Too Much Joy is the name of an indie music group formed in the early 1980's in Scarsdale, New York by high-school acquaintances inspired by the music of The Clash.
The original members were Tim Quirk (vocals), Jay Blumenfeld (guitar, vocals), Sandy Smallens (bass, vocals) and Tommy Vinton (drums). Smallens departed on amicable terms in 1994; William Wittman provided bass and vocals after Smallens's retirement. The band, originally called The Rave, took the name Too Much Joy after a phrase Quirk found written down after his first mushroom trip.
The band's first LP, entitled Green Eggs and Crack was released in 1987 on the small Stonegarden label; it collected material the band had recorded during the previous four years during college breaks. All Music Guide describes the album's songs as "often extremely clever and catchy," although "clearly the work of over-educated, under-employed, upper-middle class kids with far too much time on their hands". When the album was rereleased in 2002, The Onion called it "a thinly produced, underwhelming record recorded by teenagers, and charming mostly for reasons revolving around sentiment and potential", while the band's Quirk described the long out-of-print record as the perfect legend: "a cool title that people could talk about and search for without any real chance of ever actually hearing it". But college radio's attraction to quirky songs like "Drum Machine" paved the way for a wider reception for the band's subsequent recordings.
The band's next release, on the independent Alias label, was Son of Sam I Am. Too Much Joy's 1991 LP Cereal Killers, released by Warner Brothers Records, met with some popularity on college radio rotations all over the U.S., with the song "Good Kill" featuring the rising hip-hop star KRS-ONE. The single "Crush Story" made it to #17 on the U.S. Modern Rock chart in 1991.
