NC17 by Treble Charger

NC17, the debut album from Sault Ste. Marie's Treble Charger, came out on July 4, 1994, and it carries the band's original name, dropped after a copyright tangle with an American group that already had it. Greig Nori and Bill Priddle share vocals and guitars, Rosie Martin plays bass and Morris Palter drums, and the sound is melodic Canadian indie rock before the band's major-label turn toward pop-punk.

The guitars fuzz and chime, the tunes arrive half-buried in noise, and the whole thing has the charm of a band figuring it out as they go. "Red" is the keeper, a slow, bruised gem the band liked enough to re-record for Maybe It's Me, and the one countdowns have kept playing for more than a decade. Sonic Unyon reissued the album in 1997, and the sleeve art features the Smokin' Worm, of Smokin' Worm records.

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