The Sebadoh by Sebadoh

The Sebadoh, the seventh album from the Northampton, Massachusetts, lo-fi lifers, came out on Sire in 1999, which means the four-track heroes finally cashed a major-label check. It would be their first and only one. The drum stool had changed hands again: Bob Fay was fired before the sessions, and Russell Pollard sits in for what turned out to be his lone Sebadoh album, next to the core of Lou Barlow and Jason Loewenstein, who between them cover bass, guitar and vocals.

The split personality that always made this band fun is still on display, lurching from hushed, bruised ballads to scrappy rockers. "Flame" handed them a genuine UK hit, their only trip into the Top 40 there, and a single slot on Top of the Pops, about as unlikely a sentence as indie rock produced that year. After it, the band went quiet on record for 14 years.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.