The Buck Pets were an American

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

band formed in the late 1980s in

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

. They were clearly influenced by earlier bands such as The Replacements,

Buzzcocks Buzzcocks are an English punk rock band that singer-songwriter-guitarist Pete Shelley and singer-songwriter Howard Devoto formed in Manchester in 1976. During their career, the band combined elements of punk rock, power pop, and pop punk. The ...

and

The Jesus and Mary Chain The Jesus and Mary Chain are a Scottish alternative rock band formed in East Kilbride in 1983. The band revolves around the songwriting partnership of brothers Jim and William Reid, who are the two founders and only consistent members of the ...

but incorporated better production values and more overt nods to classic rock than their

college rock College rock is rock music played on student-run university and college campus radio stations located in the United States and Canada in the 1980s and 1990s. The stations' playlists were often created by students who avoided the mainstream rock p ...

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

predecessors. The band seemed to get a degree of support from their record label,

Island An island or isle is a piece of land, distinct from a continent, completely surrounded by water. There are continental islands, which were formed by being split from a continent by plate tectonics, and oceanic islands, which have never been ...

, for their first two LPs, the hard edged ''The Buck Pets'', and the more melodic follow up '' Mercurotones''. On the eve of the release of ''Mercurotones'', Island was bought by PolyGram- the A&R staff were let go and projects were shelved while the new owners evaluated their new property. Support for The Buck Pets was then almost non-existent. The band also had opening spots on tour with larger acts such as

Neil Young Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian and American singer-songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, forming the folk rock group Buffalo Springfield. Since the begi ...

(Ragged Glory Tour) and

Jane's Addiction Jane's Addiction was an American Rock music, rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1985. The band's best known line-up consisted of lead vocalist Perry Farrell, bassist Eric Avery, drummer Stephen Perkins and guitarist Dave Navarro. Jane's Addicti ...

, but in the end, The Buck Pets failed to see commercial success. As a coda, The Buck Pets released the more restrained, melancholy album ''To the Quick'' in 1993 on the independent label

Restless Restless or The Restless may refer to: Film and television * ''Restless'' (1998 film), a Chinese-American romance film * ''Restless'' (2000 film), a Finnish romantic film * ''The Restless'' (2006 film), a South Korean fantasy film * ''Restless'' ...

. On April 10, 2010, The Buck Pets reunited for a one night show at the club Trees in the

Deep Ellum Deep Ellum is a neighborhood of Dallas, Texas, home to a diverse array of arts venues, restaurants, bars, entertainment venues, businesses, and urban residential units near downtown in East Dallas. Its name is based on a corruption of the area ...

area of Dallas, Texas and released ''RARES (and unreleased)'' a collection of rare and previously unreleased material.

Members

*Tony Alba –

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

*Ian Beach –

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

*Ricky Pearson – drums (To the Quick) *Chris Savage –

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

*Chuck Smith – bass (The Sound of Deep Ellum) *Andy Thompson – guitar, lead vocals

Discography

;Albums *''The Buck Pets'' (

, 1989) *'' Mercurotones'' (

, 1990) *''To the Quick'' (

, 1993) *''RARES (and unreleased)'' (

Self-published Self-publishing is an author-driven publication of any media without the involvement of a third-party publisher. Since the advent of the internet, self-published usually depends upon digital platforms and print-on-demand technology, ranging fr ...

, 2010) ;Singles

References

External links

* Mic The Tiger: https://web.archive.org/web/20100409072015/http://www.micthetiger.com/ * Atlas Throat: http://www.myspace.com/atlasthroat {{DEFAULTSORT:Buck Pets, The Musical groups from Dallas Alternative rock groups from Texas Musical groups established in 1986 Musical groups disestablished in 1993 Musical groups reestablished in 2010