Sneakers

The Sneakers may not have achieved significant recognition during their active years, yet this group introduced several pivotal personalities who would shape the alternative pop landscape emerging in the early 1980s. At the heart of the Sneakers stood Chris Stamey, Mitch Easter, and Will Rigby, who composed intricately designed, guitar-powered pop rock compositions. Don Dixon handled the engineering duties for their initial self-titled EP; he later established himself as a prominent producer and independent recording artist. The band disbanded following the release of a single outstanding long-playing record. From there, Stamey and Rigby established the dBs, widely regarded among the finest American guitar pop ensembles of the 1980s, while Easter directed Let's Active and pursued production work, notably on R.E.M.'s debut pair of albums. Beyond serving as mere footnotes in music history, the Sneakers hold greater value, as their limited output—the full album and EP—features exceptional examples of power pop from the closing years of the 1970s.