Since then, Merchant has been described by Vogue as “perhaps the most successful and enduring alternative artist to emerge from the eighties-intact and uncompromised.” She has released seven albums since “Tigerlily,” each suffused with the same off-kilter virtues: a stress on eclectic instrumentation, an interest in old American forms, and lyrics that probe the ills of the planet and its people. The result, “Tigerlily” (1995), sold more than five million copies. At the height of 10,000 Maniacs’ fame, she left the band, citing a lack of creative control, and began working on a solo album. Was she a swirling alt-rock dervish? An earnest polemicist? A bluesy balladeer with strong opinions about issues that shouldn’t concern her? But labels never mattered much to Merchant’s fans, nor to the singer herself. Critics were eager to categorize her, but found it difficult to do so. Their lead singer and songwriter, Natalie Merchant, was a sixteen-year-old who wrote lyrics about Jack Kerouac’s mother, struggling parents in the Depression, and imperialism in Africa. They called themselves 10,000 Maniacs, and played a brand of folk-pop. In the early nineteen-eighties, an unusual band emerged out of Jamestown, New York.
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