10,000 Maniacs

10,000 Maniacs (a name taken from a 1960s horror film) were formed in Jamestown, New York, in the early 1980s to play an atmospheric, intellectual folk-rock. They were six members strong, relying in particular on Dennis Drew’s keyboards and the guitars of Robert Buck and John Lombardo. Singer Natalie Merchant (who was seventeen at the time of their debut) would become for a decade one of the most original and sincere voices in American rock, though perhaps without receiving from critics and audiences the generous acclaim later bestowed on subsequent generations of female folksingers.

The EP Human Conflict Number Five (Mark, 1982) contains their first hit, Tension, but it is still torn between the folk-rock of Orange and the reggae of Planned Obsolescence. It is the instrumental mix—a somewhat late new wave sound—that dominates.

Things changed with their first full-length album, Secrets of the I Ching (Christian Burial Music, 1983): Merchant begins to reveal her personality in songs like The Latin One, Grey Victory, and especially My Mother The War. Instrumental arrangements and existential singing make the album one of the most experimental in the new American folk scene. Not only do Merchant’s pessimistic lyrics plunge the listener into a small earthly Hell, but the delicate melodies, sung in a whisper, are accompanied by a folk ensemble with Caribbean accents, unafraid to explore dissonances and psychedelic distortions.

The Wishing Chair (Elektra, 1985) showed a greater focus on vocals and, ultimately, on the purely folk-rock component of their sound, so much so that Can't Ignore The Train and Scorpio Rising brought the name Fairport Convention back to mind.

Lombardo left the group in Merchant’s hands, who therefore became the principal songwriter starting with In My Tribe (Elektra, 1987). Gun Shy, What's the Matter Here (by Buck), and especially Like the Weather (the song that made them famous) flirted with mannerism, with Merchant increasingly embodying the role of a moralizing Cassandra and the band remaining ethereal and otherworldly.

This tendency toward continuous, ecstatic easy-listening continued with Blind Man's Zoo (Elektra, 1989). The band wove muzak-like lounge backgrounds to support the increasingly sharp and intelligent lyrics of the leader (who else would open an album with the line “Dream child in my head / in a nightmare born in a borrowed bed,” sung by a teenage mother?). This controversial album nonetheless includes at least Trouble Me, Eat for Two, and Headstrong.

Extremely fragile in constitution, the group’s latest sound had left the impression of a certain compositional sterility. While there was no doubt about Merchant’s stature as a “writer” (of lyrics, melodies, and vocal style), it was reasonable to wonder how long the charismatic leader could repeat herself without becoming tedious. After a long recording hiatus, Our Time In Eden (Elektra, 1992) dispelled every doubt, spectacularly boosting the band’s profile on college campuses (the album sold two million copies within a few years). Merchant’s folk-rock had found its proper boundaries, ranging from the REM-style balladry of Stockton Gala Days to the vigorous, dramatic Zevon-like drive of If You Intend, from the visionary new-age sonata of Noah's Dove to the exuberant rhythm and blues of Few and Far Between, with an optimistic peak in the carefree chorus of These Are The Days and a pessimistic peak in the dark, epic, and experimental I'm Not the Man. At least these last three, if not also Candy Everybody Wants, join Tension, Can't Ignore The Train, and Like the Weather among the masterpieces of recent female folk.

Unplugged (Elektra, 1993) concluded their journey in grand style and would surprisingly remain their best-selling release.

Their songs are always very intense, valued first and foremost for their message, and then for the way Merchant conveys that message to the world. Individual songs are far more significant than the albums, none of which stands out as a definitive work.

Merchant left the group to launch her solo career, and the band replaced her with the prodigal son Lombardo and violinist Mary Ramsey. The two had previously recorded together Victory Gardens (Rykodisc, 1991) and The Weedkiller's Daughter (Rykodisc, 1993) in the more intellectual style of the early Maniacs.

Meanwhile, an album recorded by 10,000 Maniacs with Mary Ramsey came out, Love Among the Ruins (Geffen, 1997). Green Children and Love Among the Ruins hark back to the tender folk-rock of their early days, but Ramsey is far more compelling as a violinist than as a singer. The same applies to The Earth Pressed Flat (Bar None, 1999), with On & On (Mersey Tune) and Cabaret.

Campfire Songs (Rhino, 2004) is a career retrospective plus a disc of (terrible) rarities.

Rob Buck died in december 2000 of liver failure. Robert Wachter, the former drummer, died in 2013.

The 10000 Maniacs returned after a long hiatus with Music from the Motion Picture (Ruby Wristwatch, 2013), without John Lombardo and with Jeff Erickson replacing Buck, and then with an album of folk covers, Twice Told Tales (Cleopatra, 2015).