cute female lead singer surrounds herself with an all-male backing band--were so popular with male audiences, but that sounds kinda boring, so instead, I'm just going to talk about Letters to Cleo and how cute Kay Hanley is.

Letters to Cleo was formed by Hanley and guitarist Greg McKenna in Boston in 1988. McKenna had begun another band and drafted Hanley, then a member of a new wave group. When that band dissolved, McKenna and Hanley decided to continue their partnership with a new power-pop based project. With the addition of Mike Eisenstein on guitar, Stacy Jones on drums and Scott Riebling on bass, the project became Letters to Cleo, named for a box of letters from Hanley's childhood pen pal named, er, "Cleo".

LtC spent a few years gaining a following and sharpening their skills in the Boston area before recording their first album, Aurora Gory Alice, released on the local Boston label Cherry Disc Records in 1993. The album was successful enough to gain the attention of major label Giant Records who signed the band and re-released the album in 1994. The band already had another album in the can--Wholesale Meats and Fish--but would have to wait another year to release thanks to the success of an Aurora track that had been included on the soundtrack for Aaron Spelling awesomely cliched and horribly acted prime time soap Melrose Place--"Here and Now."

Besides Hanley's cuteness, not much impressive about the video as evidenced by this video, complete with color commentary by these two dudes from Texas

Thanks to the exposure of the song on the soundtrack (and the show, where it was played during the closing credits) the song went up the charts and the band found themselves playing the single that they'd recorded some three years previous on hip late night shows for young people like Jon Stewart's short-lived talk show and Conan's still-in-its-infancy Late Night program.

Again with the pigtails, Kay? You're making it really hard for me to not go Freudian on you here.

Equal parts hard rocking grunge and power-pop--and buoyed by Hanley's powerhouse vocals-- "Here and Now" showcased the band's sound nicely, and the song turned into a hit on the Modern Rock chart (#10), and even crossed over to the Hot 100 (#56) and Top 40 (#40). Oh, and in case you're wondering, here the really fast lyrics during the chorus...

The comfort of a knowledge and I'll rise above the sky
above I'll never parallel the challenge of an acquisition
In the here and now...here and now

I'm pretty sure we'll all stick with mumbling our way through that part when it comes on the iPod, but thought it would be nice to see, right?

The follow-up, "Awake," came off Wholesale Meats and Fish--the sophomore effort that was finally released after the success of "Here and Now." "Awake," while still poppy, had a harder-edged sound than "Here and Now." With the guitars turned up and the sound a little messier, the band sounds almost Weezer-ish. In fact, one could call Wholesale Meats and Fish the band's Pinkerton, which would make Aurora Gory Alice their Blue Album--only, you know, not quite as good. It's also clear that the sweetness of Hanley's vocals has been toned down a bit--they're less overpowering here.

Letters To Cleo - New Music - More Music Videos

The sweetness of the vocals may be what ultimately kept Letters to Cleo from achieving real success. There's some really great power-pop here, but Hanley's vocals run the risk of being sickly sweet and free of the sort of attitude that would make Gwen Stefani and No Doubt so successful. As good as the melodies and music were, there wasn't a whole lot in this single to separate the band from the other girl-fronted rock bands of the day.

"Awake" went to #17 on the Modern Rock charts and #88 on the Hot 100.

Still riding high on the success of "Here and Now," in 1996 Letters to Cleo turned their attention towards recording cover songs for movie soundtracks, starting with a cover of The Cars' "Dangerous Type" for the soundtrack to the completely boring teen-witch movie The Craft.

While the song failed to chart, it probably went a long way towards getting them the role as themselves in 1999's underrated teen comedy 10 Things I Hate About You. In the film--a retelling of Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew--Letters to Cleo are mentioned as being the favorite band of Julia Stiles' character (the shrew). Later in the film, the band actually shows up playing a cover of Nick Lowe's "Cruel to Be Kind" alongside '90s ska no-hit wonders Save Ferris:

Caution: Clips include Heath Ledger which might make you sad, and Alex Mack, which might make you aroused

The film also features the band playing a cover of Cheap Trick's "I Want You to Want Me" on the roof of the high school.

Fast forward to 1:48 to see the band on the roof...on second thought, dont'--this trailer is like a trip back in time. Watch the whole thing.

Letters to Cleo's music was also used in other forgotten teen girl-centric '90s films like Jawbreaker and The Babysitters Club. Kay Hanley also served as the singing voice of "Josie" in the horrific live-action Josie and the Pussycats movie. Sorry, no clip for that one--if you want to burn your retinas, do it on your own time.

A year later--after four albums, including 1997's Go! and 1998's Sister--the band called it quits after a final show in their home town in May of 2000.

Since then, each member has followed his or her own muse, with Kay Hanley releasing two solo albums (Cherry Marmalade in 2002 and Weaponize in 2008), drummer Stacy Jones forming American Hi-Fi and McKenna starting his own side project, Murder Capitol of the World.

But, like many one-hit wonders, the band has had to do some terrible things to make ends meet. I'm sure she's not proud of it, but on the 2007-2008 Hannah Montana tour, Kay Hanley sang back up for Miley Cyrus.

I know, I know. Take a moment. Pull it together. Now, let's move on.

Lucky for us (and for them, it would seem), in September 2008, the band announced their reunion, which kicked off with a series of shows that will continue May 20, 2009, starting with a free show in New Orleans and continuing into Texas. In 2008, the band also released an odds and sods collection, When Did We Do That? Find more info at their Myspace and official site.

Here's the band playing at a Boston club last December, with the band sounding as good as ever and, of course, Hanley looking as cute as ever. Even the evils of Miley Cyrus can't take down this sprightly woman.


Download: Letters to Cleo - Here and Now
Download: Letters to Cleo - Awake
Download: Letters to Cleo - I Want You to Want Me (Cheap Trick cover)

Belly

Of all the negative things to come out of the '90s alternative music boom, one of the positives was how the surge of interest in alternative styles of music allowed female fronted groups to move to the forefront. While women rockers like Janis Joplin, Blondie and Joan Jett had experienced success in the male-dominated rock world with and without the use of their sex appeal, those artists seemed to be the exception to the rule.

But in the post-Nirvana world, the likes of Kim Deal of The Pixies and The Breeders, Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth, Liz Phair, and to some extent, Courtney Love, were able to move to the forefront without having to sex themselves up or down to either appeal to men or to blend into the male-dominated scene. They could be girls but they could still rock, and in a real way, not in the pop songs in rock clothing way that Avril Lavigne and Ashlee Simpson have made so popular this decade. Yet their songs retained a distinctly and unabashedly feminine sound. These women weren't trying to make up for anything, they were self-assured enough to do their own thing, knowing it would attract an audience.

Belly was not only part of this emerging scene, they were, in a sense, a product of it. Having cut her teeth as a songwriter and singer in female dominated indie bands Throwing Muses and the aforementioned The Breeders, Newport, Rhode Island native Tanya Donelly decided to start her own project which she dubbed "Belly"--a word she found "both pretty and ugly." Formed in 1991, Belly hit the scene just in time for women-in-rock's big break--a break that would pave the way for everyone from 4 Non Blondes to Luscious Jackson (incidentally, both upcoming installments to The Second Single).

Belly first hit with the Slow Dust EP in 1992, which shot to number one on the British indie charts. At first listen, the group's sound wasn't dissimilar from that of Donelly's old groups--but there's a bit more of a shoegaze influence going on with Donelly's vocals buried in a mix of sparkling reverb behind a wall of distorted guitars all enveloping the hooky melodies. The group often drew comparisons to so-called "dream pop" bands like The Sundays and Lush, and the influence is clear--but Belly were contemporaries of these bands, and most likely the artists all had a reciprocal relationship.

It wasn't long before Belly had a full length record in the can and a big hit on their hands in Britain--the album, 1993's Star (Sire/Reprise), hit number two on the British charts. The group's success in the UK wasn't unexpected--they had been signed to the Brit label 4AD across the pond--but Belly's success in their home country was a bit more surprising.

The first single, "Feed the Tree" is what did it. The strangely intriguing lyrics, powerhouse chorus, sexy vocals and of course, the oddly literal video, garnered the group top spots on MTV's Buzz Bin and Alternative Nation (a big deal at the time for all you youngsters). The song reached #1 on the Modern Rock charts and while it barely eked into the Billboard 100 (it reached #95), it didn't matter--by that time modern rock radio had emerged as the format to be reckoned with and MTV was beginning to have as much impact as Top 40. Star was a certified gold record.

Belly feed the tree
by extremevampyr

The group followed "Feed the Tree" with a song from their first EP that had been rerecorded for the album, "Gepetto." The song is a beautifully constructed singalong, perhaps even catchier than "Tree," though it lacked the unusual sensuality that the hit possessed. The song reached #8 on the Modern Rock charts and failed to chart on the Billboards. A third single, "Slow Dog" was released and hit #17 on the Modern Rock charts.

Belly - Gepetto


Belly would only make one more album, 1995's King. The album revealed Donelly delving even further into mainstream pop-rock, leaving behind any indication that she was once an indie queen. The album was a risk--leaving behind the old indie fan base in favor of mainstream success. Unfortunately, the plan backfired--King wasn't a hit with mainstream audiences and left old Belly fans either angry or scratching their heads. Not to mention it was ill-timed--the same modern rock radio that had embraced Belly two years earlier had now turned its attention back towards male dominated hard rock, leaving little room for the spacey pop Belly provided. It might be a good time to note that Belly's appearance on Rolling Stone (top of the page) was published during their promotion for King.

The band broke up in 1996. Immediately after the break up, Donnelly embarked on a solo career, releasing a solo EP, Sliding and Diving, the same year. A year later she released her full length debut, Lovesongs for Underdogs and has since released three more solo albums to little fanfare but much critical acclaim. Her sound has veered away from the pop-rock she was known for and towards sparsely arranged country influenced acoustic folk-pop.

In 2000, Donelly reunited with the Throwing Muses for a couple of shows, and while a Belly reunion has yet to materialize, Donelly still plays her hit songs at her solo shows.

FIRST SINGLE: A
SECOND SINGLE: A

Download: Belly - Feed the Tree
Download: Belly - Gepetto

Buy Belly music!
Buy Tanya Donelly music!