Throwing Muses Reissue Self-Titled Debut Album for 40th Anniversary
Throwing Muses introduced 4AD’s first American signing to the world
Rhode Island indie rock legends Throwing Muses will reissue their long-out-of-print (and off streaming) self-titled debut this December, in honor of its 40th anniversary. The new edition of Throwing Muse s , due December 11 on 4AD, celebrates the first full-length album by the first American band ever signed by the label, a major inflection point in its history.
The quartet of of vocalist Kristin Hersh, guitarist-vocalist Tanya Donelly, bassist Leslie Langston and drummer David Narcizo were still teenagers when they released Throwing Muses in 1986. The album largely drew inspiration from a car accident that left a 16-year-old Hersh, the band’s primary lyricist, with a rod in her skull. In the aftermath, she says she began hallucinating songs like the snarling tracks Throwing Muses would eventually release.
“I can’t even remember what it was like to hear a song that didn’t grab my face and shout at it,” Hersh wrote in her 2010 memoir Rat Girl . “Must’ve been soothing. But this is electrifying. ”
After 4AD signed Throwing Muses, the label’s direction shifted towards American alternative rock, exemplified by their signing of the Pixies in 1987. Throwing Muses went on to release seven albums and two EPs on 4AD. Their most LP was 2025’s Moonlight Concessions . The group has also spawned multiple side projects, including 50FootWave and Lakuna .
Revisit Katherine St. Asaph’s Sunday Review of Throwing Muses .
Throwing Muses : 01 Call Me 02 Green 03 Hate My Way 04 Vicky’s Box 05 Rabbits Dying 06 America (She Can’t Say No) 07 Fear 08 Stand Up 09 Soul Soldier 10 Delicate Cutters
