University is the 1995 album by the American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 alternative rock

Alternative rock

Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...

 band Throwing Muses

Throwing Muses

Throwing Muses is an alternative rock band formed in 1981 in Newport, Rhode Island, that toured and recorded extensively until 1997, when its members began concentrating more on other projects. The group was originally fronted by two lead singers, Kristin Hersh and Tanya Donelly, who both wrote the...

, released on Sire Records

Sire Records

Sire Records is an American record label, owned by Warner Music Group and distributed through Warner Bros. Records.-Beginnings:The label was founded in 1966 as Sire Productions by Seymour Stein and Richard Gottehrer, each investing ten thousand dollars into the new company. Its early releases as a...

 and Reprise Records

Reprise Records

Reprise Records is an American record label, founded in 1960 by Frank Sinatra. It is owned by Warner Music Group, and operated through Warner Bros. Records.-Beginnings:...

 in the USA, and on 4AD

4AD

4AD is a British independent record label that was started in 1979 by Ivo Watts-Russell and Peter Kent, funded by Beggars Banquet Records, and is still active today...

 elsewhere. It features the single "Bright Yellow Gun

Bright Yellow Gun

"Bright Yellow Gun" is a popular song by the Throwing Muses. It originally appeared on their 1995 album University, from which it was the only single....

", the band's first national hit. The album's radio exposure led to feature articles in Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...

and other major music magazines.

The album was recorded in the fall of 1993, right before lead Muse Kristin Hersh

Kristin Hersh

Kristin Hersh is an American singer/songwriter who performs solo acoustic concerts; she also continues to perform as lead singer and guitarist for alternative rock group Throwing Muses and the hardcore punk-influenced power trio 50 Foot Wave...

 recorded her first solo album, Hips and Makers

Hips and Makers

Hips and Makers is the debut solo album by Kristin Hersh, best known as the primary singer and songwriter of the band Throwing Muses. In contrast to Hersh's rock-oriented work with Throwing Muses, the album is primarily acoustic, with Hersh usually playing unaccompanied...

. 4AD founder and president Ivo Watts-Russell

Ivo Watts-Russell

Ivo Watts-Russell was joint-founder with Peter Kent of the English indie record label 4AD. He has also produced several records, himself preferring to use the term "musical director" to explain his role in the creation....

 convinced Hersh to release the solo album first, in early 1994. This led to this album being delayed until 1995.

Despite all the positive notices and exposure for the album, sales were disappointingly low, and the band was dropped from Sire's roster, ending the Muses' major label years. The band has continued sporadically ever since, releasing two further albums on the independent 4AD, one in 1996 and one in 2003

Track listing

All songs by Kristin Hersh

Kristin Hersh

Kristin Hersh is an American singer/songwriter who performs solo acoustic concerts; she also continues to perform as lead singer and guitarist for alternative rock group Throwing Muses and the hardcore punk-influenced power trio 50 Foot Wave...

.

1. "Bright Yellow Gun"
2. "Start"
3. "Hazing"
4. "Shimmer"
5. "Calm Down, Come Down"
6. "Crabtown"
7. "No Way in Hell"
8. "Surf Cowboy"
9. "That's All You Wanted"
10. "Teller"
11. "University"
12. "Snakeface"
13. "Flood"
14. "Fever Few"