This album coped a lot flack from the press, but it’s my personal favourite.
The Smithereens are known for writing and playing catchy 1960s-influenced power pop.
The Smithereens have always worn their inspirations proudly, but the band also influenced other musicians, most notably Kurt Cobain during the period he was writing Nevermind. Ironically, some feel the Smithereens (like many early 1990s bands) were hurt by the rise of grunge music.
Along with a basic Eastern-coast roots-rock sound that owed much to the inspirations of DiNizio, including Buddy Holly, The Who, The Clash, Elvis Costello, and Nick Lowe, the Smithereens deployed a uniquely retro obsession with Mod, the late British Invasion pop of John's Children and The Move, and other artifacts of fifties and sixties culture that lent its music substance and style.
A Date with the Smithereens is the fifth album by the New Jersey rock band The Smithereens, released in 1994. It is seen as a big change by the band, because the previous albums were a lot more pop music and this one had turned out to be more hard rock than the others. The title is supposed to be ironic in the fact that all the songs are mostly hate-inspired.
It all started when hit record producer Butch Vig gave interest in and then left the band. This may have inspired some of the hate for this album. Butch Vig worked with artists Nirvana and The Smashing Pumpkins. The album was originally planned to be released about a year before it actually was, but Capitol Records was near dropping The Smithereens. The reason for this is that their previous album, Blow up, was not tolerated well by listeners and lost a lot of fans.
The Smithereens planned to start recording on the album in December of 1992, but the recording was postponed to February of 1993, because of The Smashing Pumpkins album Vig was working on. In July, Butch Vig gave up on the Smithereens, and shortly after, Capitol Records got rid of them.
After The Smithereens were dropped by Capitol, they went to RCA records. As revenge at Capitol, they even considered naming the new album after Capitols president, but the idea was never used. In the end, the Smithereens decided to use their old producer, Don Dixon for the album.
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