Silverchair: The Rise & Fall Of The Band Behind Frogstomp & Songs Tomorrow, Ana's Song, Israel's Son
1,671,504
Published 2021-06-21
0:00 - Early Days
3:10 - 'Tomorrow' Single
4:00 - Silverchair Blows Up
7:04 - Freakshow Era
8:15 - Daniel John's Struggles
11:00 - Final Years/Breakup
israel's son video
• Silverchair: The Controversy Behind t...
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Silverchair was one of biggest bands to come out of Australia. The rock trio would make a mark a few years after grunge had taken over.. In fact, they had their big break not even a year after Kurt Cobain died. This put Silverchair in the unique category of post-Nirvana alt-rock acts that included the likes of Foo Fighters, Puddle of Mudd, Bush, and Local H. By the way guys I’ve done a whole video on whatever happened to Local H, link is down below.
Silverchair would also end Australia’s musical draught by being the first band to have a debut album chart in the top 10 in America since 1982’s Men At Work’s record and the first Australian band in 5 years to have an album chart in the top 10. The last band before them was INXS.
Vocalist and guitarist Daniel Johns grew up in a musical home with his parents frequently blasting Black Sabbath and Deep Purple records. Johns and his schoolmate, a drummer nme Ben Gillies (GILL EEES) started jamming together as teenagers in 1992 in Newcastle, Australia,a blue collar working town north of Sydney, The pair wanted to get serious about music and enlisted bassist Chris Joannou (Joe-Knew) and called themselves Innocent Criminals. They soon started jamming on Pearl Jam songs before writing their own.
By the spring of 1994, a neighbour of Johns told the young musician about a demo tape contest called Pick Me that was being broadcast on the TV show NOMAD and being sponsored by local radio station Triple J FM. John’s was a little skeptical telling Rolling Stone “We’d been in competitions before and didn’t do shit. But we sent in our tape.”
Silverchair would be one of more than 800 entires into the contest and thought their tape would be lost in the shuffle. Their tape they submitted was credited to their old monicker Innocent Criminals. One of the show’s judges heard the almost 7 minute long demo of Tomorrow and was blown away It was no surprise the band’s demo stood out considering how awful some of the submissions were. one band did a song about tuna fish while another artist submitted a song that heavily sampled movies include the fugitive and star trek. That judge who discovered Silverchair would be a video director named Robert Hambling who told rolling Stone in 1996
“It stood out even stronger because I’d just listened to about 80 or 100 demos back-to-back,” From my point of view, in a competition to find new talent, you couldn’t find a more perfect example than three young lads in their bedrooms in Newcastle with a song that, I believed, could be a No. 1 megaworldwide smash hit.”
The other judges concurred and awarded Silverchair the show’s grandprize, which included a full day recording session to spruce up Tomorrow, a video shoot for the single at an old prison. By June of 1994 the video for Tomorrow aired on the TV Show Nomad and Triple JJJ FM added it to their rotation .
Within a week of the band getting radio airplay record labels were chomping at the ability to sign the band. John’s mother who managed the group at the time was being contacted by Australian labels including Murmur who was owned by Sony. The reps for Murmur went to a local gig the band played at in Newcastle. What’s funny is that the reps went to a local newcastle pub called the Jewels Taverns but because hte boys were underage they weren’t allowed to play there, so they had to play in the restaurant next door to the bar.The band signed withMurmur records who released Tomorrow as a single under their new band name Silverchair. The name originated from combining the Nirvana song Sliver, which one of the members thought was spelled silver and the track Berlin Chair by You Am I. A month after it’s release Tomorrow topped the charts in Australia selling 175,000 copies. It was estimated that approximately 1 percent of australia’s population purchased the single.
All Comments (21)
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Favourite Silverchair song?
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Frogstomp was one of my favorite records back in the late 90s. The fact that a bunch of high school kids put it out is still kind of mindblowing
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I saw them at the Santa Monica pier in 90’s. Someone threw something at John’s and gave him a bloody nose. The band stopped and he left the stage and then came right back covered in blood and said something like “fuck it..” and rocked even harder. I was 10 feet away from this and it’s still one of the greatest rock n roll moments I’ve ever witnessed.
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I love Silverchair. I was 15 when Frogstomp came out and when I found out they were also 15, it blew my mind to think that dudes my age were making music that good. They were my first rock concert (which took some convincing with my mom to let me go) and they were amazing live. As they got older, their sound changed of course and I wasn't initially a huge fan of Diorama, but now I realize it's a masterpiece. I was bummed when they broke up, but I'm hoping they might reunite because I'd definitely love to see them live again. God, I miss the 90s. Great time for music.
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its insane knowing that the voice in frogstomp belonged to a 15 year old. such a great album with extremely talented musicians.
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Silverchair's experience with popularity is quite different in Australia compared to the rest of the world. Yes their first album was massive everywhere, but all of their albums were massive in Australia. They did become more divisive towards fans the older they got, but by the time their last album came out, the lead single 'Straight Lines' was the biggest song in Australia of that year. It had huge commercial airplay.
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Not many people can write a album like Frogstomp when you’re 14 years old and then write freak show at 17 years old both while still at high school. Neon ballroom a dark album but some great songs and wrote that while suffering with anorexia. Diorama is an absolute masterpiece of a album too
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Back in ‘middle school’ in the 90s, all my friends were obsessed w Hanson. Silverchair was my thing. I was so impressed that fellow 15yolds could rock so hard. Still listening at 40.
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I just have a ton of respect for these guys. frog stomp is awesome - the way Daniels voice cracks when he screams in Israels son still one of my all time greatest rock moments - what an amazing group.
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Ana's Song (Open Fire) is one of the greatest songs of the 90s, but it's almost never mentioned.
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Diorama was an absolute masterpiece. One of the most underrated albums of that decade.
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Diorama is a masterpiece of an album and it is Silverchair at their peak. Especially Daniel Johns and his vocal performance on said album. There was absolutely no pitch correction on his vocal takes, which, is an incredibly common tool utilized the studio by many artist. In addition to that the range that he has, is just outstanding.
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I saw them in 1995 in Boston. They were literally at their peak in the US with Frogstomp. They opened up for the Chili Peppers and goddamn did they sound great. Unbelievable considering they were 16, 17 at the time??? Never seen a group that young put out such a classic album, debut or not. Each song had radio potential and could’ve all been a single back in those days. No band of teenagers i can think of rocked that hard and still sounded so clean live. Not even close. They opened with Madman and eventually plowed through every song that was on Frogstomp. I’m almost positive they closed with Israel’s Son.
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Frogstomp was the soundtrack to my teenage years
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Emotion Sickness and Ana's Song are some of my favorite songs of all time. Both songs are raw, hauntingly beautiful, and accurately capture suffering and misery!
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Frogstomp was one of the best albums ever. I was in 8th grade when that came out. Still remember where I got the CD wanting it cause I liked the cover and was a fan instantly. Still listen to it the whole album to this day brings back all the memories of the 90s
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Their debut album is simply one of the best all-time greatest rock albums ever recorded by a bunch of kids. I’m still floored by it even today.
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"Silverchair - Anthem for the Year 2000" has lyrics that are so relevant today
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Most people don’t like Diorama, but the fact they were in their early 20s and wrote those songs with that complexity is just insane. It also has two of the bands heaviest songs, The Lever and One Way Mule.
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i was just browsing through a borders back in 2000's and came across diorama on one of those sample listen bars. put on the headphones to check it out and was blown away by the singing and the quality of the vocals. total impulse buy based on that and kept listening to it to realize the music behind those vocals were almost as good... almost. His singing is just amazing.
