311

311

Formed: 1990, Omaha, Nebraska

Members: Nick Hexum, vocals, guitar (born Madison, Wisconsin, 12 April 1970); Douglas Vincent "S. A." Martinez, vocals (born Omaha, Nebraska, 29 October 1970); Tim Mahoney, guitar (born Omaha, Nebraska, 17 November 1970); Chad Sexton, drums (born Lexington, Kentucky, 7 September 1970); Aaron Charles "P-Nut" Wills, bass (born Indianapolis, Indiana, 5 June 1974).

Genre: Rock

Best-selling album since 1990: 311 (1995)

Hit songs since 1990: "All Mixed Up," "Down," "Transistor"

311 followed in the footsteps of the Beastie Boys and Red Hot Chili Peppers in bringing rap/rock to mainstream airwaves. While incorporating hip-hop, reggae, and dance-hall music into its hard-rock attack, the group retained a Midwestern lyrical sensibility that appealed to college audiences.

The group's name comes from the Omaha police code for indecent exposure—the group's original guitarist, Jim Watson, was once arrested for skinny dipping. However, the cryptic name came back to haunt them later, when some gossips started the rumor that it was code for "KKK" (k is the eleventh letter of the alphabet). The band worked quickly to quash the rumor and disavow any connection to racism.

After becoming a local favorite, the group relocated to Los Angeles in 1991, signing with Capricorn Records. Though the group faced the financial hardships common to unknown rockers, the members fully expected to break big sooner or later. They spent their early years in the shadow of the angst-ridden grunge movement. With positive lyrics and danceable rhythms, 311 represented the antithesis of that genre.

Their major-label debut album, Music (1993), with its rap-rock fusions, set the tone for their subsequent work, but it features more of a funk vibe than later efforts. PNut, who had taken formal bass lessons for four years, shines with his finger-popping riffs. The album produced 311's first minor hit, "Do You Right," which made number twenty-seven on Billboard 's Modern Rock Tracks. A wistful song about holding on to important moments, it exemplifies the group's belief in positive lyrics. However, the album also demonstrates the group's capacity for polemic protest. In line with their middle-class background, they attack not inner-city problems but environmental degradation on "F*** That Bull****." Never interested in adopting a petulant pose, the group released "clean" versions of all its 1990s albums.

311 added reggae to their palette for their follow-up album, Grassroots (1994), but it is on 311 (1995) that they finally reach the culmination of their pastiche of chain-saw heavy-metal riffs, chilled-out tropical rhythms, and Hexum's laid-back, regular-guy vocals. The group also overcame any residual resistance to rap-rock from alternative radio. The ultimate frat-boy album of the period, 311 spent seventy-two weeks on the Billboard 200 thanks to the monster hit singles "Down" and "All Mixed Up."

Hubris caught up with 311 on the album Transistor (1997), which is overlong and meandering at seventy-four minutes and twenty-one tracks. Though it debuted at number four, giving 311 its highest album ranking ever, it only lasted thirty-three weeks on the Top 20. The album did, however, produce two alt-rock hits: the title track, a psychedelic dance-hall-metal fusion, and "Beautiful Disaster," an ominous antidrug salvo.

Soundsystem (1999), produced by the studio wizard Hugh Padgham, marks a return to form, featuring rhythmic shifts that are unpredictable but unforced. Despite the sunny, tropical vibe, "Eons" and "Large in the Margin" contain lyrics that betray Hexum's "lack of direction and self-doubt," as he put it.

More than a decade after moving to Los Angeles, 311 continued with the same five members and in 2002 released From Chaos. By then many groups like Incubus and No Doubt were nimbly fusing rock with hip-hop, and 311's trademark party vibe seemed to have lost its trend-setter status. Nevertheless, 311 created an influential blend of Caribbean, hip-hop, and rock fusions that other popular groups continue to refine.

SELECTIVE DISCOGRAPHY:

Music (Capricorn, 1993); Grassroots (Capricorn, 1994); 311 (Capricorn, 1995); Transistor (Capricorn, 1997); From Chaos (Volcano, 2001).

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