What you’re about to read is seemingly sponsored by nepo babies, but David Geffen wouldn’t have it any other way. Geffen Records was founded by Sir Geffen in 1980, and since then it has been affiliated with various labels including Interscope and has had a number of subsidiaries such as Drive-Thru Records and SureTone. Geffen Records has launched the debut records of powerhouses like Guns N’ Roses with their blockbuster debut LP “Appetite for Destruction,” and Olivia Rodrigo’s “Sour,” so its legacy will live on forever with nostalgia-based radio rock fans and tweens glued to Tik Tok. We attempt to list the top ten most underrated Geffen Records albums below and we already anticipate “what about band x” in the mentions. Shut up, turn on your TV set to a channel with commercials, and softly rock out to Enya on CD compilation commercials that don’t exist.
Depswa “Two Angels and a Dream” (2003)
If you aren’t an active rock enthusiast, you likely missed the boat on this band or are very, very shocked/surprised to see ‘em listed here, but we like to keep you miscreants guessing. Modesto, California is typically known for its conservative Christian populous, but Depswa, which, to save you time on Google, means “deep behind the moon” in Swahili, and deserves to be atop the things you think about when modest with an Italian accent. “Two Angels and a Dream” is the band’s debut full-length studio album and sadly their only release for Geffen Records, as, depending on who is speaking, they were dropped or requested leave. Whatever happened is between the band and a litany of attorneys, but there’s one thing for sure, it’s sad that their sophomore release came out seven years after this one, easily stifling any mainstream momentum that the band may have had.
Drop Dead, Gorgeous “The Hot N’ Heavy” (2009)
It is very, very rare to see a former Rise Records band on a major label, but for some sweaty reason or another, Suretone Records, a subsidiary of Geffen Records signed Denver, Colorado’s Drop Dead, Gorgeous, and released two far from radio-friendly chaotic albums from the band. While your neckbeard brother in your mother’s basement with a solid WiFi signal may have dug the heck out of this band then and even more so now, the global response was more warm and fit, but not too fit. The band’s third and last LP as of now, “The Hot N’ Heavy” may have debuted at 192 on The Billboard 200, but it quickly fell off, and the band broke up two years later after a seven-year stint, only to return this year for an upcoming holiday hometown reunion show between Christmas and New Year’s. They’re planning and laughing.
Elastica “Self-Titled” (1995)
Despite being huge in the United Kingdom for more than a minute, domestically Elastica just weren’t as big over in the US, and if you disagree, ask a random person on the street wearing a Nirvana t-shirt to name three songs from the band. Sadly, the band was swarmed with plagiarism accusations on this LP, and were subsequently unable to capitalize on their UK momentum anywhere outside of England and even IN England, which was proven with their next LP coming out five years after this one, a form of career suicide much like the aforementioned Depswa. Shortly after LP2, “The Menace” was released, the band started working on new material, and split up before it had the chance to finish anything.
Emmy Rossum “Inside Out” (2007)
Yes, THE Emmy Rossum was a total musical theater kid prior to becoming the badass lead actress that you love to love or hate to love on “Shameless,” and she parlayed her success in the film version of “The Phantom of the Opera,” which also featured a younger Gerard Butler two years before he became an A-List action star in “300,” to a record deal with Geffen Records. We know that we were joking about nepo babies earlier, and we will later, but Rossum, you ARE NOT a nepo baby; you earned that deal. Stylistically, if you were expecting the LP to be sonically MT, classical, or anything similar, think again, as this is a pop record, but with some off-kilter tunes. Surprisingly, the record barely debuted in the Billboard 200 at 199, and after a Xmas EP later that year, she was gone from the Geffen Records roster.
Finch “Say Hello To Sunshine” (2005)
This one is one of the more underrated post-hardcore, screamo-adjacent albums of the aughts and we will die on that hill, as close to the sun as possible. Temecula, California’s Finch released a classic by every sense of the word full-length studio album called “What It Is To Burn” via Drive-Thru Records in 2002, which was then a subsidiary of MCA Records, and when DTR’s deal moved to new label partner Geffen Records, Finch’s sophomore LP “Say Hello To Sunshine” came out three years later. You can try to argue against this, but you’re wrong, as this record is one of the most non-mainstream friendly major label releases ever. If Finch had played it safe, they could have made “What It Is To Burn” part 2, and would’ve had a longer career that paralleled The Used, but they listened to their hearts, bitemarks, bloodstains, and insomniatic meat.
The Like “Are You Thinking What I’m Thinking?” (2005)
The next two mentions are the last two “nepo baby” full-length studio albums, but The Like was special because it paralleled HBO’s “Girls” in that ALL three of the band members had a successful pedigree prior to forming, putting the band above the rest from the start: frontwoman Z Berg’s father was a former, wait for it, wait for it, GEFFEN RECORDS A&R executive, and if you know much about that line of work, they literally sign the bands and assist with their respective albums. Bassist Charlotte Froom’s father was successful record producer Mitchell Froom and drummer Tennessee Thomas’ father drummed for Elvis Costello. Still, their debut record “Are You Thinking What I’m Thinking?” would please rich fans at Coachella and rough fans at Riot Fest, and if you’re thinking what we’re thinking, you should spin their streamable music right this very minute! Once things look up, fall away.
Phantom Planet “Phantom Planet Is Missing” (1998)
A lot of people don’t know that Nicolas Cage is a member of the Hollywood dynasty family The Coppolas, but a lot of people DO know that actor/former Phantom Planet drummer/hipster icon Jason Schwartzman is, as his mom Talia Shire from “Rocky” is Francis Ford Coppola’s sister, and even she got some flak for being an early “nepo baby” in the Godfather series. Back to Schwartzman, why do so many people know about his uncheckered past? Blame the ‘net.
Anyway, Phantom Planet released just one album for Geffen Records, their debut, and it doesn’t get as much attention or fanfare as their four follow-ups, but we implore you to listen to the youthful by definition, “Phantom Planet Is Missing” if you want to hear a pre-”California” California band that had peers in Kara’s Flowers, another band that didn’t take off until they did.
Snot “Get Some” (1997)
And now for something a bit different Santa Barbara, California’s Snot’s debut full-length studio LP “Get Some” was heavy and you were probably introduced to it by your best friend in middle school with the older brother who smoked weed all the time. The record totally primed the band for a huge follow-up sophomore LP a la what System of a Down’s “Toxicity” was to their debut self-titled road warrior record, but sadly, the band’s enigmatic vocalist and frontman Lynn Strait and the iconic dog that adorned this album cover were both killed in tragic car accident just one year after this funky nu-metal record infected one head at a time in small venues and on huge Ozzfest stages. Over the course of nearly an hour, Snot rips through song after song that aggressively punches you in the gut and leaves each listener yearning for more.
Sound the Alarm “Stay Inside” (2007)
Brian Chiusano is one of the more underrated guitarists from the scene and beyond, and he has the dental and contradictory Diddy Riese pedigrees to prove it! To quote WWE icon and Olympic gold medalist, Kurt Angle, “It’s true! It’s true!” If you wanted Switchfoot to be more “Warped Tour” and less “Christian,” well do we have the album for you: Sound the Alarm’s full-length debut studio record “Stay Inside.” Lore states that the terrible music video for “Suffocating” is what did this band in, and while we won’t provide a counterargument, we still don’t get why the band didn’t rise to the heights of larger acts in a similar vein like Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, Mayday Parade, and The Starting Line. Picture perfect? Not really. The cream doesn’t always rise to the top, but it does form cavities. Yeah.
that dog. “Retreat from the Sun” (1997)
Rachel freaking Haden. Enough said.