1993–1997: Early years The band was formed in late 1993 by lead singer and guitarist
Britt Daniel and drummer
Jim Eno, after the two met as members of
the Alien Beats. Spoon's first recording was the vinyl release of the EP
Nefarious in May 1994. In 1995, the band signed with
Matador Records, and Spoon released its first full-length
LP Telephono in 1996. The album was met with mixed reviews, with critics comparing their sound to
Pavement,
Pixies and
Wire. But comparisons aside,
Telephono showed signs of a band slipping free of its influences, mixing post-punk with a blend of pop. Less than a year later, Spoon released its second
EP,
Soft Effects, which served as a transition to their more distinctive, honed sound. Unlike its predecessors,
Soft Effects was less noisy and brash, showcasing a more sophisticated, minimalist approach. In late 1996, Spoon was playing a gig at the Argo in
Denton, Texas, with Ed Cooper and local band Maxine's Radiator, which featured Joshua Zarbo on bass. Zarbo was invited to audition for Daniel and Eno in 1997, and subsequently became the band's full-time bassist until his permanent departure in 2006.
1998–1999: Major label debut After the release of
Soft Effects, Spoon signed to
Elektra Records and released
A Series of Sneaks in May 1998. The album did not sell as well as the label had hoped; merely four months after the release of
Sneaks, Spoon's Elektra A&R contact Ron Laffitte quit his job and that week the band was dropped from the label. Angry with Laffitte, who had promised to stick with the band, Spoon recorded a vindictive yet humorously titled two-song concept single entitled "The Agony of Laffitte", which was released by Saddle Creek Records. They lamented their experience with the music business executive and questioned his motivations with the songs "The Agony of Laffitte" and "Laffitte Don't Fail Me Now".
2000–2006: Signing with Merge Records Spoon signed with
Merge Records and released the
Love Ways EP in 2000. In 2001, Spoon released its third LP entitled
Girls Can Tell. The new record was a success, selling more copies than both of their previous LP releases combined. The band's next release in 2002,
Kill the Moonlight had similar success. and on the first episode of the American version of the series
Shameless. Their next album,
Gimme Fiction, was released in May 2005, and debuted at number 44 on the
Billboard 200, selling more than 160,000 copies. Daniel collaborated with
Brian Reitzell to compose and arrange the soundtrack for the 2006 film
Stranger than Fiction.
The soundtrack consists chiefly of music performed by Spoon, and according to the liner notes of the official soundtrack, Reitzell collaborated with Britt Daniel to compose the score, while also adapting several tracks from
Kill the Moonlight and
Gimme Fiction into instrumental versions of the songs.
2007–2012: Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga and Transference On July 10, 2007,
Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga was released and debuted at number 10 on the
Billboard 200. Since the release of
Kill the Moonlight in 2002, Spoon has performed on the late night talk shows
Late Show with David Letterman, ''
Late Night with Conan O'Brien, The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, Last Call with Carson Daly, and The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien, as well as the PBS show Austin City Limits. They were also musical guests on Saturday Night Live'' on October 6, 2007, where they performed "
The Underdog" and "You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb". In 2009, the review aggregator
Metacritic ranked Spoon as its "Top overall artist of the decade", based on the band's consistently high review scores between 2000 and 2009, among other factors. On January 18, 2010, the band released its seventh studio album,
Transference. It debuted at No. 4 on the
Billboard 200, selling 53,000 copies in its first week. Their song "The Mystery Zone" was also chosen as the
Starbucks iTunes Pick of the Week on January 26, 2010. Later that year, Spoon recorded the title track on the album
See My Friends in collaboration with
Ray Davies. On April 12, 2010, Spoon made a guest appearance on Conan O'Brien's
The Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television Tour in
Eugene, Oregon, where they performed the song "I Summon You" from their album
Gimme Fiction.
2013–2016: They Want My Soul Spoon released their eighth LP,
They Want My Soul, on August 5, 2014. It was their first record released by
Loma Vista Recordings, after five records on Merge. It was recorded with Joe Chiccarelli and Dave Fridmann. That year they took part in the Hamilton, Ontario Supercrawl. Reviewing for Pitchfork, Ryan Dombal gave the album a rating of 8.6/10, writing: "
They Want My Soul is the quintet's most booming LP, eons ahead of their Pixies-worshipping beginnings and a far cry from the relatively small-scale charm of their early-2000s touchstones
Girls Can Tell and
Kill the Moonlight, as well as their self-consciously lo-fi 2010 record,
Transference." The album was also ranked as 13th of 50 in Pitchfork's Best New Music of 2014. On October 30, 2014, Spoon appeared as the featured musical guests during
The Daily Shows Democalypse 2014: South By South Mess. The band responded by sharing the video on their Facebook and Twitter pages, remarking: "So this guy can just do anyone's job, huh." In June 2019, the band announced the release of their greatest hits album,
Everything Hits at Once: The Best of Spoon. The album compiles the band's most well-known songs, as well as a new single entitled "No Bullets Spent". The album was released on July 26 via Matador. On July 9, Rob Pope announced he would be leaving the band. On August 29, 2020, for
Record Store Day, the band released
All the Weird Kids Up Front (Más Rolas Chidas), a fan-selected companion piece to their best of, with a tracklist submitted and voted on by fans.
2021–present: Lucifer on the Sofa Spoon began recording their tenth studio album in late 2018 at drummer Jim Eno's studio with producers
Mark Rankin and Justin Raisen. It was nearly finished as of early 2020, but was put on hold due to the
COVID-19 pandemic, with the new release date tentatively set for early 2021. On March 12, 2021, Spoon released covers of two
Tom Petty songs, "
Breakdown" and "
A Face in the Crowd". On October 28, 2021, the band announced their tenth studio album,
Lucifer on the Sofa with lead single "The Hardest Cut" being released on the same day. The second single from
Lucifer on the Sofa, "Wild", was released as a 7-inch single on December 10, 2021. The song was backed with a
remix by
Dennis Bovell on the B-side. The album was released on February 11, 2022, via Matador. On September 21, 2022, Spoon announced
Lucifer on the Moon, a track-by-track reworking of
Lucifer on the Sofa, with all remixes by
Adrian Sherwood. The album was released on November 4, 2022. In November 2022, the album was nominated for
Best Rock Album at the
65th Annual Grammy Awards, which marked the band's first
Grammys nomination. In May 2023, Spoon announced the
Memory Dust EP. In mid-2023, they opened several shows for
Weezer during their
Indie Rock Road Trip tour. In August 2025, Spoon announced two new singles "Chateau Blues" and "Guess I'm Fallin In Love". The single will be included on their in-progress eleventh studio album. The band also announced a tour with
Pixies. ==Band members==