Blind Melon
From WikiMusicGuide, the free music guide. Your music wiki.
A very promising American rock band that ultimately led to their end when tragedy hits them, Blind Melon, stood up to their feet, picked up the pieces and reformed with a new lead vocalist in 2006.
Contents |
[edit] About
Blind Melon was led by Indiana native, Shannon Hoon (real name Richard Shannon Hoon). He went to Los Angeles hoping to make it big in the music industry and met future bandmates, Brad Smith, Roger Stevens, Christopher Thorn and Glen Graham. Soon, they decided to form a band in 1989. They've considered several names like Brown Cow, Mud Bird and Head Train, before they came up and agreed on Blind Melon. The band produced a four-track demo tape titled The Goodfoot Workshop sent to Capitol Records. The said label became interested with them and subsequently signed a record deal. Shortly thereafter, they recorded Sippin' Time Sessions which was produced by Neil Young, but when they completed the record, it was never released.
Hoon re-acquainted with his sister's friend and frontman of another rock band, Guns N' Roses, Axl Rose. He invited Hoon to sing backup vocals for Guns N' Roses' Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II albums. The best-known song in the album where Hoon lent his vocal talent is the ballad, Don't Cry.
Blind Melon appeared in MTV's 120 Minutes Tour with Big Audio Dynamite, Public Image Limited, and Live in 1992. After that, they started recording their debut album, produced by Rick Parashar (Temple Of The Dog and Pearl Jam). Released in September 14, 1992, their self-titled debut album sold poorly although two singles and videos were released off their album, they receive little fanfare. Not until the release of No Rain where it catapulted the band into stardom. It managed to climb up the charts almost peaking the top spot. The video for this single featured Heather DeLoach as the Bee Girl where it became very popular, driving the album to a certified four times platinum. They began opening for famous artists such as Neil Young, Soundgarden and Lenny Kravitz.
As they became increasingly popular, the band became involved in the use of drugs, Shannon Hoon being the primary offender. His drug intake has gone overboard that when the band had their own concert, they had to cut it short due to his serious drug use. In the next two years, Blind Melon toured on and off due to Hoon's extensive drug use, spending time either in jail or rehab. His behavior began to change, for the worst. In 1994, he got arrested for stripping off naked in their show in Vancouver and urinated on a fan. When Blind Melon appeared at Woodstock 2 Hoon went out wearing his girlfriend's dress, clearly intoxicated. Even though the drug use went out of control, they still got a nomination for the Grammy awards, Best Rock Performance and Best New Artist.
In the fall of 1994, they began recording their sophomore effort, Soup in New Orleans with producer, Andy Wallace. Though their sessions were productive, Hoon later admitted that he had no recollection of it. Though they finished the album in spring of 1995, and was set to be released soon, Hoon was, again, admitted to rehab by his bandmates. The album was pushed to be released in August. A month before its release, Hoon's girlfriend, Lisa Crouse gave birth to their first child Nico Blue. Hoon mentioned in an interview that he now has a reason to straighten things once and for all.
When the album Soup was released, it only reached number 28 in the Billboard charts. The album sold poorly and critics gave it harsh reviews. When Blind Melon went back to touring to support their album, Hoon's drug counselors warned the management that he was not ready yet. But Hoon convinced them that he was and that a drug counselor would accompany him on the road. In less than two months, his counselor was dismissed.
The day before their gig in Tipitina's in New Orleans, nobody knew that their performance in Houston, Texas on October 20 will be Shannon's last. The gig in Houston didn't turn out well so Shannon started on a new stash of cocaine, casting blame all over the place. He was out of control, as his bandmate Roger Stevens described. They pulled into the parking lot to check-in at a hotel where they see Shannon in his worst state. By the time to got in the hotel, Shannon called his girlfriend and talked for forty-five minutes telling her how messed up he was. Shannon calmed down and at around 10 a.m. he left his room to look for something to eat. On his way down, he invited the doorman, Don Weaver, to watch their concert in Tipitina's that night. Don Weaver mentioned that Shannon seemed like he's happy to be around town.
Shannon had a smoothie in a bar, read newspaper and chatted on the phone after deciding to walk towards the tour bus, maybe to take a rest. He got on the bus, took off his clothes except for the pair of shorts, neatly folded his clothes and lay on Christopher Thorn's bed, with the doors locked. Around 1:30pm, one of the roadies woke him up for their gig later that night. He saw Shannon's feet sticking out of the bunk so he tried to tickle his feet, but there were no response at all. The sound man tried to wake him up by calling out his name and shaking him but as he turns on the light and saw Shannon, he knew something was wrong. He screamed for the bus driver to call an ambulance while the tour manager tried CPR on him. When the ambulance came, they announced that Shannon was dead due to cocaine overdose.
His body was brought back to his home town in Dayton, Indiana and was buried in Dayton Cemetery near his ancestors. His girlfriend chose his favorite T-shirt where the word AMSTERDAM is written as his burial clothes and wore no shoes at all since he always went barefoot whenever he could. The band can't believe what happened. One of their bandmate and close friend, Roger Stevens said that it was the first time he saw him not talking. Before he was buried, people close to Shannon put objects to be buried with him. Lisa has put in the most. His mother put a letter saying how much she loves him and that he should sing with the angels. She figured out that maybe they needed a singer so he had to go, while his niece Grace put in a cereal bowl so that Shannon could eat his cereals in heaven.
The band took a break and tried picking up the pieces again before they decided to finish some of the unreleased vocals of Hoon which they recorded before he died. This resulted to the release of 1996 album Nico. Named after Shannon Hoon's daughter where the profits are divided to her and to Musicians Assistants Program (MAP), an organization that helps musicians and artists to recover from alcohol and drug addiction.
Following its released came the home video, Letters From A Porcupine which documented their history and live performance. It was even nominated for a Grammy awards for Best Long Form Music in 1998. The following year, March 4, Blind Melon officially disbanded where the members went on to pursue other projects.
In 2002, A Classic Masters CD was released by Capitol Records, featuring 12 Blind Melon songs. Followed by The Best Of Blind Melon in 2005. It is a CD and a DVD package featuring their live performance in Chicago. Then on December 15, 2006, Live At The Palace CD was released by Yakmusic in New Zealand as a tribute to the band while Capitol Records re-released it with a new package on October 17, 2006.
Blind Melon reformed with a new frontman, Travis Warren (former Rain Fur Rent frontman) and released a new album on April 22, 2008, titled 'For My Friends'.
In September of 2008, New York based music journalist Greg Prato released a book titled ‘A Devil on One Shoulder and an Angel on the Other: The Story of Shannon Hoon and Blind Melon’. The book is available exclusively as a print-per-order via www.lulu.com. It contains never-before-seen photos and was put together from more than 50 exclusive interviews from surviving band members, members of bands they toured with, producers, friends and family members. The title comes from a phrase that guitarist Rogers Stevens once used to describe Shannon Hoon.
[edit] Members
- Richard Shannon Hoon Vocals
September 26, 1967 - October 21, 1995
Lafayette, Indiana - Travis Warren Vocals
1981
Amarillo, Texas - Glen Graham Drums
December 5, 1968
Columbus, Mississippi - Brad Smith Bass
September 29, 1968
West Point, Mississippi - Christopher Thorn Guitar
December 16, 1968
Dover, Pennsylvania - Rogers Stevens Guitar
October 31, 1970
West Point, Mississippi
[edit] Awards & Certifications
| Year | Award | Category |
|---|---|---|
| 1994 | Grammy Awards (Nominated) | Best Rock Performance |
| 1994 | Grammy Awards (Nominated) | Best New Artist |
| 1998 | Grammy Awards (Nominated) | Best Long Form Music Video for Letters From A Porcupine |
| Year | Certification | Album |
|---|---|---|
| 1994 | 4x Platinum | Blind Melon |
[edit] Chart Toppers
| Year | Title | US Hot 100 | US Mainstream Rock | US Modern Rock | UK | Album |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | I Wonder | ~ | ~ | ~ | #1 | Blind Melon |
| 1994 | No Rain | #20 | #1 | #1 | #17 | Blind Melon |
| 1994 | Tones of Home | ~ | #10 | #20 | #18 | Blind Melon |
| 1995 | Galaxie | ~ | #25 | #8 | ~ | Soup |
[edit] News
[edit] Tours & Concerts
No tours to date
[edit] Announcements
[edit] Discography
[edit] Albums
 September 14, 1992 Capitol Records |
 August 15, 1995 Capitol Records |
 November 12, 1996 Capitol Records |
 January 29, 2002 Capitol Records |
 September 27, 2005 Capitol Records |
[edit] Singles
| Year | Single | Label | Album |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | Change | Capitol | Blind Melon |
| 1993 | I Wonder | Capitol | Blind Melon |
| 1994 | No Rain | Capitol | Blind Melon |
| 1994 | Tones of Home | Capitol | Blind Melon |
| 1995 | Galaxie | Capitol | Soup |
| 1995 | Toes Across the Floor | Capitol | Soup |
| 1996 | The Pusher | Capitol | Nico |
[edit] Compilations & Live Releases
 September 11, 2001 Capitol Records |
 September 27, 2005 Capitol Records |
 October 17, 2006 Capitol Records |
[edit] Other artists
[edit] Similar artists
[edit] Influences
[edit] Contemporaries
[edit] Trivia
- Blind Melon performed at "Late Show With David Letterman" and sang Hoon's first composition Change and dedicated it to Kurt Cobain, whose body was discovered that day, April 8, 1994.
- Shannon Hoon died 8 weeks after the release of Blind Melon's 2nd album Soup. Inscribed in his grave are the words in the first song he wrote, Change. I know we can't all stay here forever/ So I want to write my words on the face of today/ And they'll paint it
- Shannon Hoon 's first band was Styff Kytten, a cover band from his home town Lafayette.
- Blind Melon describes some hippies from Mississippi as coined by Brad Smith's father.
- Shannon's dog was named Wooh because everytime the dog misbehaved, everyone would go "wooh!" until the dog got used to it.
- Shannon has a tattoo in his upper left arm that has the phrase Eye and Mind which means It takes an eye to see what we're doing to the world, and a mind to change it.
- The songs Shannon sang in Guns N' Roses' Use Your Illusion albums are Live & Let Die, Don't Cry, You ain't the first, November Rain, and The Garden.
