Quarantine the Past

In 1992, the Los Angeles Times dispatched a reviewer to a live show by buzzy Stockton, California, rock outfit Pavement. Critic Jonathan Gold didn’t quite know what to do with this special new band. Nirvana, Mudhoney, and U2 were invoked, only for such comparisons to be waved away. There was a nod to the Velvet Underground, from Pavement’s “loopy untuned guitar chords” to their “passive stance and a sort of dark-star charisma.” It’s a strange review, in which writer assures reader that he knows the band is hip, trendy, and well-regarded among indie rock insiders, even if he can’t bring himself to account for why. “Pavement is the latest example of that ‘90s phenomenon,” Gold wrote, “a band considered overhyped before almost anybody you know has even heard of it.”