1. Talk Show, "Hello Hello" - The Stone Temple Pilots, without Weiland! How can it possibly fail?
2. Scott Weiland, "Barbarella" - And meanwhile, the man himself decides on some sort of technofied Bowie pastiche. Well, why not?
3. Toybox, "Tarzan & Jane" - Why aren't there more Aqua ripoff bands? "Hey monkey / Get funky!"
4. Spacehog, "Mungo City - Granted, it was weird enough that high-contrast cocaine freakshow "In The Meantime" was a hit in the first place, but since it happened, why couldn't the even more preposterous "Mungo City" have a shot?
5. Tonic, "Mean To Me" - Just edging out their Zeppelin wannabe show, "Eyes of Sand." This isn't really great, but it seems to tick off the boxes that should have yielded a bigger hit - sort of a Matchbox 20 verse and then a giant guitar chorus with a FABULOUS riff. Maybe the guy's voice really can't pull off the quiet/soft switches that well. Or maybe it was the decision to have the video be storied around the singer having a kind of pathetic fight with the cameraman.
― Doctor Casino, Saturday, 8 September 2007 03:42 (5 years ago) Permalink
Youtube links: Toy-box, Weiland, Talk Show, Spacehog.
― Doctor Casino, Saturday, 8 September 2007 03:45 (5 years ago) Permalink
6. Billy Lawrence, "Come On" - Moderately catchy, moderately upbeat r&b. Has MC Lyte on it. Samples "Plug Tunin'."
7. Dionne Farris, "Hopeless" - Her of "A game of horseshooooooes!" fame. Laid-back, Al Green-ish nu-soul. Heavy on the Fender Rhodes. Great chorus.
― The Reverend, Saturday, 8 September 2007 06:44 (5 years ago) Permalink
Actually, "Hopeless" is rather tremendous. "Come On" is alright, but dispensable.
― The Reverend, Saturday, 8 September 2007 06:47 (5 years ago) Permalink
8. Blackstreet (feat Slash, Fishbone, & ODB), "Fix (Remix)" - Snippet of the video here. I've written about this before - as I said then, "ODB's guest rap is pretty solid, although as usual he's mostly just grumbling about nothing at all. Slash is pretty much tearing it up all through the song, which works way, way better than you would expect given that Blackstreet is normally a smooth-talking R&B combo. Unfortunately, for much of the big solo, the guitar is sort of buried underneath everything else, and for the rest of the big solo, there's nothing but the guitar. This change happens just as Slash runs out of ideas, so the song stumbles, rolls, and collapses to a halt. But as weird, everything-but-the-kitchen-sink collaborations go, this works pretty well."
― Doctor Casino, Sunday, 9 September 2007 16:52 (5 years ago) Permalink
9. LL Cool J, "Deepest Bluest" - Soundtrack contribution, LL Cool J rapping about how scary he would be if he was actually a mutant shark-man. "My hat is like a shark's fin!" Also written about at the page I linked above, and I'm having no luck at all tracking down the video, although I assure you it was a staple on The Box.
― Doctor Casino, Sunday, 9 September 2007 16:57 (5 years ago) Permalink
(Love Jones! I remember co-workers talking enthusiastically about the Love Jones soundtrack in the early 90s.)
― Rockist Scientist, Sunday, 9 September 2007 17:03 (5 years ago) Permalink
According to last.fm Warren G's "Smokin' Me Out" does not get enough love. Can I nominate that?
― Noodle Vague, Sunday, 9 September 2007 17:08 (5 years ago) Permalink
"Fixx" was so ridiculously crazy. What an awesome career suicide single that was.
10. Sparkle f/ R. Kelly - "Be Careful" 11. R. Kelly (f/ Sparkle?) - "When a Woman's Fed Up"
― The Good Dr. Bill, Sunday, 9 September 2007 19:18 (5 years ago) Permalink
<a href=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcYBmS8Hm5g>;Jimmy Ray - Are you Jimmy Ray</A>
And I wanted to find the video for "Shaniqua don't live here no mo'" or whatever but could not.
― filthy dylan, Sunday, 9 September 2007 19:42 (5 years ago) Permalink
13. Big Wreck - "The Oaf" 14. Space Monkeys - "Sugar Cane"
both surprisingly awesome songs
― The Good Dr. Bill, Sunday, 9 September 2007 19:47 (5 years ago) Permalink
Dionne Farris opened for Bryan Ferry in 1995. She performed a 13-minute version of "I Know."
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Sunday, 9 September 2007 19:48 (5 years ago) Permalink
"I'm Not Where It's At"--Del Amitri. Love that song. Still plays occasionally in the overhead speaker at my Publix supermarket for some reason. And "I Know" is a great song.
― ellaguru, Sunday, 9 September 2007 20:09 (5 years ago) Permalink
Big Wreck - "The Oaf" - YES!
― Doctor Casino, Monday, 10 September 2007 03:23 (5 years ago) Permalink
KP & Envyi - Shorty Swing My Way
http://youtube.com/watch?v=24IgJanjcAo
I don't know if this is completely forgotten but it definitely isn't on the radio anymore.
― Display Name, Monday, 10 September 2007 03:39 (5 years ago) Permalink
official CARL MO POLL (ghosttown djs, big boi, pastor troy, slimm calhoun, k.p. & envyi)
― and what, Monday, 10 September 2007 03:46 (5 years ago) Permalink
So many memories!
18. B-Real, Busta Rhymes, Coolio, LL Cool J and Method Man - "Hit Em High (Monstar's Anthem) from the Space Jam soundtrack!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJj4cg9ZLdo
― Whiney G. Weingarten, Monday, 10 September 2007 04:31 (5 years ago) Permalink
Lightning strikes, the court lights get dim Supreme competition is ABOUT TO BEGIN!
― Doctor Casino, Monday, 10 September 2007 05:31 (5 years ago) Permalink
Sorry, I didn't read that thread. Thanks for pointing that out.
― Display Name, Monday, 10 September 2007 05:33 (5 years ago) Permalink
along the "Hit 'Em High" lines:
19. Coolio - "It's All the Way Live (Now)"
especially perplexing is what the "now" is doing in the title, 'coz I don't remember it being in the chorus or anything.
― The Good Dr. Bill, Monday, 10 September 2007 17:08 (5 years ago) Permalink
20. Coolio - "1, 2, 3, 4 (Sumpin' New)" You know you came of age in the late 90s if you know every word of this, but are still playing catchup on "Fantastic Voyage"
21. Salt-n-Pepa - "Champagne" Have only very faint memories of this and Youtube is not helping. "I'm the big kahuna!"
― Doctor Casino, Monday, 10 September 2007 23:34 (5 years ago) Permalink
the trackmasters remix of hit em high is over premo's just to get a rep beat
― and what, Tuesday, 11 September 2007 11:43 (5 years ago) Permalink
Oh shit I remember that Blackstreet/Slash video, awesome.
― Jordan, Tuesday, 11 September 2007 17:03 (5 years ago) Permalink
I specifically clicked on this thread to add "The Oaf", great fucking song. Good call Good Doc.
― jon /via/ chi 2.0, Tuesday, 11 September 2007 17:10 (5 years ago) Permalink
22. BEST BASSLINE EVAR + hihat shuffle + song about fucking in various locations + not a hell of a lot else = 112, "Anywhere"
― The Reverend, Wednesday, 12 September 2007 04:22 (5 years ago) Permalink
23. BLAQUE- "808" I wonder what happened to them. I always thought they'd be like, the new Destiny's child. They had some awesome music videos as well.
― Christyles, Wednesday, 12 September 2007 08:05 (5 years ago) Permalink
rev, after the beginning of that video, i couldn't get the idea of the whole video happening inside that woman's tit out of my head.
― Jordan Sargent, Wednesday, 12 September 2007 08:11 (5 years ago) Permalink
You know what's better than "808"? The "808" REMIX with the "Going Back to Cali" beat! (Not on youtube, unfortunately)
― The Reverend, Wednesday, 12 September 2007 15:32 (5 years ago) Permalink
Whoah, the beat on that 112 track is super hot.
― Jordan, Wednesday, 12 September 2007 15:40 (5 years ago) Permalink
"Whisper Song", meet your daddy.
― The Reverend, Wednesday, 12 September 2007 15:42 (5 years ago) Permalink
Magnapop-Open The Door
― C. Grisso/McCain, Wednesday, 12 September 2007 15:46 (5 years ago) Permalink
yesssss from the Bulletproof soundtrack. "I got the whole shebang / I got the champagne / and the HA HA!!" "R U Ready" was also the hotness.
25. Playa - "Cheers 2 U" (so underrated) 26. Boyz II Men - "I Can't Let Her Go" 27. 98 Degrees - "Invisible Man" 28. Tracy Lee - "The Theme (It's Party Time)" 29. Westside Connection - "Bow Down"
― The Good Dr. Bill, Wednesday, 12 September 2007 16:38 (5 years ago) Permalink
30? That Gandharvas track about spring that I still hear every now and then.
― I eat cannibals, Wednesday, 12 September 2007 19:28 (5 years ago) Permalink
31. Az Yet's cover of "Hard to Say I'm Sorry"
― Joseph McCombs, Thursday, 13 September 2007 17:53 (5 years ago) Permalink
nice one, wasn't till years later I knew it was a Chicago cover. "Last Night" too
32. The Offspring - "All I Want" (the last alt-rock semi-hit to clock less than 2:00?) 33. Blink-182 - "Josie"
― The Good Dr. Bill, Thursday, 13 September 2007 20:48 (5 years ago) Permalink
28. Tracy Lee - "The Theme (It's Party Time)" 29. Westside Connection - "Bow Down"
these are still in regular rotation round my place
― and what, Thursday, 13 September 2007 20:54 (5 years ago) Permalink
I am so pissed off to be reminded of "Mungo City"
― da croupier, Thursday, 13 September 2007 20:58 (5 years ago) Permalink
I downloaded Boyz II Men's "4 Seasons Of Loneliness" the other day, even weirder than I remembered.
Dr. Bill - good call on "All I Want." I always liked that one pretty well, much more than their later spree as a band alternating novelty singles with po-faced gnashing about death and bad neighborhoods. Actually, it makes a nice pair with "Josie" that way, since Blink-182 also started dipping overmuch into "mature" songs.....
― Doctor Casino, Friday, 14 September 2007 14:58 (5 years ago) Permalink
"All I Want," however, was unfortunately chosen as theme music in the arcade game "Crazy Taxi" - I had a friend who nearly went insane trying to play some other game at the arcade and having his train of thought constantly drowned out by "YA YA YA YA YA!" I had a related problem trying to play the Elvis pinball machine, which was sort of music-themed and equally overpowered by the Offspring.
― Doctor Casino, Friday, 14 September 2007 15:05 (5 years ago) Permalink
Good to know I'm not the only person in the world to remember the existence of Az Yet.
34. Mista, "Blackberry Molasses" (f/ a v. young Bobby Valentino)
35. DJ Taz "That's Right" (Not on u-toob, unfort.)
― The Reverend, Sunday, 16 September 2007 10:03 (5 years ago) Permalink
Soul Decision -- Faded
― Eric H., Sunday, 16 September 2007 14:19 (5 years ago) Permalink
Dr. Bill's dead-on with "All I Want."
Local H's "All the Kids are Right" Cowboy Mouth's wild "Jenny Says" White Town's "Your Woman" anything by that dog...I'll say "Never Say Never" Imperial Teen's "You're One" Jamie Blake's "Runaway"
― kiss out the jams, Sunday, 16 September 2007 20:23 (5 years ago) Permalink
and Bic Runga's "Sway"
― kiss out the jams, Sunday, 16 September 2007 20:28 (5 years ago) Permalink
43. Better Than Ezra - "At the Stars" 44. Brian McKnight - "The Only One for Me" 45. Fastball - "Fire Escape" (great video too, not on YouTube for some reason) 46. Tatyana Ali - "Daydreamin'"
― The Good Dr. Bill, Sunday, 16 September 2007 20:37 (5 years ago) Permalink
47. Splender - I Think God Can Explain
― Tape Store, Sunday, 16 September 2007 21:00 (5 years ago) Permalink
48. Lauryn Hill, "The Sweetest Thing"
― The Reverend, Monday, 17 September 2007 05:09 (5 years ago) Permalink
49. Monifah "Touch It"
― The Reverend, Monday, 17 September 2007 14:42 (5 years ago) Permalink
Wow - I totally forgot "All The Kids Are Right." I didn't like it at all at the time, but I don't think I "got" it either. It's actually pretty funny!
― Doctor Casino, Friday, 21 September 2007 23:32 (5 years ago) Permalink
"All the kids, they hold a grudge Their minds are logged onto the Net And all the kids, they hold a grudge You failed them and they won't forget it All your cred won't save you from the kids" - great stuff!
― Doctor Casino, Friday, 21 September 2007 23:35 (5 years ago) Permalink
my main takeaway is Monaco's "What Do You Want From Me" - very pleasant 80s throwback thing
When Peter Hook is involved, everything is an "80s throwback thing".
― Bout to go Jethro TULL on that ass (Johnny Fever), Saturday, 27 October 2012 15:27 (7 months ago) Permalink
"Where Do You Get Love" has one of the stranger key changes in a pop song.
― Bout to go Jethro TULL on that ass (Johnny Fever), Saturday, 27 October 2012 15:31 (7 months ago) Permalink
How do we feel about Republica's "Ready To Go?" Awesome song, major at the time - would we agree it's sort of vanished or does it have any kind of afterlife (video games maybe? feels like it might soundtrack a montage here and there).
Back when we had a "Classic Alternative" station around here, this was in their playlist, but in some less-poppy (and ergo, not as good) remix form.* I still dig the song, and could see it popping in movies about the '90s or at least in commercials again (IIRC, Mazda or Mitsubishi used it in a late '90s campaign).
*I always wondered how their library was put together. The station ran for about 8 months, was '80s/early '90s (non grunge) centric for the first couple before their listener feedback came in and the 80s stuff got mostly dropped in favor of grunge; by the time they went off the air, they were playing songs from 2006/7. They used to have weird holes in the catalogue too, like for the longest time all the Nirvana they played was from Nevermind or Unplugged. And then there was the unique versions thing, like the Republica remix, and what I assume was a "Top 40" mix of the Black Crowes' take of "Hard To Handle" which had horns and was completely new to me.
― 50 Shades of Greil (C. Grisso/McCain), Saturday, 27 October 2012 18:36 (7 months ago) Permalink
Porno For Pyros - Hard Charger
― Doctor Casino, Monday, 29 October 2012 00:12 (7 months ago) Permalink
^^Good one!
― 50 Shades of Greil (C. Grisso/McCain), Monday, 29 October 2012 00:30 (7 months ago) Permalink
I'm pretty sure I've heard The Nixons on the radio (WMMR in Philly probably) within the last 5 years or so
― plastic tub of ac adapters (los blue jeans), Monday, 29 October 2012 23:31 (7 months ago) Permalink
I thought this was totally a hit that everyone knew but I've mentioned it to/sang it to/played it for at least half a dozen people and not a single one knows it. You all know this, right? Right??
― bell biv devo (Stevie D(eux)), Wednesday, 31 October 2012 15:00 (7 months ago) Permalink
!!!! Didn't know it when I clicked "play," knew it from like 0:02. Wow, forgot all about this. I think I thought it was Sixpence None The Richer or something. Really pretty little tune IMO. Didn't recall all the details of the verses and so on but it's good.
― Doctor Casino, Wednesday, 31 October 2012 15:18 (7 months ago) Permalink
reminds me, somehow, of this: Fleming & John - Love Songs
― Doctor Casino, Wednesday, 31 October 2012 15:19 (7 months ago) Permalink
Oh yeah, it's really really great ("Two peas in a pod, yes we are/or have I read too much fiction? Is this how it happens?")
― bell biv devo (Stevie D(eux)), Wednesday, 31 October 2012 15:20 (7 months ago) Permalink
Sincere question: was this era particularly characterized by a seeming parade of anonymous one- or two-hit rock bands that were identifiable basically by name only? That's not a jab at any of them, just me trying to figure out if I was a particularly uninterested listener (no magazine subscriptions etc). I mean, I could rack up megapoints on a trivia quiz that was organized by "here's the song, name the band" - - - "That's Republica!" - - - but I couldn't actually tell you anything about Republica, they didn't seem to have an image or a presence or anything besides the name.
Wonder how much of this is just also that I was too young to go to shows, etc.
― Doctor Casino, Wednesday, 31 October 2012 22:40 (7 months ago) Permalink
Just found documents from 1997-1998 covering a series of tapes I made by mashing RECORD while listening to the radio. Mostly top-tier hits, but a few things that would go well in this thread maybe:
Phish - Free
311 - Transistor (video is an amazing video effects period piece)
311 - Prisoner
Filter/Crystal Method - (Can't You) Trip Like I Do
― Doctor Casino, Wednesday, 31 October 2012 23:06 (7 months ago) Permalink
Man, I fucking love "Free" and didn't realize it was a radio single!
― bell biv devo (Stevie D(eux)), Thursday, 1 November 2012 03:15 (7 months ago) Permalink
Dunno if it was - just heard it a lot on 99X for a couple months or so.
― Doctor Casino, Thursday, 1 November 2012 03:22 (7 months ago) Permalink
swinging for lilith fair:
Natalie Merchant - Kind & Generous. VH1 hit; I reckon this is still strong on the grocery-store circuit, but a considerable step down in bigness from the Tigerlily singles.
Sarah McLachlan - Sweet Surrender. In between "Building A Mystery" and "Adia," I remember hearing this a lot at the time but it apparently peaked at #28 on the Hot 100, and I think it's pretty much vanished now. It's better than I remember, although certainly too long.
Also, btw:
The album was mentioned in the Starr Report, the late-1990s account of Independent Counsel Ken Starr's investigation of the Monica Lewinsky scandal.[17][18][19] After a visit to the White House in November 1997, Lewinisky wrote that she "noticed you (President Clinton) had the new Sarah McLachlan CD" and that "whenever I listen to song #5 (Do What You Have to Do) I think of you."[20][18]. McLachlan's representatives had no comment on the matter.[17]
― Doctor Casino, Friday, 2 November 2012 01:50 (7 months ago) Permalink
"Free" was definitely the only Phish song besides "Down With Disease" that got a decent little bit of rock radio airplay
― some dude, Friday, 2 November 2012 01:53 (7 months ago) Permalink
i remember hearing bouncing around the room quite a bit
― seasonal hugs (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 2 November 2012 01:58 (7 months ago) Permalink
Screaming Trees - All I Know
― Doctor Casino, Friday, 2 November 2012 02:07 (7 months ago) Permalink
Who doesn't remember "Kind & Generous"??
― bell biv devo (Stevie D(eux)), Friday, 2 November 2012 04:21 (7 months ago) Permalink
Which is more obscure/forgotten, that or
― bell biv devo (Stevie D(eux)), Friday, 2 November 2012 04:23 (7 months ago) Permalink
well, i remember it now! 1992, but yeah. A lot of these I really haven't got a good sense of what's forgotten and what's not. Almost threw "The Perfect Drug" in at one point and then went "....nah." Again, on some level I think what this is really about for me is rehabilitating/archiving low-ranking hits that never make the long-term rotation but were essential to the landscape of what it sounded like to turn on the radio in 1998 or whenever. Any future "oldies" format that's missing this stuff will feel as hollow as the stations that boil the 60s down to "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" and "Mrs. Robinson" to the exclusion of everything else.
― Doctor Casino, Friday, 2 November 2012 04:35 (7 months ago) Permalink
Mack 10 feat. Snoop Dogg & Ice Cube - Only In California
― Doctor Casino, Friday, 2 November 2012 19:20 (7 months ago) Permalink
The CC Station played "What's Up With That" yesterday, which leads me to the home team's prior single, from the From Dusk 'Til Dawn OST: "She's Just Killing Me" by ZZ Top (w/celebrity guests!)
― 50 Shades of Greil (C. Grisso/McCain), Saturday, 3 November 2012 01:17 (7 months ago) Permalink
Wow. I don't think I knew ZZ Top still existed in 99X. Nice one.
― Doctor Casino, Saturday, 3 November 2012 01:20 (7 months ago) Permalink
heard Live's "Freaks" on the radio today and thought of this thread
― some dude, Saturday, 3 November 2012 01:27 (7 months ago) Permalink
^^I think any Live that was post-"The Big Album" would fit here.
― 50 Shades of Greil (C. Grisso/McCain), Saturday, 3 November 2012 04:00 (7 months ago) Permalink
Amazing, really, that it took us this long to get there, since I think there are about 400 different Secret Samadhi discussions on ILX.
― Doctor Casino, Saturday, 3 November 2012 04:27 (7 months ago) Permalink
Soundgarden - Bleed Together. Outtake/b-side, re-framed as the bonus song for the greatest hits comp. Not bad!
― Doctor Casino, Monday, 5 November 2012 01:58 (7 months ago) Permalink
Today's CC Radio re-discovery: "One More Murder" by Better Than Ezra, wherein they "go dark", discover trip hop, and hold onto their audience for the last 30 seconds of their "15 Minutes".
FUN FACT: In 1998, they co-headlined the Sugar Land Texas City Fair w/Dishwalla. I bet they thought those golden days would never end...
― 50 Shades of Greil (C. Grisso/McCain), Tuesday, 6 November 2012 03:51 (7 months ago) Permalink
Don't remember that, but I do remember this song of theirs from 2001:
― MarkoP, Tuesday, 6 November 2012 04:24 (7 months ago) Permalink
Huh, wow, no memory of either of.... shit, wait! He started singing on "One More Murder" and I know I've heard this. Not many times, mind you, but this certainly isn't the first.
― Doctor Casino, Tuesday, 6 November 2012 14:48 (7 months ago) Permalink
lol i remember "One More Murder" from THE X-FILES: THE ALBUM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_X-Files:_The_Album
― ICY BRO (SPECIAL GUEST) (some dude), Tuesday, 6 November 2012 14:50 (7 months ago) Permalink
Haha, all I had was SONGS IN THE KEY OF X, oddly also featuring the Foo Fighters, Filter, and Soul Coughing.
― Doctor Casino, Tuesday, 6 November 2012 14:57 (7 months ago) Permalink
Sponge - Have You Seen Mary
Chorus is weirdly reminiscent of "Every Day Is A Winding Road," obviously mellowed out relative to that. This was in the regular rotation right when I started listening to alt-rock radio; hearing it, as with Fleming & John, makes me picture a particular stretch of my high school's corridors, presumably the area where I had my locker that year. Haven't heard it once since then.
― Doctor Casino, Tuesday, 6 November 2012 18:24 (7 months ago) Permalink
OMG "Extra Ordinary" is one of those songs that I have not heard since it was on the radio
― goya cézanne (Stevie D(eux)), Sunday, 11 November 2012 15:40 (7 months ago) Permalink
xpost I remember seeing that Sponge album in the cut out bin @ Best Buy about a year or so after it'd been released. It got a really good review in the old (lol 90s) MusicHound guide--like 4 or 4 1/2 bones.
― 50 Shades of Greil (C. Grisso/McCain), Sunday, 11 November 2012 17:38 (7 months ago) Permalink
Tracy Chapman - Smoke and Ashes (fan video with clips from My So-Called Life but the other choice was a bunch of still photos of donkeys for some reason). LONG, but a nice tune I think. Fits comfortably into Chapman's larger career but also seems very much of a piece with certain other things going on around that time, with the Hammond organ and the naturalistic production. I think 99X had a weekend-morning program called like.. Roots X or something like that, where things like this (and probably that Indigo Girls track) got played a lot, alongside, I dunno, "6th Avenue Heartache" and, well, almost anything by Counting Crows besides "Angels of the Silences."
― Doctor Casino, Sunday, 18 November 2012 20:06 (7 months ago) Permalink
Lisa Loeb's "I Do" was mentioned upthread, but for some reason this one popped into my head this morning. It was her immediately follow-up to "Stay" and only got as high as 18 on the Hot 100, and 20 on the Modern Rock chart.
― super perv powder (Phil D.), Wednesday, 21 November 2012 13:21 (6 months ago) Permalink
Huh, wow, never heard that before! Pretty good track. I can see why it wasn't a hit - feels very "album cut"-ish. Nice find though!
― Doctor Casino, Wednesday, 21 November 2012 19:53 (6 months ago) Permalink
Never heard the song, but I recognize parts of the music video because that song was featured on the first volume of the Canadian Now! series.
― MarkoP, Wednesday, 21 November 2012 21:15 (6 months ago) Permalink
Semisonic - "Singing In My Sleep" and "Secret Smile." The followup singles to massive airplay hit and #11 pop hit "Closing Time" - neither charted on the Hot 100. "Secret Smile" is a Serious Snooze but "Singing In My Sleep" has some energy, a passable hook and a nice little organ doohickey.
Maybe it's all the S's but I always associate these with "Someday" by the New Radicals, the hopeless followup to "You Only Get What You Give." Decent adult-contemporary pop-rock.
Love Wiki's description of the video, which could almost be a Mad Libs template for this period: Directed by David Barnblatt, the video features the whole band playing the song in a damp warehouse with Gregg Alexander on guitar. It features scenes of people in different places: a laundromat, a bus, a diner, and a pool. In one scene, a lonely woman sits alone stirring her coffee, and the end of the video shows an empty seat at the back of a bus.
― Doctor Casino, Saturday, 29 December 2012 06:40 (5 months ago) Permalink
Secret Smile is the only Semisonic song I know and I hear it all the time in the uk
― besides Sunny Real Estate (dog latin), Saturday, 29 December 2012 09:40 (5 months ago) Permalink
I like that New Radicals guy switched to his sad times bucket hat
― los blue jeans, Sunday, 30 December 2012 01:53 (5 months ago) Permalink
dog latin - wow, that amazes me! Standard UK/US shock I guess, but "Closing Time" was huuuuge in the US - #1 on Modern Rock, #1 on airplay, nominated for a Grammy, lots of TV show usage, and:
The song was prominently featured in the 2011 film Friends with Benefits where, in the climax, Justin Timberlake's character points out that the song is by Semisonic and not, as he previously believed, Third Eye Blind.
Whereas "Secret Smile" went straight to nowhere. Weird.
― Doctor Casino, Sunday, 30 December 2012 02:32 (5 months ago) Permalink
haha, i was just about to propose Natalie Imbruglia's "Wishing I Was There," stopped, checked, and, yup, huge hit in the UK. Wow.
― Doctor Casino, Sunday, 30 December 2012 02:38 (5 months ago) Permalink
This one might be a bit too big in comparison to the other songs on the list, but in comparison to his other singles at the time, I'd say it's pretty forgotten:
― MarkoP, Sunday, 30 December 2012 03:23 (5 months ago) Permalink
Wow. I'm not entirely sure I've ever heard that. #56 on the Hot 100...might have slipped right past me. Nice pick!
hahah, the video is pretty great too. Transforming jet-car! Now that's crusin'.
― Doctor Casino, Monday, 31 December 2012 21:48 (5 months ago) Permalink
'Closing time' was pretty big in the UK. All the Semisonic and New Radicals rubbish was played all the time on Radio 2, which I could not escape at work :(
― kinder, Tuesday, 1 January 2013 01:56 (5 months ago) Permalink
Cowboy Mouth - Love of My Life
(only live vids on Youtube - added the studio one to the Spotify playlist though)
― Doctor Casino, Tuesday, 5 February 2013 04:30 (4 months ago) Permalink