Listen to this track by dual-Deal led, once The Pixies/Throwing Muses offshoot band, The Breeders. It’s their trademark “modern rock” hit “Cannonball” as taken from their 1993 Last Splash album.

The band emerged when two secondary writers from the aforementioned parent bands – Kim Deal and Tanya Donnelly, respectively – shared tour dates by the end of the 1980s when both of those bands appeared together. This side project gave the two writers a chance to frame their songwriting free from the competition with the primary writers in their bands.

Donnelly’s involvement would be temporary, cutting one record, Pod in 1990, and the Safari EP the following year. Then she bowed out to form yet another group, Belly. Kim Deal took on her twin sister Kelley to replace Donnelly. The two had played music together from an early age, even before Kim joined the Pixies. As such, it would be a reunion of sorts. It would be this line up change which turned out the Breeders’ most popular album in Last Splash, scoring certified platinum sales the year after it was released.

This sterling result was perhaps helped along by the band serving as an open act for Nirvana in 1992. But, whatever the reasons beyond the high quality of the record itself, this song would be an enduring tune for the decade, well-preserved when you hear it on the radio today, of course. And why’s that?

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