Published on Mar 23, 2023
Music history is littered with bands who were quite influential but not commercially popular, and certainly Hum has got to be on that list.
The ’90s alt-rockers featured a dense, guitar-heavy sound that could go from soft to quiet; this of course was a hallmark of the era (something the Pixies and, later, Nirvana would become famous for), but Hum was less punk than those bands, closer in spirit to Jesus and Mary Chain and My Bloody Valentine. They and the Smashing Pumpkins had a very similar sound, in fact, though the Pumpkins sold more copies of their 1993 album Siamese Dream than Hum did with Electra 2000 the same year, and therefore got more ink and credit. Hum deserved better.
What’s telling now is that rock in the 2000s clearly owed a debt to these guys; it’s almost impossible to listen to Chevelle and Deftones without hearing You’d Prefer An Astronaut, and much of modern rock seems to draw more from this sonic well than the Nirvana side of things.
So, that’s the history. But how about the music? Truth is, Hum is a good alt-rock guitar band, nothing more, nothing less. The sound may have been influential, but, like the Velvet Underground and Big Star, it’s not necessarily a runaway success on its own. “Stars” was the one “hit” of sorts, and it’s fine, but “The Pod” is much better, a racing, rollicking number that should have been a hit. “I’d Like Your Hair Long” is similar, and perhaps Astronaut would have been better served with more energetic songs and fewer slow pieces like “The Very Old Man” and the overlong closer “Songs Of Farewell And Departure.”
“I Hate It Too” is noteworthy, though; there are a few songs here that start quiet and end loud, which could be a gimmick, but these guys make it work on this track especially as the piece builds and builds until ending in a wash of guitar solos and noise.
So the album won’t change your life, but as architects of a sound that would come to define music several years down the road, not to mention having several very good songs on their own, Hum is worth unearthing, and Astronaut is a great place to start.