This is the official Green Magnet School MySpace site.
Green Magnet School was an experimental rock band formed between Lowell and Framingham Massachusetts in 1987.
The group defied easy categorization, but the 3-guitar cacophony of its music was often referred to in the sub-genres of noise rock, post punk, no wave, and even industrial music. They used such unconventional sonic tactics as switching instruments to two bass guitars, playing effected trash cans as percussion, and using treated guitars (bottlecaps, fountain pens) to achieve otherworldly musical atmospheres. They were soon signed to Genius Records, then home of labelmates Spacemen 3. After releasing a string of indie singles, they saw their original labels parent company Rough Trade go bankrupt a week before their first albums release. After playing a showcase in NYC at the New Music Seminar, the band signed with Sub Pop records, and in 1992 released their debut CD "Blood Music" (produced in part by Radiohead/Dinosaur Jr. knob-twiddler Sean Slade), which featured the radio hit "Windshield". The album was critically acclaimed, and the band were written up in publications as diverse as Melody Maker, Chemical Imbalance, Thrasher, CMJ, Kerrang!, and The Village Voice. "Blood Music" also received airplay on the legendary John Peel Show on BBC radio. The bleak, dystopian nature of both the lyrics and music were compared by both U.S. and UK music journalists to such groups as Killing Joke, Live Skull, Gang of Four, and early Sonic Youth.
After sharing the stage and touring extensively with local, national, and international acts such as:
The Flaming Lips, The Jesus Lizard, Kudgel, The Laughing Hyenas, Bullet LaVolta, Polvo, Loving Six, Poster Children, Laughing Academy, Tar, Helios Creed, Cxema, White Zombie, Th Faith Healers, Nisi Period, Love Battery, Volcano Suns, Die Kreuzen, Bastards, Bulkhead, The Afghan Whigs, Common Ailments of Maturity, Membranes, High Risk Group, God Bullies, Red Bliss, The Lemonheads, Buffalo Tom, Hollow Heyday, Halo of Flies, Drumming on Glass, Gobblehoof, Come, Galaxie 500, The Cows, Cul de Sac, H.P. Zinker, Subskin Cables, Dinosaur Jr., New Radiant Storm King, and of course friends and musical compatriots Six Finger Satellite (with whom the group released several split singles and retained the services of John Maclean, now better known as The Juan Maclean, as tour guitarist), the group released a CD EP titled "Revisionist" in 1993, and what would be their final CD, "Illuminatus" in 1995. After several line-up changes, GMS finally disbanded in 1997.
Now regarded as a highly underrated, influential band ahead of its time, Green Magnet School is considered one of the seminal indie rock groups that sprouted from the fertile Boston music community of the late 1980's-early 1990's. Several former members of the band remain currently active in ongoing musical projects, including Black Helicopter, Teleffonic, The Low-Country Messiahs and Chris Pearson/EKRANOPLAN.
On October 7, 2004, GMS reunited for one night at the Middle East upstairs in Cambridge at a benefit and tribute for their deceased friend Tim Bartley. They played to a sold-out room, doing songs covering their entire career and featuring both major line-ups of the band.
Discography:
7" singles:
"CO" split with God's Acre (Toxic Shock Records) 1990
"White People" (Sonic Bubblegum Records) 1991
"White People" split with Six Finger Satellite (Hippy Knight Records, Australia) 1991
"Singed" (Sub Pop Records Single-of-the-Month Club, Dec. 1991)
"Blind in My Mouth" (Hippy Knight Records, Australia) 1992
"Don't Cry" double single with Six Finger Satellite (Sub Pop Records) 1993
CD's:
"Blood Music" (Sub Pop/Genius Records) 1992
"Revisionist" (Sonic Bubblegum Records) 1993
"Illuminatus" (Sonic Bubblegum Records) 1995
Miscellaneous:
"Windshield" on "Where's Stanton Park?"-LP (Stanton Park Records) 1989
"Blood Music"-LP (Sub Pop/Glitterhouse Records Germany) 1992
"Throb" on "Revolution Come and Gone"-CD (Sub Pop Europe) 1993
"Throb" on Sub Pop/Spin Magazine promotional CD (Spin Magazine/Sub Pop) 1993
"Blind in My Mouth" on "Self Mutilation"-CD (Hippy Knight Records, Australia) 1994
"Slipper" on "Pipeline!"-CD (Kimchee Records) 1996
Most of this material is out of print, but can often be found on eBay.
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