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Today's ear X-tacy: Belly "Feed The Tree"

Today's ear X-tacy features a classic track or deep-cut from the Alternative era every weekday at 10:10.

It was today in 1993 the American alternative rock band Belly released their debut album Star in the US. (It had been released a week before in the UK.) The group was founded by vocalist and guitarist Tanya Donelly who had previously performed with Throwing Muses and the Breeders in the 1980s and early 90s.

The song “Feed The Tree” was released as the third single, becoming the band's biggest hit, reaching number one on the US Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart and number 32 on the UK Singles Chart. The music video for "Feed the Tree" was a smash buzz bin MTV hit, and was nominated for Best Alternative Video VMA and Best New Artist VMA in 1993.

Donelly was quoted in The Illinois Entertainer as saying the song was about “commitment and respect. The metaphor is the tree that would be planted on large farms as a point of reference to getting around (the only tree sometimes). Because nothing would grow under the large tree, the family would be buried under it.”

In 1994, Star was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Alternative Album.

Sire Records

John is the mid-morning host on WFPK. Email John at jtimmons@lpm.org

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