• Reviews

• All
• Music
• DVDs
• Live
• Cinema
• TV
• Books
• Comic Books
• Video Games

Jun 25, 2024 Web Exclusive By Frank Valish

For a short time in the mid-‘90s, Chicago’s Smoking Popes burned bright. Forming from the ashes of their youthful punk band Speedstick, brothers Eli (guitar), Matt (bass), and Josh Caterer (vocals/guitar), along with Mike Felumlee (drums), founded the group and released its debut album before getting snapped up by Capitol Records in the mid-‘90s signing rush and eventually putting out Born to Quit.

The band’s debut didn’t make many waves, with the exception of facilitating their move to a major, but Born to Quit increased the band’s profile, largely due to the album centerpiece “Need You Around,” which exploded on alternative radio and was subsequently included on the Clueless movie soundtrack.

Smoking Popes, and Born to Quit specifically, was a particularly idiosyncratic sort of mid-‘90s poppish punk. The instrumentation is classic pop rock with a punk bent, idiomatic of the time, but what distinguishes Smoking Popes is Josh Caterer’s vocals, a hazy, almost Sinatra-esque croon that heavily recalls Morrissey, and this distinguishing characteristic is ultimately what sets Born to Quit apart. The Morrissey comparison is a lazy one perhaps, but what this characteristic does for Born to Quit is make it seem recognizable almost instantly, an immediate solution for those entranced by Morrissey’s vocal styling but perhaps disenchanted with his sad sack tunes.

Interestingly enough, the Morrissey-esque vocals are most apparent on Born to Quit. Backtracking to the debut or fast-forwarding to the band’s third album, Destination Failure, and nothing strikes quite the same note. Which makes Born to Quit an especially unique mid-‘90s album. And the big single doesn’t even appear until side two. But from the album’s start, the twosome of “Midnight Moon” and “Rubella,” the hooks and melodies are irresistible.

Of course, very shortly after Born to Quit, which ultimately didn’t sell to the degree that Capitol may have wished (in the post-Nevermind universe, what did?), Josh Caterer found Jesus and moved away from the secular rock and roll stylings that made his band shine so brightly. Destination Failure was released, with the song “I Know You Love Me,” which Caterer later asserted was about his relationship with Christ, and with the rest of the band members not willing to transition full-fledged into Christian music, Smoking Popes disbanded. Although they retained their melodic smarts and rock and roll vibe, things were different when the band reformed in 2005. Born to Quit was a moment in time, and this vinyl reissue attests to why Smoking Popes were great. (www.smokingpopesmusic.com)

Author rating: 7.5/10