"Seether"

Veruca Salt
(Geffen, 1994)

Lip-gloss slick and chocolate-factory sweet, Nina Gordon and Louise Post mixed Melrose Place grunge, pre-Spiceworld faux feminist girl power, and a dash of postpunk Pixie dust at just the right moment and -- vavoom! -- a gynocentric "Smells like Teen Spirit." The follow-up to American Thighs was even better, but the girls still knew how their bread was buttered, namechecking "Seether" like Chubby Checker namedropping "The Twist," convinced we'd forget. They were right: Eight Arms To Hold You took a nosedive, whatever short leash they kept the Seether on wasn't short enough, and the original line-up split over boy troubles. Tragic.

-- Carly Carioli