Day After Day #306: Better Than Nothing

Day After Day is an ambitious attempt to write about a song every day in 2024 (starting on Jan. 4).

Better Than Nothing (1994)

There are many examples of how the music industry has chewed up and spit out artists. They sign the artist to a big contract, the artist releases albums that don't sell well, the label drops the artist. This was especially common in the '90s when the major labels were trying to find the next big alternative rock artist. 

This series has documented the major label feeding frenzy that followed Nirvana's success, but it continued to a lesser extent in the mid-'90s when an unknown Boston-based singer named Jennifer Trynin self-released her debut album Cockamamie in 1994. After the lead single "Better Than Nothing" started getting played on rock stations across the country, Trynin got critical acclaim and record company bigwigs began courting her as the Next Big Female Rock Star.

Cockamamie is an excellent collection of catchy, guitar-driven rockers, highlighted by "Better Than Nothing," a midtempo ripper with a chorus that lodges itself in your brain.

"Maybe we could talk in the shower/I'll bet we'd be gone in an hour/Maybe we could leave all this behind/Or we could just stay home/Maybe we could pool all our money/Maybe head out west to the country/It'd be just like here but we'd be there/Or we could just stay home/It's better than nothing/It's better than nothing/I'm feeling good, I'm feeling good/I'm feeling good...for now/But I know that by tomorrow I'll probably come around."

I first heard "Better Than Nothing" on WFNX and then picked up the CD and was hooked. I saw Trynin play at TT the Bears in 1995 and she was excellent.

"Maybe we could stay out all night/2 shots of whiskey and have a good fight/Finally figure out who's really right/I think I'll just stay home/For now things don't seem so bad/I don't wanna know if I will sink or swim away to shore."

Among the labels that were chasing Trynin was Geffen, whose CEO David Geffen told her she reminded him of Linda Ronstadt, and Warner Bros., which was led by Danny Goldberg, Led Zeppelin's former publicist and Nirvana's manager. Eventually Trynin signed with Warner Bros., which gave her a three-album deal and a near-$1 million advance. Warner Bros. re-released Cockamamie in 1995 and "Better Than Nothing" reached #15 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart and #40 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. But the second single didn't chart and the album stalled out at #74 on the Billboard 200.

Disappointed with album and ticket sales, Warner canceled a planned European tour and cut promo support. Trynin opened for Buffalo Tom on a fall tour. But by the following spring, Goldberg left the label for Mercury and Warner Bros. opted to put its money behind another female artist, Alanis Morrisette, who had a monster hit with "You Oughta Know" and her album Jagged Little Pill. 

Trynin released her second album on Warner Bros., Gun Shy, Trigger Happy, in 1997. It was quieter than her debut, but was strong nonetheless. It got good reviews but was more adult alternative than alt-rock and didn't sell well. The label refused her recommendation for the first single and then made her change the name of the song they wanted from "February" to "Getaway," but then didn't even release the video that had been made for the song. Eventually, Trynin took a buyout from Warner Bros. that released her from having to make a third album and dropped out of the public eye for a few years.

In 1999, she began playing guitar with the Boston indie rock band Loveless, which released an album in 2003. Trynin, who was a creative writing major in college, released her first book in 2006, Everything I'm Cracked Up to Be: A Rock & Roll Fairy Tale, which detailed her meteoric rise and fall. I spotted it in my local library not long after it came out and really enjoyed it.

Trynin married producer Mike Deneen in 2000 and then took time off after having their daughter in 2003. She started playing music again in 2014 with The Cujo and Band of Their Own, but is also working on her second book. Trynin has also been hosting EARFULL, a performance series that features writers and musicians, in Boston-area spots.