Numero Group to release the complete works of Detroit shoegazers Majesty Crush

Majesty Crush circa 1991/Amy Harlan

Numero Group has announced a new career-spanning compilation of material from Detroit shoegazers Majesty Crush. The group released only one full-length album, 1993’s Love 15, along with a handful of other EPs before dissolving. On March 29, Numero releases Butterflies Don’t Go Away, which collects all of the group’s recorded studio material. Today the group shares “No. 1 Fan” (EP version). Hear it below.

“The Fan Ep version of ‘No. 1 Fan’ is, if not THE, then certainly a major turning point in the Majesty Crush story. What was essentially a polished demo on a self-released 5-song EP became an area radio hit on the local alt-rock station,” bassist Hobey Echlin in a press release. “By the time the band recorded it in late ‘91 with producer Mike E. Clark in the demo room of The Tempermill Studio, ‘No. 1 Fan’ sounded like a band whose ambitions were outgrowing their indie roots. Nails’ drums were insistent, the bassline shifted from notes to chords to finally octaves, with Mike’s sighing and soaring guitar lines – all underscoring David’s escalating trademark vocals that had at that point advanced into a complete lyrical character, manic, personal and anthemic.”

In 2017, Majesty Crush vocalist David Stroughter died in a police shooting. The band’s masters had been located in 2019 in Duluth, Minnesota, after the group was contacted by the spouse of a brother of a former roommate of Stroughter’s, whose closet the tapes were located in. Around the same time, Stroughter’s sister found a hand-written letter from the late singer, asking her to be the custodian of his music. In 2020, the band was featured on the Third Man compilation Southeast of Saturn, which highlighted Detroit-area shoegaze groups.

Read our list of Essential Numero Group Releases.