The impact of music: The story of how Local H successfully popularised a strange word
The 1990s was the era of the guitar band. Thanks to the grunge outfits like Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chain and Soundgarden, as well as precursors such as Dinosaur Jr. and Pixies, the decade welcomed a heavy alternative rock flourish.
In fact, the genre was so impactful that many of the defining acts of the day are still as revered in contemporary culture, with numerous artists of the era continuing to secure headline spots at festivals worldwide. This set of groups were so significant that the music business has recently seen a resurgence in their musical style and aesthetic, with acts such as Olivia Rodrigo and Beabadoobee at the forefront of this trend.
Following the myriad of significant alternative moments produced by the early 1990s, such as Nirvana’s 1991 album Nevermind and other records by the likes of The Smashing Pumpkins and Alice in Chains, a surge of alternative rock bands emerged in the form of Veruca Salt, Archers of Loaf, Local H and countless others.
While many bands have come and gone from the scene, Local H remained, despite the change in the zeitgeist. Reasonably prolific in their output, Local H have nine albums to their name, with the most recent, LIFERS, arriving in 2020. Masters of the short and snappy anthem, frontman Scott Lucas has a knack for penning earworms with his vocal and guitar melodies.
From the aptly titled ‘Eddie Vedder’ to ‘All the Kids are Right’, the band can claim a long list of memorable cuts. However, one stands out above the rest: ‘Bound for the Floor’. The duo’s best-known piece, the track was released as the lead single from 1996’s As Good as Dead and reached number five on the Billboard Modern Rock chart and number ten on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart.
A typically angsty cut in the style of the era, utilising the ubiquitous quiet-loud-quiet dynamics and boasting one of Local H’s best choruses, aside from the music, ‘Bound for the Floor’ is remembered for another reason. This is the strange word it popularised; copacetic.
In the chorus, Lucas sings: “And you just don’t get it, you keep it copacetic / And you learn to accept it, you know you’re so pathetic”. Although fans were happily singing the word in the chorus when the track burst through the speakers, many didn’t understand what it actually meant. To answer those questions, copacetic means “in excellent order”, which adds a completely different meaning to the chorus.
Try adding that into a sentence.
