August 24 – Cracker’s Odd Headgear

Did they take the skinheads bowling to celebrate? Fresh off a #1 alternative rock single on their debut record, Cracker put out their second album, Kerosene Hat on this day in 1993.

The California-based band was, and still is, run by David Lowery, a guitarist/singer who formerly had been in humor-rockers Camper Van Beethoven. Their timing couldn’t have been better. He says of Cracker, “we’ve always been a country, roots-rock band. Fortunately, our music somehow fit into Modern Rock radio back when grunge had taken over the world.” Indeed it did. Their first single, “Teen Angst”, had been a #1 on alternative/modern rock charts when it came out in ’92, and anticipation was high for this record.

Befitting a “roots-rock” outfit, they found an old abandoned barn, on a California movie set (which Westerns had been filmed at) to record the lengthy, 72-minute album at. The majority of the 18 songs fans actually hear on it were written by Lowery and bandmates Davey Farragher (the bassist) and Johnny Hickman (the lead guitarist). Drummer Michael Urbano did little except keep time nicely, and would soon go on to join Smashmouth and become a reasonably successful studio musician. The one exception to that was their cover of a Jerry Garcia song, “Loser”, taken from his solo album. Note that we say songs fans “actually hear”, as even though Kerosene Hat is described by allmusic as “David Lowery’s least affected album”, some of that Camper Van Beethoven humor found its way through. Several tracks are “hidden”, not mentioned on the liner notes or packaging, and some of the tracks display out-of-sequence numbers when played on CD. For instance, the single “Euro-trash Girl” comes up as #69 on digital displays.

The grungy, rootsy sound did fit the modern rock sounds of the year. Critics were of mixed opinions about how good that was. The Village Voice, for instance, gave it a “bomb” icon, and Rolling Stone only graded it 2-stars. But Spectrum Culture thought it “achieves something close to greatness.” Allmusic later graded it a favorable 4-stars, saying it was “more country-based than their debut” and comparing it to Little Feat and early Rolling Stones. But the public loved it. Thanks to the single “Low” (which hit #3 on Modern Rock charts and was the 19^th top song of the year on L.A.’s influential KROQ) and “Get Off That”, also a hit on alt rock stations, the album would be their most successful. Although it only reached #59 on Billboard, it would eventually sell enough to get them a platinum record.

Oh, and that title? Although Kerosene Hat sounds like some random, possibly druggie phrase, it actually was inspired by the band’s history. Lowery and Hickman once shared a house in the East which was run down and had only kerosene heaters for winter warmth. When Lowery went out to get a refill of kerosene, he pulled on a thick, wool cap… a “kerosene hat.”

Cracker are still officially together, but have done very little since 2015