The seeds of Veruca Salt were planted in Chicago in 1991, when Nina Gordon and Louise Post were introduced by a mutual friend who thought the two should make music together. With Jim Shapiro and Steve Lack on board, the group hit the city's thriving club scene at a time when local acts Smashing Pumpkins, Urge Overkill, and Liz Phair had begun to receive national attention. In 1993, Veruca Salt played its first gig in the neighborhood of Wicker Park, Chicago's indie-rock epicenter, and soon released the "Seether" single on local label Minty Fresh.

After a major-label bidding war erupted and the band signed to Geffen Records (home of Nirvana), Veruca Salt experienced a meteoric rise, doing everything a young band coming of age in the grunge era could hope to do. They toured with alt-rock royalty like Hole and PJ Harvey, released their breakout 1994 debut, American Thighs, which eventually sold a million copies worldwide, and followed it up with the EP, Blow It Out Your Ass It's Veruca Salt, cut with noise-king engineer Steve Albini.

Second studio effort, 1996's Eight Arms To Hold You (the working title for The Beatles' Help!), was recorded with Metallica/Mötley Crüe producer Bob Rock and finds Veruca Salt supplanting the pure pop of their breakout debut with heavy guitars and big drums. Home to the irresistible single "Volcano Girls," Eight Arms served as the the band's last to feature the original line-up until the 2015 reunion album Ghost Notes.