'Til Tuesday
Encyclopedia
'Til Tuesday was an American New Wave
band formed in Boston
in 1982. Its original lineup was bassist/vocalist Aimee Mann
, guitarist/vocalist Robert Holmes
, keyboardist Joey Pesce, and drummer Michael Hausman
.
in 1983. Their original composition "Love in a Vacuum" (credited to all members of the group) received a fair amount of airplay on the station, and the group was eventually signed to Epic Records
.
"Love in a Vacuum" was re-recorded for the Epic debut album, 1985's Voices Carry
; however, the breakthrough song turned out to be the title track. The "Voices Carry" single peaked at number eight on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100
, and is said to have been inspired by an argument between Mann and Hausman, who had broken off a relationship before the album's release. According to producer Mike Thorne in his Stereo Society web site, "the title track was originally written and sung by Aimee as if to a woman.... The record company was predictably unhappy with such lyrics." Rolling Stone magazine would later report that Epic Records labelmate Cyndi Lauper was interested in recording "Voices Carry" with the original lyric, but only if the band didn't put it on their own release. The band declined.
The band became an early MTV
staple with the "Voices Carry
" video, which depicts an oppressive boyfriend trying to convert Mann to his upper-class lifestyle; she finally lashes out at him during a concert at Carnegie Hall
, standing up from her seat in the audience and belting the lyrics, "He said, shut up! He said, shut up! Oh God, can't you keep it down...?" as she removes her cap to reveal her signature spiky, rat-tailed hair. As a result, the group won that year's MTV Video Music Award for Best New Artist
.
By the 1986 follow-up Welcome Home, Mann was beginning to write more of the songs herself and the band was moving away from the slick new wave sound of their debut. But while critical reaction was generally strong, the number 26 placing for the lead single "What About Love" was a commercial disappointment, especially after the top-ten success of "Voices Carry". Even more problematic, the album just barely sneaked into the U.S. top 50, also a letdown after the number 19 placing for their first LP.
After the album's release Pesce left the band and was replaced by Michael Montes. Guitarists Jon Brion
and Clayton Scoble also joined the group, although not as permanent members.
At about the same time, Mann's two-year relationship with singer-songwriter Jules Shear
, whom she had been dating since the release of the Voices Carry album, came to an end. This breakup somewhat informed the band's final album, 1988's Everything's Different Now
, particularly in the song "J for Jules", though Mann insisted that not every song on the LP was about the relationship. Shear collaborated with Matthew Sweet
on the album's title track; it also featured "The Other End (of the Telescope)", a collaboration between Mann and Elvis Costello
on which Costello provides a guest vocal.
While critical praise continued to flow, Everything's Different Now was a commercial dud. The album peaked at #124, while the lead single "(Believed You Were) Lucky" (co-written with Shear) crawled to number 95.
'Til Tuesday essentially broke up after the release of Everything's Different Now. However, Mann toured under the 'Til Tuesday name with various session players, while legal problems with the band's label Epic
prevented her from beginning work on a solo record for several years. (Mann's solo career officially began in 1992.) Hausman, meanwhile, became Mann's manager, a position he holds to this day.
New Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
band formed in Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
in 1982. Its original lineup was bassist/vocalist Aimee Mann
Aimee Mann
Aimee Mann is an American rock singer-songwriter, guitarist and bassist.-Early life:Aimee Mann grew up in Bon Air, Virginia, graduated from Open High School in 1978 and attended the Berklee College of Music in Boston, but dropped out to sing with her first punk rock band, the Young Snakes...
, guitarist/vocalist Robert Holmes
Robert Holmes (musician)
Robert Holmes is a guitarist, best known for his work as guitarist/vocalist/writer in the new wave band 'Til Tuesday, the former band of Aimee Mann....
, keyboardist Joey Pesce, and drummer Michael Hausman
Michael Hausman
Michael Hausman is an American percussionist and artist manager in the music industry.He was a former student of Berklee College of Music and played with a Boston band called The Dark before becoming the drummer for the mid-1980s New Wave band 'Til Tuesday; the group's only hit, Voices Carry, is...
.
History
'Til Tuesday first gained fame six months after its formation when it won Boston's WBCN Rock & Roll RumbleWBCN Rock & Roll Rumble
The WBCN Rock 'n' Roll Rumble, begun in 1979, is a Greater Boston "battle of the bands" competition co-sponsored by WBCN-FM and its local music show Boston Emissions....
in 1983. Their original composition "Love in a Vacuum" (credited to all members of the group) received a fair amount of airplay on the station, and the group was eventually signed to Epic Records
Epic Records
Epic Records is an American record label, owned by Sony Music Entertainment. Though it was originally conceived as a jazz imprint, it has since expanded to represent various genres. L.A...
.
"Love in a Vacuum" was re-recorded for the Epic debut album, 1985's Voices Carry
Voices Carry
Voices Carry is the first studio album by the American band 'Til Tuesday, released in 1985. .'Til Tuesday's debut single was the album's title track, which went to #8 on the Billboard singles chart and remains the band's best-known song...
; however, the breakthrough song turned out to be the title track. The "Voices Carry" single peaked at number eight on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
, and is said to have been inspired by an argument between Mann and Hausman, who had broken off a relationship before the album's release. According to producer Mike Thorne in his Stereo Society web site, "the title track was originally written and sung by Aimee as if to a woman.... The record company was predictably unhappy with such lyrics." Rolling Stone magazine would later report that Epic Records labelmate Cyndi Lauper was interested in recording "Voices Carry" with the original lyric, but only if the band didn't put it on their own release. The band declined.
The band became an early MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
staple with the "Voices Carry
Voices Carry (song)
"Voices Carry" is a song by American new wave band 'Til Tuesday. Written by Aimee Mann, the song was produced by Mike Thorne for the group's debut album Voices Carry, released in 1985. The song is about past sour relationships and was originally written and sung as if to a woman, but the lyrics...
" video, which depicts an oppressive boyfriend trying to convert Mann to his upper-class lifestyle; she finally lashes out at him during a concert at Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
, standing up from her seat in the audience and belting the lyrics, "He said, shut up! He said, shut up! Oh God, can't you keep it down...?" as she removes her cap to reveal her signature spiky, rat-tailed hair. As a result, the group won that year's MTV Video Music Award for Best New Artist
MTV Video Music Award for Best New Artist
The MTV Video Music Award for Best New Artist is one of the four original general categories that have been given out since the first annual MTV Video Music Awards in 1984...
.
By the 1986 follow-up Welcome Home, Mann was beginning to write more of the songs herself and the band was moving away from the slick new wave sound of their debut. But while critical reaction was generally strong, the number 26 placing for the lead single "What About Love" was a commercial disappointment, especially after the top-ten success of "Voices Carry". Even more problematic, the album just barely sneaked into the U.S. top 50, also a letdown after the number 19 placing for their first LP.
After the album's release Pesce left the band and was replaced by Michael Montes. Guitarists Jon Brion
Jon Brion
Jon Brion is an American rock and pop multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, composer and record producer.-Early life:...
and Clayton Scoble also joined the group, although not as permanent members.
At about the same time, Mann's two-year relationship with singer-songwriter Jules Shear
Jules Shear
Jules Mark Shear is a US singer, songwriter, and guitarist born in Pittsburgh in 1952. Although he has had only one minor hit as a performer , he has recorded almost 20 albums to date...
, whom she had been dating since the release of the Voices Carry album, came to an end. This breakup somewhat informed the band's final album, 1988's Everything's Different Now
Everything's Different Now
Everything's Different Now is the third and final studio album by the American band 'Til Tuesday, released in 1988. .-Track listing:1. "Everything's Different Now" – 3:56...
, particularly in the song "J for Jules", though Mann insisted that not every song on the LP was about the relationship. Shear collaborated with Matthew Sweet
Matthew Sweet
Sidney Matthew Sweet is an American alternative rock/power pop musician. He was part of the burgeoning Athens, Georgia music scene in the early and mid-1980s before gaining commercial success during the early 1990s...
on the album's title track; it also featured "The Other End (of the Telescope)", a collaboration between Mann and Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello , born Declan Patrick MacManus, is an English singer-songwriter. He came to prominence as an early participant in London's pub rock scene in the mid-1970s and later became associated with the punk/New Wave genre. Steeped in word play, the vocabulary of Costello's lyrics is broader...
on which Costello provides a guest vocal.
While critical praise continued to flow, Everything's Different Now was a commercial dud. The album peaked at #124, while the lead single "(Believed You Were) Lucky" (co-written with Shear) crawled to number 95.
'Til Tuesday essentially broke up after the release of Everything's Different Now. However, Mann toured under the 'Til Tuesday name with various session players, while legal problems with the band's label Epic
Epic Records
Epic Records is an American record label, owned by Sony Music Entertainment. Though it was originally conceived as a jazz imprint, it has since expanded to represent various genres. L.A...
prevented her from beginning work on a solo record for several years. (Mann's solo career officially began in 1992.) Hausman, meanwhile, became Mann's manager, a position he holds to this day.
Albums
- Voices CarryVoices CarryVoices Carry is the first studio album by the American band 'Til Tuesday, released in 1985. .'Til Tuesday's debut single was the album's title track, which went to #8 on the Billboard singles chart and remains the band's best-known song...
(19851985 in musicThis is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1985.-January–March:*January 1 - The newest music video channel, VH-1, debuts on American cable. It is aimed at an older demographic than its sister station, MTV...
) #19 U.S. - Welcome Home (19861986 in musicThis is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1986.-January-June:*January 23 – The first induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame takes place...
) #49 U.S. - Everything's Different NowEverything's Different NowEverything's Different Now is the third and final studio album by the American band 'Til Tuesday, released in 1988. .-Track listing:1. "Everything's Different Now" – 3:56...
(19881988 in musicThis is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1988.-January-March:* January 1 – André Rieu's Johann Strauss Orchestra plays its first concert....
) #124 U.S. - Coming Up Close: A RetrospectiveComing Up Close: A RetrospectiveComing Up Close: A Retrospective is a compilation culled from the works of 'Til Tuesday. It was released on September 24, 1996 .-Track listing:#"Love in a Vacuum" – 3:37...
(greatest-hits collection) (19961996 in musicThis is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1996.-January:* January – At the trial of two American teenagers, Nicholaus McDonald and Brian Bassett, for the murder of Bassett's parents and young brother, defense lawyers attempt to lay the blame for the murders on the fact...
)
Singles
| Year | Song | U.S. Hot 100 Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday... |
U.S. Rock Tracks Mainstream Rock Tracks Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks is a ranking in Billboard magazine of the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations, a category that includes stations that play primarily rock music. Modern rock tracks are counted in the Alternative Songs chart.This chart began with the March 21, 1981, issue... |
Album |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1985 | "Voices Carry Voices Carry (song) "Voices Carry" is a song by American new wave band 'Til Tuesday. Written by Aimee Mann, the song was produced by Mike Thorne for the group's debut album Voices Carry, released in 1985. The song is about past sour relationships and was originally written and sung as if to a woman, but the lyrics... " |
8 | 14 | Voices Carry |
| "Looking Over My Shoulder" | 61 | - | ||
| "Love in a Vacuum" | - | - | ||
| 1986 | "What About Love" | 26 | 9 | Welcome Home |
| 1987 | "Coming Up Close" | 59 | 37 | |
| 1988 | "(Believed You Were) Lucky" | 95 | 30 1 | Everything's Different Now |
| "Rip in Heaven" | - | - |
- 1 "(Believed You Were) Lucky" reached #30 on the Modern Rock Chart.