The Young Fresh Fellows

The Young Fresh Fellows are an American alternative rock group, that was formed in 1981 in Seattle, Washington, United States, by Scott McCaughey and Chuck Carroll. Tad Hutchison, Chuck Carroll's first cousin, joined for the recording of the group's debut album in 1983.[1]

Young Fresh Fellows in Galicia, Spain

History

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The Fellows in Japan

Their first album was The Fabulous Sounds of the Pacific Northwest (1984) after which Jim Sangster joined the group on bass and McCaughey switched from bass to guitar. Carroll left the group in 1988, and was replaced by Kurt Bloch from The Fastbacks.[1]

The song "Amy Grant", a comical song about Contemporary Christian music and pop music artist Amy Grant, from the album The Men Who Loved Music, was a success on college radio[1] and arguably their biggest hit.

The band are still together, although after 1996's A Tribute To Music they released no new material until Because We Hate You (2001),[1] a split release with McCaughey's other band, the Minus 5. McCaughey has given more attention to the Minus 5 since then, while Bloch and Sangster have formed the band Thee Sgt. Major III, and Hutchison is working more on visual art and design, as well as performing/recording as Chris & Tad with Chris Ballew of The Presidents of the United States of America. However, the Fellows released I Think This Is in 2009 and embarked on a tour of Spain that October.

From 1994 to 2011, McCaughey was a "fifth member" of R.E.M., playing guitar with the band both onstage and in the studio.[1]

The band was mentioned in the They Might Be Giants song "Twisting", and in "Big Salty Tears" by The Ziggens, which was later covered by Bradley Nowell of Sublime on the album Sublime Acoustic: Bradley Nowell & Friends.

The tribute album This One's for the Fellows (2004) features twenty covers of Young Fresh Fellows songs by artists including The Presidents of the United States of America, Robyn Hitchcock, and The Makers. The Presidents' cover was featured in "Benderama", an episode of Futurama.

Discography

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Albums

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  • Temptation on a Saturday (CD/LP) – PopLlama/Munster – 1995

Official bootlegs

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  • Beans and Tolerance (attributed to 3 Young French Fellows 3)[2]

"Fans only" cassettes

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  • Gag Fah – 1991[3]

Compilations and lives

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  • Refreshments – 1987 – Collection of singles
  • Somos Los Mejores (CD/LP) – Munster Records −1991
  • Hits From The Break Up Album – 1991 – Collection of singles
  • Gleich Jetzt (CD) – 1+2 Records – 1992
  • Take It Like A Matador (CD) – Record Runner – 1993
  • Banana Pad Riot (CD/7") – Skull Duggery – 1996

Appearances

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  • Diamonds at a Discount – A Compilation of Frontier Recording Artists (LP) – Frontier Records – 1988 (contains their non-album single "I'm an Artiste on Frontier")

Tribute albums

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e Colin Larkin, ed. (2003). The Virgin Encyclopedia of Eighties Music (Third ed.). Virgin Books. pp. 509/10. ISBN 1-85227-969-9.
  2. ^ Wyman, Bill (20 September 1990). "Young Fresh Fellows on the outer limits of rock 'n' roll foolishness". Chicago Reader. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
  3. ^ binky (10 October 2012). "Young Fresh Fellows – Gag Fah". Teenage Dogs in Trouble. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
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