Everyone, save for those in the lowest circles of major label hell, loves a good rock ’n’ roll “fuck you” story. They’re tales harder and harder to come by in these dark days, as conglomerated companies have become unspeakably savvy in the art of irreparably screwing the artists that put premium gas in their SUV’s tank.
In 2006, we need to celebrate the small victories as they arise, far too little, much too late. It’s people like Cracker’s David Lowery who occasionally light a spark and make us remember—ever-so-faintly—why we fell in love with this music in the first place.
In 2003, Lowery became just another statistic of major label politics, unceremoniously leaving Virgin, that label both of his bands—the ’80s alternative outfit Camper Van Beethoven and the subsequent roots rock Cracker,—had once called home.
“Virgin didn’t bother putting out our last couple of records, except in countries like Spain and Greece,” laughs Lowery. “When I got sent to Virgin in 1987, it was completely different people. It was Richard Branson: crazy, English, cult-of-personality, really artist-friendly, just wacko. They hired really wacko people to work at the label, and then it got bought by EMI. It was totally different people by 2002, 2003.”
That same year, the band released Countrysides on indie label Cooking Vinyl, an album made up entirely of country covers, save for the final track, “Ain’t Gonna Suck,” in which Lowery ovingly chanted, “Virgin Records/It ain’t gonna suck itself.” No one at Virgin batted an eyelash, it seems, because no one actually remembered that Cracker ever existed.
“We were working on [the band’s new record] Greenland, and my friend, Don Smith, who’s produced some of our records, called and said, ‘Hey man, Virgin wants me to write the liner note to the Greatest Hits record.’ I said, ‘What Greatest Hits record?’” I was like, ‘When are they putting it out?,’ and it was like two weeks before we were putting out Greenland.”
A&R people were called, lawyers were sent, and when all of those failed to push the unauthorized best of package to a release date later than that of Greenland, the band and their two irate lawyers hatched a plan. “It sort of became, ‘how can we fuck with them?’” says Lowery. “How do we get some press out of this and help the new record? We also asked ourselves what any band should ask in this situation: What would Andy Kaufman do, if this happened to him?”
The band went into the studio, re-recorded their hits and released the product on the same day as Virgin’s Get on This: The Best of Cracker. The resulting product, Greatest Hits: Redux, is a collection of fairly faithful versions of old favorites (save for a brand new accordion solo on the band’s biggest hit, “Low”), and of course that lovely ballad, “Ain’t Gonna Suck Itself,” which, according to Lowery, has since outsold its major label counterpart. And this time around, it was the band that happily took charge of the blow offs.
“We got a cease and desist letter,” says Lowery, unflinchingly, “but we ignored it.”
July 22. Bowery Ballroom, 6 Delancey St. (betw. Bowery & Chrystie Sts.), 212-533-2111; 9, $20/$22.
