Los Angeles, California: With just two weeks to go before the November 14 release of new album Electric Cattle Gods - The Lost Tracks, alt rockers Sponge certainly turn up the temperature with their new single - an early, early demo for what is surely their best-loved song of all.
It was not necessarily a cheerful song. While some commentators insisted it was written about actress Molly Ringwald, Sponge themselves said it was based on the story of a teenaged girl who fell in love with one of her teachers, and attempted suicide when he made it clear hr feelings were not reciprocated.
It struck a major chord regardless. The third single from Sponge’s Rotting Piñata debut, “Molly (16 Candles Down The Drain)” reached #3 on Billboard’s Modern Rock Tracks chart, and #11 on the Mainstream Rock listing, while spinning off a still popular MTV smash video.
In terms of arrangement, the demo does not deviate too much from the familiar record. But still it’s a thrill to hear such an early, and somehow innocent sounding take on one of the mid-1990s most resonant anthems, and the same can be said across the remainder of the album.
Titled for what came very close to being the band’s name… they became Sponge only after their local Ritz club wasn’t able to spell out “Electric Cattle Gods” on the marquee… Electric Cattle Gods delivers a front row seat for what singer Vinnie Dombroski describes as “ the embryonic stage of the developing Sponge. No boundaries, no worries, just the music written at that time.”
Capturing the very dawn of the band, Electric Cattle Gods - The Lost Tracks features eleven never-before-released wild and exuberant demos and try-outs (plus two storming brand new recordings). Some probably haven’t been heard in over 30 years; others would later be rerecorded for the band's 1994 major label debut Rotting Piñata - including “Molly,” “Drownin’” and the b-side “Cowboy Eyes.”
Vinnie admits that even the band aren’t sure whether every song is an actual demo, or if some were final cuts, abandoned before the band ever signed a record deal. But “thirty-something years later,” he laughs, “Who cares!
“Just enjoy the raw, soon-to-be Sponge.”
SINGLE: https://orcd.co/sponge_molly16candlesdemo
CD/VINYL: https://cleorecs.com/search?q=sponge+electric+cattle+gods
DIGITAL: https://orcd.co/sponge_ecgthelosttracks
Track listing
1. In The Name Of God
2. Velocity 555
3. Nadja Hello
4. Slower Suicide
5. Cowboy Eyes
6. Blowz
7. Welcome Home
8. Down In Texas
9. Wet Brain
10. Desert Low
11. Molly (16 Candles)
12. Drownin'
13. Gal
