Blind Melon

When Shannon Hoon died in 1995, Blind Melon, after only two albums, immediately got its second consideration from critics. More than a decade later, listening to Blind Melon’s self-titled 1992 debut and its 1995 follow-up, Soup, reveals a grippingly raw band undergoing a rapid evolution. Moving from breezily whimsical pop (reaching its pinnacle with über-hit “No Rain”) to poignantly brooding rock anthems, Blind Melon was going somewhere important when Hoon overdosed. Unfortunately, the band doesn’t seem destined to get there with the new lineup, despite new singer Travis Warren’s best efforts to sound like Hoon on 2008’s For My Friends. For a while, even Warren seemed to agree—he left the band for a little more than a year before returning late last year.

Updated 08/24/2011