No Pocky for Kitty

Superchunk: Mac McCaughan (vocals, guitar); Jim Wilbur (guitar); Laura Ballance (bass); Chuck Garrison (drums).
Recorded at the Chicago Recording Company, Chicago, Illinois on April 21-23, 1991.
While many music historians would choose Fugazi as the band most emblematic of the D.I.Y. ("do it yourself") independent music scene of the '90s, a perhaps less-obvious but equally valid choice would be Chapel Hill's hometown heroes, Superchunk. However, while Fugazi fretted over the inherent contradictions of integrity and celebrity, Superchunk just plain rocked out. Chugging along like a sped-up REM-meets-the-Ramones, singer/guitarist Mac McCaughan, bassist Laura Ballance, guitarist Jim Wilbur, and then-drummer Chuck Garrison were clearly having too much fun on revved-up ditties like "Skip Steps 1 & 3" and "Sprung a Leak" to preach.
Either way, Superchunk packed more manic energy into its records than any ten other bands from Chapel Hill combined. "NO POCKY FOR KITTY" is a cruelly undervalued landmark of an album and the song "Punch Me Harder" is the great lost should-have-been hit of the same decade. Of course Superchunk couldn't maintain this manic velocity throughout its career (and outside of the Ramones, who could?), but "NO POCKY" is a perfect snapshot of the band at its bouncy best.