Jill Cunniff, Vivian Trimble,
Kate Schellenbach, and Gabby Glaser
Luscious Jackson's first release
In Search of Manny was the first non-Beastie Boys
release on the young Grand Royal Records. In 1992, many
Beastie Boys fans took the time to write to the PO box which
was given inside of the Check
Your Head liner notes. Those who did were sent the
the lyrics to the album along with an order form with which
they could get Grand Royal and Beastie Boys clothing as
well as the In Search of Manny recording.
So from the very start, Luscious
Jackson's primary following were Beastie Boys fans looking
for something else to get into. When the word came out that
Luscious Jackson's drummer Kate Schellenbach had been one
of the original Beastie Boys, more interest swirled around
LJ. In 1994, LJ released their sophomore album Natural
Ingredients. This album sold well among Beastie Boys
fans and also started to pull in fans that had no idea of
the Beastie-Luscious Jackson connection. The album had three
singles: "Here", "Deep Shag", and "City
Song." LJ toured along with the Beastie Boys on the
summer's Lollapalooza tour to support the record's release.
In 1996, Luscious Jackson hit paydirt
with the catchy hit single "Naked Eye" off of
their third record Fever In Fever Out. Gaining the
band serious airplay on radio as well as on MTV with the
concept video starring Max Perlich, "Naked Eye"
went on to push record sales to 500,000 units certifying
it gold.
Everyone who had been into Luscious
Jackson from the start were very proud of group's success.
It seemed everyone was becoming a Luscious Jackson fan.
The band was making appearances on The Tonight Show with
Jay Leno, as well as David Letterman's Late Night. Yet it
was not until LJ made a Christmas advertisement for GAP
stores that it really struck home how popular the band had
become.
This popularity was not enough to
keep the band together though. Prior to making their fourth
album, Vivian Trimble left Luscious Jackson to pursue other
projects. Previously Jill and Vivian had made the Kostars'
Klassics with a K album, so the prospect of a side
project forming out of LJ was not a real scary event. After
Vivian left, the remaining three ladies went on to make
Electric Honey which was released in 1999.
Electric Honey was perhaps
the best overall Luscious Jackson album since In Search
of Manny. But even with a lengthy tour opening up for
Smashmouth, the album did not sell well and a few months
afterwards Luscious Jackson split up. As the news spread
online, many of us realized how close we had gotten to Luscious
Jackson. Even though initially we were only interested in
them because of the fact Kate had been a part of the Beastie
Boys from Polly
Wog Stew through Cooky
Puss, LJ had carved out its own niche and will be
sorely missed.
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