First bands and solo album Hatfield developed a love for rock music during the 1970s after a babysitter introduced her to the Los Angeles
punk rock band
X, an experience she described as life-changing. She was also drawn to the music of more mainstream artists, including
Olivia Newton-John and
The Police. While still attending
Berklee College of Music in 1986, Hatfield formed the band
Blake Babies with
John Strohm and
Freda Love. The band released four albums between 1987 and 1991, gaining critical recognition from
Rolling Stone and
The Village Voice, as well as local radio airplay and press coverage. They also received label support from
Mammoth Records in North Carolina. Blake Babies disbanded in 1992 but briefly reunited in 2001 to release another album. After Blake Babies disbanded, Hatfield joined
the Lemonheads as their bassist, replacing founding member
Jesse Peretz. She played on their breakthrough 1992 album, ''
It's a Shame About Ray.
After about a year, she left the band but returned in 1993 as a guest vocalist on several tracks of Come on Feel the Lemonheads''. In 1992, Hatfield released her debut solo album,
Hey Babe.
The Juliana Hatfield Three Her commercial breakthrough came in 1993 when she formed the band the Juliana Hatfield Three. Along with her high-school friend Dean Fisher on bass and former
Bullet LaVolta drummer Todd Philips, she handled lead vocals and lead guitar duties. The band released the album
Become What You Are and two hit singles, "My Sister" and "Spin the Bottle." "My Sister" was inspired by Hatfield's older brother's girlfriend, Maggie Rafferty, who lived with the family while Hatfield was in high school. Hatfield enjoyed Rafferty's eclectic record collection and was also introduced to live music, as Rafferty took her to see the
Del Fuegos and the
Violent Femmes, which inspired Hatfield to form a band. Hatfield was profiled in several girls' magazines, most notably
Sassy, where she addressed serious issues faced by young women in her songs and interviews. Reflecting on this period, she said, "I was never comfortable with the attention. I thought it had come too soon. I hadn't earned it yet." Over the years, Hatfield's virginity became a recurring theme in her press coverage, often accompanied by speculation that she had lost it to the Lemonheads' leader,
Evan Dando, who referred to her as his "friend and sometimes girlfriend." In 2006, Hatfield sent a letter to
The Weekly Dig in response to writer Debbie Driscoll's scathing review of
Soul Asylum's latest album,
The Silver Lining. Kevin Dean from the newspaper responded by bringing up the subject of Hatfield losing her virginity to Dando. Hatfield fired back at Dean for bringing up her sex life, clarifying that she and Dando never had sex, and revealing that it was actually
Spike Jonze to whom she had lost her virginity. She later admitted that she lost her virginity at 26 and was "damn ready."
Return to solo career The Juliana Hatfield Three remained together only through 1994. By 1995, Hatfield had returned to solo status and released the album
Only Everything, in which she "turned up the volume and the distortion and had a lot of fun." The album produced another alternative radio hit for Hatfield with "Universal Heartbeat." In the video, Hatfield portrayed a demanding aerobics instructor. Before the tour for
Only Everything, she released Phillips and hired Jason Sutter on drums, Ed Slanker on guitar, and Lisa Mednick on keyboards. However, two weeks into the tour, she canceled it due to depression. The drummer was replaced by Phillips, and touring resumed with
Jeff Buckley as the opening act. In 1996, Hatfield traveled to
Woodstock, New York, where she recorded tracks for ''God's Foot
, which was intended to be her fourth solo album (or third, if Become What You Are''—recorded with The Juliana Hatfield Three—is not counted). The album was planned for release in 1997. After three unsuccessful attempts to satisfy Atlantic Records' requests for a single, she asked to be released from her contract. The label agreed but retained the rights to the songs recorded during these sessions. In 1997, Hatfield toured with
Lilith Fair, an all-female rock festival co-founded by singer
Sarah McLachlan. After the experience of ''God's Foot
and being freed from her label obligations, Hatfield recorded the EP Please Do Not Disturb'' for the independent label
Bar/None. Produced by Hatfield, the album featured drummer Todd Phillips, guitarists Ed Slanker and Mike Leahy, and bassist
Mikey Welsh of
Weezer. The EP included "Trying Not to Think About It," a tribute to her friend and deceased musician
Jeff Buckley. Almost as a reaction to the seemingly endless studio sessions surrounding ''God's Foot
, Hatfield recorded the album Bed in 1998 in just six days. About the album, she said on her website, "It sounds as raw as I felt. It has no pretty sheen. The mistakes and unattractive parts were left in, not erased. Just like my career. Just like life." who preferred the more acoustic Beautiful Creature
. On Beautiful Creature'', Hatfield worked with musician
Davíd Garza, who co-produced much of the album. Wally Gagel, a producer for
Sebadoh and
Tanya Donelly, helped Hatfield record her most electronica-influenced songs, "Cool Rock Boy" and "Don't Rush Me," which added texture to the otherwise acoustic album. In 2002, Hatfield released
Gold Stars 1992–2002: The Juliana Hatfield Collection. The compilation included singles from her solo albums, two songs from the unreleased ''God's Foot'', a cover of
Neil Young's "
Only Love Can Break Your Heart," and new songs. In 2004, Hatfield released
In Exile Deo, an attempt at a more commercial sound with input from producers and engineers who had worked with
Pink and
Avril Lavigne. Hatfield co-produced the album with
David Leonard, receiving co-production credits on "Jamie's in Town" and the bright rocker "Sunshine." Critics praised the album, with some calling it her best work since the start of her solo career.
Ye Olde Records In contrast, the 2005 album
Made in China was recorded in
Bellows Falls, Vermont, and
Cambridge, Massachusetts, and was released on her own record label, Ye Olde Records. The album had a much rawer feel, with Hatfield playing instruments alongside the band Unbusted and other contributors. For the first time, Hatfield also played drums on at least one track.
John Doe of the band X described the album as "a frighteningly dark and beautiful record filled with stark, angular, truly brutal songs and guitars. This is surely a 'Woman Under the Influence,' though I'm not sure of what." Reviews were mixed, with some appreciating the lo-fi sound while others viewed it as slackness. The release of
Made in China marked the beginning of a trend where Hatfield licensed her music, selling it via her website and through a distribution deal with Red Eye. In December 2005, Hatfield toured the United States with the band
X, whom she had idolized during her teenage years. In 2006, Hatfield released her first live album,
The White Broken Line: Live Recordings. The album featured performances from her tour with X and was her third release on her record label. Hatfield's ninth studio album,
How to Walk Away, was released on August 19, 2008, on Ye Olde Records. The album's heartfelt exploration of the breakup of a relationship resonated with critics, who gave it largely positive reviews, with some hailing it as her best album since
In Exile Deo. Hatfield returned two years later with her tenth studio album,
Peace & Love, which was released on Ye Olde Records on February 16, 2010. The album's composition, arrangement, performance, production, engineering, and mixing were all credited solely to Hatfield. The album received mixed reviews, with several critics complaining that its low-key, moody nature worked against the potential of the songs. In October 2010, Hatfield and
Evan Dando played two sold-out acoustic live shows together at
The Mercury Lounge in New York. The following month, the duo played sold-out shows in Allston. This tour was followed by five dates on the American East Coast in January 2011.
PledgeMusic In April 2011, Hatfield announced her intention to work on a new album via the fan-funding platform
PledgeMusic. Fan response was enthusiastic, exceeding 400% of the original project cost. The album was initially going to be titled
Speeches Delivered to Animals and Plants, referencing a passage in the
John Irving novel
The World According to Garp, but Hatfield later changed it to ''
There's Always Another Girl.
The new title referred to a song on the album of the same name, which she had written as a defense of Lindsay Lohan after watching her film I Know Who Killed Me''. ''
There's Always Another Girl'' was released on August 30, 2011, independently on her Ye Olde Records label. However, a downloadable version was made available to contributors a month earlier, on July 27, which was Juliana's birthday. The album has received mostly positive reviews from critics. On August 28, 2012, Juliana Hatfield released a covers album titled
Juliana Hatfield on her Ye Olde Records label. The album features covers of songs originally performed by
the Who,
Liz Phair,
Creedence Clearwater Revival,
Ryan Adams,
I Blame Coco, and
Led Zeppelin. In December 2014,
Paste Magazine named her track "Needle in the Hay," a cover of
Elliott Smith's song, as No. 10 on its list of the "20 Best Cover Songs of 2014." The review described the cover as "a more upbeat, approachable take on Smith's disparate, wrought-iron classic. But even though it now employs bass, drums, tambourine, and synth, the song stays true to the sorrowful, tension-riddled original." They released the album
Wild Stab in 2016. Since then, Hatfield has released a number of solo albums, including two albums of cover songs—
Juliana Hatfield Sings Olivia Newton-John (2018) and
Juliana Hatfield Sings The Police (2019)—and three albums of original work:
Pussycat (2017),
Weird (2019), and
Blood (2021). In 2019, Hatfield hinted that her next covers album would focus on the work of an American artist, having already covered an Australian (Olivia Newton-John) and an English band (the Police). In an interview for the book ''I'm Your Fan: The Songs of Leonard Cohen
, Hatfield revealed that she was considering R.E.M. for her next covers album installment. However, the follow-up ended up being Electric Light Orchestra. The album, Juliana Hatfield Sings ELO, was released on November 17, 2023. Hatfield and fellow musician and artist Eric Payne released Bets'', a surprise album of eleven collaborative songs, in late February, 2026. == Musical style ==