Monday, July 27, 2009

Shut Up And Listen To... Into Another


On the outset, Into Another must've seemed like some kind of a contrived boy band; they just looked so different from each other when they first hit the scene in 1990. There was drummer Drew Thomas—an unabashed snappy-dressing Mod, quiet guy guitarist Peter Moses, metal dude bassist Tony Bono and pretty boy/alpha male singer Ritchie Birkenhead. And though all the guys came in with their own unique musical pedigrees (as vets of bands like Youth of Today, Underdog, Whiplash and Bold), Into Another's sound was completely original and singular.

Called "post-hardcore" by most—a term that's been replaced with the dreaded "emo" monikor since the mid-'90s—Into Another's music was often experimental, jarring and unexpectedly delicate. And though they've been broken up since the late '90s, reunions have been widely considered implausible after Bono's death in 2002.

Luckily, we have Into Another's three albums (if you're not counting the weird one they only put out in Germany) and a multitude of EPs to carry on their legacy. So today, in honor of Music Monday on Twitter, shut up and listen to them, preferably their eponymous 1991 debut.

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