Over the years, the group's lineup shifted on occasion, but core members Dennis Drew, Steve Gustafson, and Jerry Augustyniak remained through all the incarnations of the band, both on-stage and on record.
Merchant left the band just before MTV Unplugged and its accompanying single "Because the Night" gave the group their biggest hit but 10,000 Maniacs soldiered on without her, enlisting the folk duo of John & Mary as her replacement. Over the next five years, the band became a staple on college radio while crossing over to the adult contemporary charts with the singles "Trouble Me" and "These Are Days," thereby laying the groundwork for the tasteful polish of adult alternative rock of the '90s. Merchant proved to be a compelling frontwoman for 10,000 Maniacs, helping the group break into the mainstream with their 1987 album In My Tribe. There wasn't a trace of garage rock in 10,000 Maniacs - guitarist Robert Buck favored softer, rounder tones, while lead singer Natalie Merchant sang with an open heart and eccentric enunciation.
Emerging from the post-punk underground of the early 1980s, 10,000 Maniacs operated on a parallel path to their compatriots R.E.M., sharing a similar fondness for '60s folk-rock and possessing a political consciousness that surfaced both in their music and their activism. 10,000 Maniacs had a name steeped in kitschy irony, a quality wholly absent from their gentle, empathetic music.
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