It is time to pay tribute to a band that has influenced numerous alternative rock bands that came after them.
American alternative rock group Morphine literally jumped into the spotlight when they released their album 'Cure for Pain’ in 1993. They had a couple of releases prior but this was the album that really opened the doors for Morphine. It was met with great critical acclaim and as a result, the band embarked on a successful tour through the United States, Europe and parts of Asia.
Morphine consisted of Mark Sandman, lead vocalist and bass player, saxophonist Dana Colley, and Jerome Deupree on drums. Sandman mostly played his two-string slide bass guitar that he had built himself. He once said that he had been looking for a very particular sound and when he couldn't find it, he decided to build it himself. Sandman was a very charismatic and mysterious indie rock icon who kept mostly to himself and was notoriously difficult to interview. Dana Colley, on the other hand, injected a lot of energy into the Morphine sound by his skillful use of the baritone sax. Their rock was heavily layered with blues and jazz elements which only added to their very distinct and unique flavor.
Morphine's time in the spotlight was unfortunately cut short in 1999 when front man Mark Sandman unexpectedly died of a heart attack while performing live in Italy. Various famous bass players have spoken highly of Sandman, including Primus' Les Claypool. After his passing, some of the instruments that Sandman had built were used by the band The Presidents of the United States of America, as they were close friends of the singer.
I was fortunate enough to see Morphine perform live at the 1994 Pink Pop festival in The Netherlands. It was an unforgettable and unique experience; during the more mellow tracks an impressive hush fell over the crowd, but whenever Colley woke up his baritone sax the resulting energy made the crowd go absolutely wild.
Surprising tidbit: Sandman has always maintained that the band was not named after the opioid drug, but after Morpheus, the God of dreams.
Time to put them back into the spotlight even if only for a little while. The selected track is called 'Buena', taken from that 1993 album and their best-known song.
The surviving band members currently perform as Vapors of Morphine. Some of the social media links in this article will reflect this.
You can learn more about Morphine here:
About The Curator - Yves Vrancken
From an early age on Yves has had the desire to share music with the world. It started with those infamous mixtapes in high school and developed into DJ'ing later on. Nowadays, Yves is an experienced Spotify playlist curator who actively manages 20+ playlists with over 100,000 total followers. Recently, he has branched out by founding his own company yvesvrancken.com that provides social media consulting, artist management and custom playlist curation. Originally from The Netherlands, Yves moved to the United States in 2004 after having met his American wife, Krystal. They have lived in the beautiful State of Colorado ever since and have a little girl named Jinxie.