The Mountain Goats’ seminal 2002 album Tallahassee turns 20 today. John Darnielle posted a heartfelt and funny note reflecting on the milestone to Instagram: “It wasn’t met with great acclaim,” he recalls in the caption. “The sticker on the promo compared us to Cake (presumably because of the speak-singing on the lead single), and the leading indie rock website of the time dutifully made that exact comparison in its review.”

Here’s Darnielle’s full note:

Our album ‘Tallahassee’ came out 20 years ago today.

There’s lots of stories to tell about how this album came to be, but the interval I want to focus on is recording-to-release. Peter had named the producer. I pretty much only listened to metal at that time, with a couple of choice punk & indie exceptions, so I asked him if he knew any names, and he named Tony Doogan. I’d heard B&S and their sound was pretty special even if I generally preferred my fare a little harder so I said, sure, sounds good, and our new label, @4ad, set it up.

I had never spent a full week in studio before. I’m sure I was insufferable the entire time. I was afraid of failure. I know I had a brutal headache the entire time and could not sleep, at all, in the on-premises accommodations. I felt pretty certain that the people who liked what I did would be mad at the studio sheen, and that nobody who wanted better production would be won over by sanding down the abrasive sound of the boombox.

But we made it through tracking & mix, and then we were told that the calendar didn’t look good for a fall release, and after a certain date in November they didn’t wanna release anything in the UK that would have to compete with the big fall releases…so the album stayed in the cans for a year. A year waiting. Wondering. Worrying. We recorded that album in October of 2001. It came out in November of 2002. It wasn’t met with great acclaim. The sticker on the promo compared us to Cake (presumably because of the speak-singing on the lead single), and the leading indie rock website of the time dutifully made that exact comparison in its review.

But we toured until our feet bled, because we thought these were good songs, and, as we played them, they found the people who wanted or needed them. When you make music that’s never going to appeal to the general public, you play the long game. We are immensely grateful to all of you who play the long game with us. Happy birthday to an album that found its people, over time.