Tuesday Tribute: Spin Doctors

Emerging in the 1980's from New York City along with buddy John Popper (of Blues Traveler fame) were Chris Barron and Eric Schenkman who would go on to form one of the early 90's biggest sensations, the Spin Doctors. Bridging the gap between outstanding live jams and radio friendly pop, the Spin Doctors' bass-heavy sound and playful lyrics were blasted at every college party for a solid few years. While the band achieved tremendous success with hits like "Two Princes" and "Little Miss Can't Be Wrong," people tend to overlook the amazing energy that this band put into their live performance. The funky slap bass of Mark White locked in with the solid drum grooves of Aaron Comess as well as the lead licks of Eric Schenkman and the stage presence of frontman Chris Barron in a live setting all played a significant part in attracting both neo-hippies as well as 90's pop rock fiends. The band took off after the release of their debut album, Pocket Full of Kryptonite in 1991 and then in 1992 they toured with Blues Traveler, Phish, and Widespread Panic as part of the first ever H.O.R.D.E. festival. As the band's popularity began to wane later in the 90's, Chris Barron suffered a vocal chord paralysis that left him unable to speak well, let alone sing. Despite given a 50/50 chance to ever sing again, he gained his voice back a year later and reunited with the Spin Doctors in the early 2000's. The band released a studio album in 2005 called Nice Talking To Me and they still play scattered gigs, but have never seen the radio or touring success that they had in the 90's. The Spin Doctors could be one of the more underrated bands of the past 20 years. With stations like VH1 criticizing the Spin Doctors' biggest hit "Two Princes" for being "awesomely bad," few people take the time to explore their deeper cuts which were responsible for giving them their notable live following. It is because of this that this week we go back and explore some of the Spin Doctors' material.

First up this week is a playful rendition of the party anthem "What Time is It?" live on David Letterman in 1993. Gotta love the stage presence of Chris Barron, and it seems as though Demi Moore enjoyed the performance too.



Up next is the band doing their bluesy tune "Cleopatra's Cat" live at Woodstock '94. The lead riff on this song is completely mean and it looks like the band drew a pretty decent crowd. Check out Mark White's rainbow bass, yikes!



The band gets a bit of help from Elmo and friends for a version of "Two Princes" on Sesame Street. This rendition is lyrically tweaked to emphasize the importance of sharing and cooperation. Nice!



Last up, the boys are paid a visit by the great Roger Daltrey for a version of The Who's "Substitute" on David Letterman. Daltrey still sounds pretty young in this recording and the Spins look like their having a blast.



spindoctors.com