Along with The Posies, Matthew Sweet was one of the most prominent power-pop revivalists of the 1990s, bringing the bittersweet but sunshine-soaked sound of Big Star to ’90s alternative radio, updating it with an additional kick by recording with some of the best guitarists of the punk era, Voidoids veteran Robert Quine and Television great Richard Lloyd. Their driving guitar work helped make Sweet’s 1991 album Girlfriend his critical breakthrough (and later its title track a Guitar Hero staple). The team’s resounding 1995 single “Sick of Myself” remains one of the era’s most telling hit, a scathing dose of self-deprecation offset by hooks that coated the tune like butter and syrup melting over hot pancakes.
Like so many musicians plucked from the underground at the height of the alternative-radio boom, Sweet soon fell back into obscurity, releasing a string softer, studio pop records gobbled up by his diehard fans but few others. A 2006 covers album with Bangles singer Susanna Hoffs revealed Sweets’ influences to be exactly what you’d expect them to beThe Beatles, Love, The Beach Boys, The Zombies, etcwhile Sweet’s latest album, last year’s Sunshine Lies, was the return to his heyday sound that some fans had been waiting for, a marriage of hard-charging guitars and eager melodies that even reunited Sweet with Lloyd on a pair of standout tracks. Sweet plays tonight after an 8 p.m. set from the Meat Puppets. (Evan Rytlewski)
