Everclear remains one of the few elite acts to emerge from the post-Nirvana grunge explosion, rockers that could not only match the crunch and aggression of Seattle’s finest, but the hooks and emotional honesty. Everclear’s Art Alexakis wrote songs that were a mature but hard rocking brand of power pop with gritty, achingly true lyrics about addiction, failed relationships and loneliness.
Sparkle and Fade was Everclear’s second release, and it broke HUGE, a platinum-selling smash with hit tunes like “Santa Monica,” “Heroin Girl” and “Heartspark Dollar Sign.”
The very title of 1997’s So Much for the Afterglow announced that Everclear would address head on the swelling expectations established by the breakout success of 1995’s Sparkle and Fade. The tunes sketch out this theme completely, with songs like “One Hit Wonder,” “White Men in Black Suits,” and of course the title track, “So Much for the Afterglow.”
So Much for the Afterglow is the rare follow-up that bested the original in both critical acclaim and sales, going double platinum, yielding three top-five hits and landing the band a Billboard Modern Rock Artist of the Year award in 1998.
