Chicago power pop trio Material Issue fused the concise, hook-driven commercial style of Cheap Trick and the Knack with the ringing guitars and swagger typical of early-’90s Britpop. Guitarist and frontman Jim Ellison launched the group in the late ’80s primarily as an outlet for his own songs, recruiting bassist Ted Ansani and drummer Mike Zelenko. After logging hours on the Windy City club circuit, the band issued a self-titled EP in 1987 that earned them a deal with Mercury Records. Their first full-length release for the label, International Pop Overthrow, benefited from production by former Shoes member Jeff Murphy; the raucous track “Valerie Loves Me” secured airplay on modern-rock stations and positioned the trio at the forefront of the rising alternative-rock wave. Its charged mix of adolescent frustration and rock-and-roll bravado drew praise from reviewers and listeners, sending the band straight back into the studio for the 1992 follow-up, Destination Universe. Murphy again handled the boards, yet the record, though stylistically close to its predecessor, moved far fewer copies.
The 1994 album Freak City Soundtrack, helmed by Mike Chapman (known for work with Blondie, the Knack, and Sweet) and featuring a guest spot from Cheap Trick guitarist Rick Nielsen, earned strong notices but little commercial traction, prompting Mercury to drop the band. Polygram issued the concert recording Goin’ Through Your Purse later that year while the group began tracking what would become its last studio effort. Rykodisc released Telecommando Americano in 1997, a year after Jim Ellison died by carbon-monoxide poisoning from his moped inside his garage.
