Background
After forming in 1986 in Cincinnati, The Afghan Whigs—vocalist and rhythm guitarist Greg Dulli, bassist John Curley, lead guitarist Rick McCollum, and drummer Steve Earle—released their 1988 debut album Big Top Halloween on an independent record label and gained the attention of Seattle-based label Sub Pop. With their second album Up in It (1990) released on the label, the band toured regularly in the United States for two years and occasionally in Europe before recording Congregation. Sub Pop gave the band a $15,000 advance to record the album, which Dulli later said was a "then-unheard-of" and "bloated" amount.
The album's cover shows a nude black woman sitting on a blanket with a white baby held in her arms. It serves as a comical reference to the band's African-American music roots. Along with a collective interest in classic rock, band members had other individual tastes in music, including McCollum's interest in free jazz, experimental, and Indian music, and Dulli's love of hip hop, soul, and funk, particularly Motown artists and Prince.
Read more about this topic: Congregation (album)
Famous quotes containing the word background:
“I had many problems in my conduct of the office being contrasted with President Kennedy’s conduct in the office, with my manner of dealing with things and his manner, with my accent and his accent, with my background and his background. He was a great public hero, and anything I did that someone didn’t approve of, they would always feel that President Kennedy wouldn’t have done that.”
—Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908–1973)
“Silence is the universal refuge, the sequel to all dull discourses and all foolish acts, a balm to our every chagrin, as welcome after satiety as after disappointment; that background which the painter may not daub, be he master or bungler, and which, however awkward a figure we may have made in the foreground, remains ever our inviolable asylum, where no indignity can assail, no personality can disturb us.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“... every experience in life enriches one’s background and should teach valuable lessons.”
—Mary Barnett Gilson (1877–?)