David Lowery

With his band Camper Van Beethoven, vocalist David Lowery was college radio's preeminent smart aleck in the mid-to-late '80s, writing goofy, witty songs delivered with his trademark slacker whine. Although in retrospect not as acknowledged in pioneering American alternative rock as R.e.m.'s Michael Stipe or Nirvana's Kurt Cobain, Lowery embodied the independent spirit of college music with his unpolished, nasally vocals and irreverent, sometimes surrealistic lyrics.



Born in Texas on September 10, 1960, Lowery was a military brat, constantly relocating to different locales with his family until moving to Redlands, CA, where he attended high school. Lowery formed Camper Van Beethoven in Santa Cruz, CA, with Chris Molla (guitar), Chris Pedersen (drums), Victor Krummenacher (bass), Greg Lisher (guitar), and Jonathan Segel (mandolin, violin, keyboards). The band's 1985 debut LP, Telephone Free Landslide Victory, was hailed by critics and became an instant college-radio classic. The oddball cult hit "Take the Skinheads Bowling" eventually took a life of its own, immortalized on '80s flashback radio programs and compilation CDs.

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