The first time you heard THE WiLDHEARTS?

[tyladog]

1994: I was working midnights at a grocery store.
We used to keep the radio tuned into Z-ROCK, which was a national Hard Rock/Metal station in the States.
Midnights, it seems, was the only time you'd hear anything new or different.
So one night they played SUCKERPUNCH, and that was it - I was hooked! I walked around with that song in my head for a week. I couldnt even remember the name of the band at first.
Of course in the Grunge era, there was no interest at all in the States. 2 years later, when I turned several friends on to the band, the original promo copies of Earth Vs. were still in the used bins at all the local record stores!

[seventieslord]

I actually heard the Wildhearts for the first time through a guy named Lee Bartholomew, or Bart Banana, as some of the oldest listees might remember him by.

He had a Soul Asylum song, "Losin' It", that I was trying to download on Napster in June of 2000. I was not yet 19. The song kept failing to download properly. I thought he was cutting me off, as napster users frequently would, so I messaged him with something along the lines of "please let me download this song - you're the only one who has it!" and he replied that he wasn't doing anything to stop it but if it's not working, why don't I add him on ICQ and try it there. So I did. We got to talking, and he sent me some tracks. I recall that I was given Caffeine Bomb first, followed by Lovebank and IWGWTPG. I think i also downloaded a few others on my own a few days later. I remember that I was not that taken aback right away, at least not to the point where I thought I should buy the albums.

Although at one point it must have "hit" me, because I sent Bart a message within the next couple of months saying how thankful I was that he showed me this band. But alas, I didn't have much money and I must have thought the 300 CDs I had at the time were too many. It wasn't until December 2000 that I was absolutely blown away by a few SG5 songs that Bart sent to me. He said "this guy is like my favourite artist ever" but I never really put it together that it was the Wildhearts guy. I bought the album, it was a Jap import that cost me over $50. It was unheard of for me to even spend half that much on a disc, but since then I've spent over twice that much on multiple occasions. I bought it, and it instantly became my favourite album of all-time.

Shortly after that, it was revealed to me that this was the Wildhearts guy, so I wasted no time in buying the UK Best Of The Wildhearts. After about a month of absorbing that album, and realizing how much the band kicked fucking ass, I got myself my first ever credit card and proceeded to max it out buying everything Ginger had ever done to that point, including Clam Abuse and SS666. I haven't looked back since. I save the Wildhearts recommendation only for those cool enough to know them. I have a decent enough sense of who will "get" them and who won't. I saw them in NYC for the first time last year, and they got me engaged at the concert. What more can you ask from a band?

[Cwej]

liberty cap on old rock show session