The Posies

The Posies’ invigorating power pop, propelled by walls of guitar fuzz, proved a hyper-melodic foil to the ‘90s grunge boom. Formed in 1986 in Bellingham, Washington by the songwriting duo of Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow, the band pulled inspiration from groups like The Hollies and Big Star for their 1988 self-released debut, Failure, which married honeyed harmonies with jangly hooks. Their defining early ‘90s records further established that sound while upping the production quality: 1990’s Dear 23 followed Failure’s poppy example, while for 1993’s Frosting On the Beater, they injected their dreamy melodies with some of their Pacific Northwest peers’ heaviness on tracks like the explosive “Dream All Day”. They continued to master pop songcraft on subsequent records, tending to remain grunge-adjacent (1996’s distortion-heavy Amazing Disgrace) while playing with different sounds like sophisticated alt-rock (2005’s Every Kind of Light) and electronic elements, as on 2016’s Solid States. They permanently disbanded in 2021.