For this episode, we are taking a deep dive into the debut studio album, Rotting Piñata, from the Detroit rock band Sponge with the band’s vocalist Vinnie Dombroski. Sponge is celebrating its 25th anniversary of Rotting Piñata with a big show at Saint Andrews Hall in Detroit on Wednesday, November 27th. What a better time to reach out and get the dirt on the making of Rotting Piñata and its impact on 90s rock music with huge hits like “Plowed” and “Molly (16 Candles Down the Drain)”.
Released in August 1994, Rotting Piñata was a bit of a slow burn for Sponge finally hitting the Billboard 200 until May 1995 with the success of “Plowed”. Rotting Piñata would eventually be certified gold by the RIAA and be Sponge’s most successful album and still feel relevant 25 years later.
Vinnie Dombrowski shares with us a track-by-track breakdown of his thoughts and the making of each song on Rotting Piñata, along with the band’s critical impact (or lack there of in some instances) during this time. While songs like “Plowed” and “Molly” were huge for the band and were defining for 90s rock, comparisons to other bands of the 90s like Stone Temple Pilots were noted in the media, but Dombrowski gives us his thoughts on how Sponge differed from them.
Members of Sponge on Rotting Piñata:
Vinnie Dombrowski – vocals
Michael Cross – guitar, backing vocals
Tim Cross – bass
Joe Mazzola – guitar, backing vocals
Jimmy Paluzzi – drums, backing vocals
Follow Sponge:
Web: spongetheband.com
Facebook: facebook.com/Spongerocks
Twitter: twitter.com/spongetheband
Instagram: instagram.com/spongeville
YouTube: youtube.com/user/Spongetheband
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List of where Renaissance Soul streams: podlink.to/RenSoulPod or just search “Renaissance Soul”. Also available on IHeartRadio.
THEME MUSIC
Courtesy of STEVE O. Check out more music at eyeamsteveo.bandcamp.com.
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