Big Idea

Big Idea emerged from Knoxville, Tennessee's fertile mid-'90s alternative rock scene, bringing together three musicians already well established in the city's underground music community. Formed in 1995, the trio featured Todd Ethridge of Sandbox on guitar and vocals, with John Tipton on bass and Joel Stooksbury on drums and backing vocals, both veterans of Immortal Chorus. The combination brought together different sides of Knoxville's heavier alternative scene—Sandbox's post-punk and grunge-informed attack with the darker, atmospheric weight of Immortal Chorus. Big Idea developed that lineage into something of its own: heavy, melodic post-grunge built around distorted guitars, muscular rhythms and songs that balanced aggression with atmosphere and hooks. From 1995 through 1997, Big Idea became a fixture of the Knoxville scene, performing throughout the region and sharing stages with touring national acts including Jawbox and Fleming and John. The band's original run was brief, capturing a particular moment when alternative rock had broken wide open and regional scenes still developed their own identities in clubs rather than through algorithms. Big Idea was Knoxville music from that moment... loud, melodic, rough around the edges and built by three musicians whose histories were already intertwined with the city's underground. Decades later, these recordings preserve that chapter of Knoxville's mid-'90s rock scene and make Big Idea's music available beyond the rooms where it was first played.