Shudder to Think    Add +  Photograph: Courtesy Kid Logic
Webster Hall; Sat 4  The grunge era can seem overearnest from a
distance, but all told, it was a stellar time for mainstream
rock. When else would you have seen a band as staunchly
eccentric as Shudder to Think on MTV? A product of D.C.’s
fertile punk scene, the group retained every ounce of its
essential oddness on its major-label debut, 1994’s Pony Express
Record, which combined prog’s brainy rhythms with metallic
crunch and glam style. Frontman Craig Wedren—creepily alluring
and brashly effeminate—tied the mix together, belting out
asymmetrical hooks that nevertheless locked into the brain.
After Pony Express Record, the buzz subsided. In the late ’90s,
Shudder to Think released the more-conventional 50,000 B.C. and
appeared on a series of soundtracks, such as Velvet Goldmine,
where it served up a spot-on imitation of Bowie-esque
histrionics. Since then, Wedren has issued a refined indie-pop
disc under his own name and scored a variety of projects