In the wake of the overwhelming success of Nirvana’s Nevermind, major labels in the early/mid-’90s began signing any and every cool indie band they could in hopes of a similar payoff. One such outfit was Jawbox, a Washington, D.C., post-punk quartet that had issued two promising albums on the indier-than-thou Dischord label. The band—guitarist/vocalist J. Robbins, guitarist Bill Barbot, bassist Kim Coletta and drummer Zachary Barocas—signed to Atlantic and released the excellent For Your Own Special Sweetheart in 1994. (Though MAGNET named it the fifth-best album that year, Sweetheart was far from a commercial hit.) In 1996, Jawbox issued a slicker self-titled LP, which also failed to catch on beyond the indie-rock crowd, and the band broke up the following year. Dischord has just reissued For Your Own Special Sweetheart with three bonus tracks, and to celebrate, Jawbox reunited for a one-off performance on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon on Tuesday. Barbot is also guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our Q&A with him.
Barbot: John C. Reilly seems to have made a career for himself as something of a serious actor. I first started paying attention to him after his memorable turn as Reed Rothchild, Dirk Diggler’s unlikely porn-star sidekick in Boogie Nights. But over the years, he proved himself as good at “real acting” (Magnolia, Gangs Of New York) as he was at goofball comedy (Talladega Nights, Walk Hard). So I was kinda surprised to see him slumming it on Adult Swim as the hilarious Dr. Steve Brule, the damaged channel-five TV-news health correspondent on Tim And Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!. For all I know, a spot on Tim And Eric is Hollywood gold, but somehow, I doubt it. It is—was?—after all, probably the most inappropriate 12 minutes of television to air in any given week. Rife with vomiting, sweat and nudity, T&E brought danger back to late-night comedy, and Reilly was more than game to show up with the funny.
Dr. Steve: What’s a panini?
Presenter: Well, a panini is a sandwich.
Dr. Steve: Then why’d you call it a panini?
Video after the jump.
