Playlist 7: The Evolution of Incubus

Following on from the spotlight being firmly placed on The Chemical Brothers, it’s now the turn of Californian rock that, for the most part, has suffered quite a bit from cold shoulders and undue criticism – at least in the eyes of Matt Gardner. To follow up his look into the kings of British dance and electronica, this week he brings you Spotify Sunday: The Evolution of Incubus.

Incubus sold out. No, it’s true. The thing was, they did it really early and for all the right reasons. Firmly involved in charity work, the band has used their megabucks for the forces of good. Besides, criticising a band of Incubus’ ilk for such a notion is musical suicide, given that all of us love some group that is guilty of similar, particularly those who keep their money for themselves.

I fell in love with Incubus relatively late; I bought a game called MTV Sports: Pure Ride after playing a demo in 2001 after a dearth of snowboarding titles on the PlayStation twisted my arm into getting it. It was wonderfully easy to play, better than the s*** Cool Boarders franchise and what’s more, it had an absolutely top-drawer soundtrack (SX10, Bender and Gray Area, among other never-again-seen demi-rockers). ‘Privilege’, which opens Incubus’ de facto second album Make Yourself, was track number one and I couldn’t get enough of it.

Since then, I never looked back. After Music Zone (RIP) made it easy to get hold of old albums for £5 or less, I immediately got hold of the first three releases by Incubus: S.C.I.E.N.C.E., Make Yourself and Morning View. It got me through college, all those years ago when trying to form a meaningful image in an environment that defined “melting pot” (and, incidentally, one with many people that can be defined as “ballbags”).

I suppose Incubus are one of those kinda bands; one you listened to when you were too young to access music and enjoy a wider catalogue. One that, as a result, you’re a bit uncomfortable bragging about. But I really did like them, and I think they’re great now.

Y’see, the group were able to alter their sound in a very strange way that, in many senses, is simply not seen any more – not to the degree of this lot.

After Fungus Amongus, released in 1995, spawned the release of ‘Take Me To Your Leader’ – Incubus’ first single – the five-piece led by Brandon Boyd dropped in with the metal/rock/funk offering S.C.I.E.N.C.E. in 1997 which, for the most part, was practically perfect. The first five songs alone – ‘Redefine’, ‘Vitamin’, ‘New Skin’, ‘Idiot Box’ and ‘Glass’ formed a fantastic opener for the band, using sampling and great riffs surrounding several mind-blowing choruses, each carrying the odd message here for good measure (‘Idiot Box’ being a notable example).

Topped off with the famous single ‘A Certain Shade Of Green’ and the funk-fest-turned-horror-rock offering ‘Deep Inside’, it was underrated at best and wrongfully lambasted by ne’er-do-wells at worst. ‘Summer Romance’ remains a firm favourite with lady-fans of Incubus, too – something consistent with other singles from the band in future releases.

The follow-up, Make Yourself, was released in 1999 and is the band’s most successful release to date, going double platinum in the US and charming people the world over. Taking a much more mainstream rock appeal than its predecessor, it was more open to the female audience, especially through the doting numbers ‘Drive’, ‘Pardon Me’ and ‘Stellar’ (the last of which forms fond memories for me in my first proper relationship. Cut me some slack, you swines – at least I’m being truthful).

Still, plumbing the album more will dig up the aforementioned ‘Privilege’ alongside ‘Nowhere Fast’, title track ‘Make Yourself’ (with an excellent chorus) and ‘Battlestar Scralatchtica’, a wonderful DJ-led mix that shows the true range of Incubus’ appeal. However, ‘Consequence’ is a song that cannot go unlistened; its blend of mixing skills and haunting guitar, as well as the powerful build-up to the final pay-off, is genuinely brilliant.

Morning View continued in the same direction and rarely challenged the eardrums in terms of volume. Still, that’s not to say it wasn’t boring; far from it, in fact. Again, after a strong opening with ‘Nice To Know You’ and ‘Circles’, it hit hot hot heights with everyone through ‘Wish You Were Here’, spawning the band’s most popular music video and broadening their appeal even more.

‘Are You In?’ extended this pop-rock side of the band while ‘Blood On The Ground’ and ‘Warning’ also provided solid listening experiences. However, it was ‘Just A Phase’ that I fell in love with; despite its somewhat expected final few moments, the wistful acoustics and sound effects make your ears fall in love.

It was at this point that Incubus somewhat stagnated. Well, not stagnated, but… became a bit more regular in my eyes. While previous albums had shown that over 50% of the offering was brilliant, the newer albums couldn’t match this. A Crow Left Of The Murder was the first album I bought new from the band and it couldn’t've been more of a let-down at the time – so much that I toe-poked it under my bed and forgot about it about two weeks after its release in 2004. It was a vanilla return to old habits, adopting a more rock side without actually doing anything new. Or clever. Or fun.

Still, after a rediscovery (read: proper listen) in 2006, I found that it wasn’t actually that bad. While it’s on the playlist, ‘Megalomaniac’ was no delight in at least its lyrical quality; while Boyd makes about as much sense as Anthony Kiedis in many of his songs (though quite not equivalent in the douchebag stakes… and I really like[d] the Chilis), the references to Jesus and Elvis are a bit excruciating, despite the overall quality of the rest of the song. Still, title track ‘A Crow Left Of The Murder’ and ‘Talk Shows On Mute’ were, simply put, f***ing top banana.

Light Grenades is where we get off the I-Train. Continuing the sound reversal after Morning View, it was their most pre-millennium-sounding album since Make Yourself. While ‘Dig’ is a fan favourite and helped build bridges to newer fans, it is the frantic fretwork of ‘Light Grenades’ that steals the show. And, of course, where would we be without the gender-non-specific appeal of ‘Oil and Water’? Not in Incubus territory, that’s fer true.

So, well, yeah. Incubus is a guilty pleasure and many people may simply think they’re another set of So-Cal ragamuffins. To me, they opened me up to alternative rock and, while I’ve gone onto much better things since, I’ll never forget them. Cheers lads.

By Matt Gardner

Full track listing:

Take Me To Your Leader
Redefine
Vitamin
New Skin
Idiot Box
Glass
A Certain Shade Of Green
Summer Romance (Anti-Gravity Love Song)
Deep Inside
Privilege
Nowhere Fast
Consequence
Stellar
Make Yourself
Drive
Battlestar Scralatchtica
Pardon Me
Nice To Know You
Circles
Wish You Were Here
Just A Phase
Blood On The Ground
Warning
Are You In?
Megalomaniac
A Crow Left Of The Murder
Talk Shows On Mute
Dig
Light Grenades
Oil And Water