Toadies

Though a purported Pixies influence gave them the respect of more than a couple of aging indie fans, the Toadies were basically one of the many provincial downtrodden guitar outfits who scored a commercial hit or two in grunge's great mid-'90s wake (think Sponge, Seven Mary Three, Local H, Days of the New, Silverchair, and so on). The Toadies came from Fort Worth, Tex., and their 1995 radio smash was "Possum Kingdom": a dark, seductive tale of walking one's blushing bride around the lake late at night, and then slipping behind the boathouse, where singer/guitarist Todd Lewis promised not to be a gentleman. You remember it, right? At the end, Lewis kept calling Jesus' name, and if you listened closely you might detect some industrial Goth or even Nick Cave in the music's genes. The Toadies never matched it, and they only reached radio with one more song ("Away") before the '90s ended. Early the next decade the band dissolved, eventually re-forming in 2008 and picking up a bit of airplay for their track "No Deliverance," which peaked at No. 38 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart.