Did I really just see a 311 thread in the Reggae & Ska forum?
Sure they may have some influence from those genres...but are overwhelmingly alternative rock to me. Anyway, it doesn't matter.
Anyway, I became a huge fan of theirs in 1995. I'd never heard of them and the cover for the self-titled album caught my attention at a listening station at a record store. I checked out some samples and was truly blown away. I guess I'd never heard anything quite like it, and just the first 10-20 seconds of the first couple of songs was enough for me to purchase the album. I took it over to my friend's house and one of them particularly was really impressed. We were typically listening to industrial and punk at the time. This was a change of pace. I really liked the bass in their music. Soon after I picked up
Grassroots and
Music, and enjoyed the hell out of all 3. I had a pair of 12s in my car at the time and the dub-influenced punk sounded great. They were one of my favorites at the time.
Sometime in 1996 I lost interest, and never checked out
Transistor. The mainstream appeal may have had something to do with it...it seemed all the jocks and preps were into them by that point. Stupid thing to concern myself with, yes, but I was young. A few years later, maybe by 98 or 99, I eventually checked out
Transistor and actually quite like it. I've actually given their first 4 albums an equal rating on of 4 out of 5 stars...though at the peak of my interest I would have rated some higher. Now that I rarely listen to them, they're equally good.
I never checked anything out after that album. I started hearing too many ballads, and the
Cure cover I heard really sounded pathetic.