10,000 Maniacs

10,000 Maniacs had a name steeped in kitschy irony, a quality wholly absent from their gentle, empathetic music. Emerging from the post-punk underground of the early 1980s, 10,000 Maniacs operated on a parallel path to their compatriots R.E.M., sharing a similar fondness for '60s folk-rock and possessing a political consciousness that surfaced both in their music and their activism. There wasn't a trace of garage rock in 10,000 Maniacs -- guitarist Robert Buck favored softer, rounder tones, while lead singer Natalie Merchant sang with an open heart and eccentric enunciation. M...