The Ocean Blue are an alternative rock group formed in 1986 in Hershey, PA, United States, best known for their self-titled debut album on the famed Sire Records label, a 1989 release that achieved widespread acclaim as well as radio and MTV airplay. Said album also included the tune "Between Something And Nothing", a #2 Billboard rock hit that's perhaps their most famous work.
The band of four young high-schoolers from Hershey, Pennsylvania took inspiration from pop laden with jangly guitars as well as smooth, contemplative alternative rock. They went on to do two more well-received records for Sire, 1991's atmospheric 'Cerulean' and 1992's spirited 'Beneath the Rhythm and Sound', before going elsewhere.
Their sound has showed shades of their mellow yet tuneful post-punk forerunners such as Echo & the Bunnymen, Modern English, New Order, and The Smiths while still pursuing their own path. A fourth record, 1996's 'See', was released by Mercury/PolyGram before the band began leaving the majors altogether in the late 90s. The band did several independent releases from 1999 on into the 00s, including 2004's well-received 'Waterworks'. Then, several years later, the group began working on a new full length record, their first full album release in over a decade. Entitled 'Ultramarine', the band scheduled it for release on March 19, 2013 through Korda Records, a new Minneapolis-based cooperative label that the group helped launch in late 2012.
Over the years, they've gained a reputation as one of America's more influential dream pop artists, forming a sound that many artists would look to from the 90s onward. Their debut, 'The Ocean Blue', continues to draw praise from retrospective-minded musical critics as well as alternative music fans in general.
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