After spending nearly a decade in the underground college scene Minneapolis rockers, Soul Asylum, hit the mainstream big time in 1993 with their multi platinum and Grammy Award winning record “Grave Dancer’s Union”. The band was now a household name and in summer 1995, they released their follow up, the highly anticipated “Let Your Dim Light Shine”. I remember in 1994, MTV did a news special on them in the studio recording it, and how exciting it was to hear some of the songs for the first time even though I still had to wait another year to buy it. Finally on June 6, 1995 the record was released.
The title track “Misery” became a radio hit immediately and was the anthem for the summer of 1995. I remember buying the guitar tab book at Sam Goody, with the hopes of rocking as hard as Dave Pirner. Long before streaming, we would sit for hours with records and listen to them in full while we read the thank you’s and linear notes, which is probably a reason why this album still resonates with Soul Asylum fans 25 years later.
With all shows being cancelled in 2020 it’s unclear if the band will do any sort of celebration for the 25th anniversary but I like many fans am keeping my fingers crossed. Soul Asylum were touring earlier in 2020 and I had a chance to sit down with Dave Pirner backstage at The Cowan to talk about the record turning 25, his new book of Soul Asylum lyrics, touring in 2020, and their new album “Hurry Up And Wait”. You can hear the full interview here.
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