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The Lemonheads are an American alternative rock band formed in Boston in 1986 by Evan Dando, Ben Deily, and Jesse Peretz. Dando has remained the band's only constant member. After their initial punk-influenced releases and tours as an independent/college rock band in the late 1980s, the Lemonheads' popularity with a mass audience grew in 1992 with the major label album It's a Shame about Ray, which was produced, engineered, and mixed by the Robb Brothers (Bruce Robb, Dee, and Joe). This was followed by a cover of Simon and Garfunkel's "Mrs. Robinson", which eventually became one of the band's most successful singles. The Lemonheads were active until 1997 before going on hiatus, but reformed with a new lineup in 2005 and released The Lemonheads the following year. The band released its latest album, Love Chant, in October 2025

Since its formation, recording and touring lineups of the band have included co-founders Deily and Peretz, John Strohm (Blake Babies), Doug Trachten, Corey Loog Brennan, Byron Hoagland (Folks on Fire), Ben Daughtrey (Squirrel Bait), Juliana Hatfield (Blake Babies), Nic Dalton (Godstar, Sneeze, the Plunderers), David Ryan (Fuzzy), Patrick "Murph" Murphy (Dinosaur Jr.), George Berz (Dinosaur Jr., Gobblehoof), Josh Lattanzi, Bill Gibson (the Eastern Dark), Mark 'Budola' Newman, Kenny Lyon, Vess Ruhtenberg, Devon Ashley, Karl Alvarez and Bill Stevenson (Descendents), P. David Hazel, Farley Glavin, Chip Dalby and various others.

History

Early years (1986–1991)

Evan Dando, Ben Deily and Jesse Peretz formed the Lemonheads as teenagers at the Commonwealth School in Boston. The band was originally called the Whelps, until inspiration came from a brand of candy, which Dando noted was "sweet on the inside and sour on the outside." The band recorded and self-released the 7-inch EP Laughing All the Way to the Cleaners. The band's first show was played on August 19, 1986.

After high school, Dando enrolled at Skidmore College but could not maintain his grades and dropped out to pursue a musical career. Having signed to local label Taang! Records, the Lemonheads released the albums Hate Your Friends (1987), Creator (1988), and Lick (1989) with Deily and Dando sharing lead vocals and songwriting duties. Initially they also shared lead guitar and drumming duties as well, but when this became unworkable, they hired drummers such as Doug Trachten, John Strohm, and Mark Natola to fill in the lineup. As all three albums were compiled from various recording sessions from 1986 onward, the lineups on each album varied considerably from song to song. The band enjoyed a good deal of college radio airplay and were popular in the burgeoning indie rock scene, up until Deily left the band in 1989. Dando then recruited David Ryan on drums, and Corey Loog Brennan as a second guitarist, and signed to major label Atlantic Records, releasing the album Lovey in August 1990. Straddling punk rock, country music and heavy metal, Lovey was released a year before the commercial explosion of grunge, and failed to chart or produce any songs with serious airplay.

Breakthrough and height of fame (1992–1997)

Dando cut his losses and flew to Australia to write some songs with friends Nic Dalton and Tom Morgan. These songs formed the basis for It's a Shame about Ray, the Lemonheads' breakthrough album. In the intervening time, Jesse Peretz had left music, and had taken up a career in photography and film; he would remain as the band photographer, and would eventually go on to direct music videos, TV shows, and feature films. Replacing Peretz in the band was Juliana Hatfield, who provided bass and backing vocals. Hatfield would leave the band shortly after recording the album to found her own band, the Juliana Hatfield Three, and would be replaced on bass by Nic Dalton. A cover of "Mrs. Robinson" (recorded to promote the video release and the 25th anniversary of The Graduate) was released as a single and got them the most exposure they had had so far. This cover was also used in the film Wayne's World 2 and in Martin Scorsese's 2013 film The Wolf of Wall Street. When the Ray album was reissued, the track was tacked on to the end. The band enjoyed some success on college radio as well as mainstream exposure. The title track, "It's a Shame About Ray", also saw commercial success. Despite the popularity of grunge, Dando confounded fans and his own mother by dialing down the amps on the album, he told Guitar World writer Jim Beaugez: "We were going for an AM radio sort of sound. It sounded really different; it stuck out at the time. My mom was like, 'What are you doing? Your kind of music has gotten really popular. Why are you changing it?' She was worried." During 1992–1993, Dando's face graced many magazine covers, and he was included in People's 50 Most Beautiful People list.