Why Don't You Believe

I guess most people will single out Nirvana or Pearl Jam as the epitome of the "grunge" era, and I won't exactly disagree - they, as well as some not quite as well known others, certainly started the whole thing and they deserve their due in that regard.  One of the primary bands of that era to me, though, is one most people won't point to or even, in a lot of cases, recall, and that would be Dig.

Dig's "Believe" single got Buzz Binned by MTV shortly after it came out and it just totally blew me away with the aural assault of multiple guitars, among other aspects about it.  It's a darn fine single for the period and, to me, one of the best of the whole Nineties grunge/indie/alt-rock/whatever era.  I, of course, bought the album soon after, as well as anything that came before and everything that's come since.  Dig's Life Like album is probably the best of all, but a little more "mature" and polished than most of the back catalog.  The self-titled album that contains the "Believe" track is really probably the best representative of the band from that era anyway.

Scott Hackwith is just an awesome and painfully honest songwriter, and what he does arranging the music around his songs just kills me in the best way.  Nirvana was great and all that - I love Nirvana just fine - but Hackwith so much more spoke for "my generation" and "my crowd" to me than Kurt Cobain ever did. 

It's always been a shame to me that Dig gets kind of overlooked when it comes to grunge-era history.  Maybe they didn't sell as many records as some did at the time, but they were a gem that got overlooked among all the Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and a few others' applause of the time.