There have been more than a few artists to come from Michigan (and for that matter metropolitan Detroit) in the past few years. The White Stripes, Eminem, Kid Rock, and Madonna are all from the area. However there are other, slightly less well known rock bands that have had hit singles and whose songs are well known but names not so much. One such act is Sponge. They got their big break in 1993 with Columbia. Sponge, however, actually grew out of the ashes of band Loudhouse. Signed by Virgin, featured on the Point Break soundtrack, and releasing a debut album in 1991 (For Crying Out Loud) was not enough for the band to continue on. Virgin refused to release a second Loudhouse album and subsequently Sponge was born in 1992. Vinnie Dombrowski (former drummer reinvented as vocalist), Mike Cross (guitar), and Joey Mazzola (guitar) reformed with bassist Tim Cross and drummer Jimmy Paluzzi in tow. Sponge tweaked their sound from hard rock to "grungy hard rock." Of course in the early 1990's this irked critics but pleased radio listeners. Debut album Rotting Piñata went gold on the wings of singles Plowed and Molly (Sixteen Candles. Also it helped that the five-piece act earned an opening slot on the mega-popular Live (in support of multi-platinum album Throwing Copper) tour. Despite unfavorable comparisons to popular "grunge" acts I found it impossible not to get a goodly amount of joy out of the band's concise, entertaining, and for that matter relatively creative rock n' roll. After the success of their debut album, Sponge returned in 1996 with an even more appealing sophomore effort--Wax Ecstatic. Despite the fact that this album never got the radio attention of the previous, it remains the band's best effort. Wax Ecstatic (1996, Sony) yielded two modest hits in the form of Have You Seen Mary and Wax Ecstatic (To Sell Angelina). Regardless of whether you know the band or have heard the songs, Sponge is definitely worth investigating (especially in regards to their first two albums). There have been two albums released since Wax Ecstatic. Neither has lived up to my hopes, but still it is necessary to mention both 1999's New Pop Sunday and most recently 2003's For Al