Crash Test Dummies - Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm

especially, if I know the lyrics

mmm mmm mmm mmm

It's one of those songs that seems unobjectionable, even great in its way, but that I nonetheless loathe. I'm not sure why: it's catchy, distinctive and clever. But I hate hate hate it.

well it's mawkish (except the 'mmm mmm mmm mmm' part)

Lyrically? Yeah, but no more so than lots of songs I like. Still, I think you're right. The music is even more maudlin than the lyrics, and the chorus's consolatory hum tips it over the edge, makes me ill.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

I'm not sure when the last time was that I actually heard "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm" in a non-karaoke, non-Weird Al context. It's one of those hits that, after its time in the spotlight, got declared a kind of un-beloved novelty and promptly disappeared from all radio formats. I don't even recall seeing it that often in "One Hit Wonder Countdown!" type things.

"God Shuffled His Feet" really is okay though, some horrible production choices but a good hook and I think a better use of the guy's voice.

Shit, this is too hard to choose.

I voted that it's a good song.

Good:
- the great bridge!
- maudlin top 40 hit!

Bad:
- forever associated with a key scene in Dumb & Dumber
- the weird mugging at the camera the singer did in the video

i owned the album and seemed to remember liking one other song it quite a bit better than "Mmm mmm mmm mmm", but after downloading the album last year I couldn't figure out which song it was - they all sounded pretty bad to me.

My friend idolized this band, I could never understand it.

Weird Al's Headline news, though was definitely a good song, however.

Also, "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm" is pretty remarkable for being a top-40 pop song that's entirely in the third person.

― Eazy, Tuesday, December 30, 2008 3:49 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

i dunno if i feel the need to start a list thread to debunk that claim but c'mon that can't be that rare.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

That makes me oddly happy.

So my coworker proposed that this \/\/\/ is the worst song ever, and we unsuccessfully spent the entire day trying to figure out if there was something worse (I think I voted that mmmm. . . was a good song, by the way)

Really, I think this song might just be that awful.

Oh man, these guys lost it big after A Worm's Life (which I will vehemently defend)

Living in Canada and being at the age where I listened to the radio/watched music TV when this came out and was well backed by CANCON made this song particularly bad for me, admittedly.

reminds me of tv on the radio

Best songs these guys did - I'm thinking "2 Knights And 4 Maidens", "An Old Scab", "My Own Sunrise", "Swatting Flies", "God Shuffled His Feet", "I Think I'll Disappear Now", "A Worm's Life", "How Does A Duck Know" (that's a controversial one but I <3 it) etc - are genuinely very, very good imo and there isn't MUCH filler on those two main albums

Still the only hit song I know of with a title that can be pronounced with mouth closed.

weedie 28/06/2006 01:25:45
I think the girl doesn´t have birthmarks, she has burnmarks...and the child with white hair is about 60 years old when he returns to school because he was in hospital...or something elsee

I love the comments on lyrics sites.

mrs_orlando_bloom 16/06/2004 00:37:01
Ya if you've ever seen the movie Stephen King's It and you remember Henry Bowers he was so scared his hair turned white, in the sewer when It takes that one kid and Henry sees the Death lights...
What is UP with the last stanza though? They shook and lurched all over the church floor? Is this band trying to confuse the hell out of the listeners?
Oh and by the way I just have to say SING PROPERLY!!! grrrrrrr its soooooooooo annoying! And this song is about some kids whose lives basically suck and the solution is MM MM MM MM. It was really poor planning on the part of the crash test dummies because if they're at a concert its really hard for fans to yell WE WANNA HEAR MM MM MM MM!

new screen name "the solution is MM MM MM MM"

the solution is nom nom nom nom

lol @ mrs_orlando_bloom

Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm

And when they finally made her . . . They saw . . . birthmarks all over her bo-d-iee.

Also, "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm" is pretty remarkable for being a top-40 pop song that's entirely in the third person.

― Eazy, Tuesday, December 30, 2008 3:49 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

i came here just to post this!

JUST KIDDING. what's remarkable is that poll result.

once there was this kid who
had something really weird wrong with hi-um

It was really poor planning on the part of the crash test dummies because if they're at a concert its really hard for fans to yell WE WANNA HEAR MM MM MM MM!

mrs_orlando_bloom droppin a truth bomb. How did this work? It hurts my teeth even to hum along to the song itself.

The wordless bridge/coda is stuck in my head today. Kinda good, kinda bad.

love this version https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1IhhdsKXAQ

^^^

First time I heard it, I thought it was Iggy Pop

lol

That version's halfway to Giant Sand.

(Record produced by Jerry Harrison btw)

ew ew ew ew

Surely one of the weirdest 90s hit singles (though still not any good).

I’ve never actually heard this song (it came out during the year of the ’90s that I “missed”)... I’ve heard maybe a few seconds of the chorus, as part of video montages.

My first few years of college, I had no access to MTV; wasn’t listening to the radio or reading about new music; and basically spent my time making cassettes for friends with Portishead on one side and Massive Attack on the other (“you’re gonna love this!”).

I love this song

I remember having a very strong emotional reaction to this track as a kid. It reminds me of being 9 and being driven to soccer practice on a winter night. It’d be played regularly on a rock radio station that cycled through all the other generic 90s crap rock, and this always stood out to my childish ears as being particularly sad and beautiful. I also kinda felt this way about What It’s Like by Everlast though, so...

Winter Song is nice

https://youtu.be/5UUQOw-reV4

This song brings to mind XTC's "Dear God" in its earnestness and oddness. No wonder they covered "Peter Pumpkinhead".

I listened to the source album recently and still mostly like it, though the debut is better what with a great cover of The Replacements "Androgynous".

If you hate Brad's voice, none of it will work of course.

What is this song saying? I always assumed it was meant to be a bit tongue-in-cheek or absurd. The earnestness in the message of "Dear God" is really obvious to me.

fun fact: in canada crash test dummies had 6 top 10 hits, this wasn't one of them

I am more familiar with Superman Song than I am with this.

Weird al version ftw

In case anyone missed it, Brad tried falsetto later on.

I am very familiar with at least two CTD albums. This is not one of their best songs

I think I disagree with virtually all of Alfred's opinions on music.

*raises glass*

Best songs these guys did - I'm thinking "2 Knights And Maidens", "An Old Scab", "My Own Sunrise", "Swatting Flies", "God Shuffled His Feet", "I Think I'll Disappear Now", "A Worm's Life", "How Does A Duck Know" (that's a controversial one but I <3 it) etc - are genuinely very, very good imo and there isn't MUCH filler on those two main albums

― Young Chizzy (country matters), Friday, 17 April 2009 02:35 (nine years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

would I stand by this now? yeah mostly. surprised I didn't mention I'm A Dog either

I vote "They shook and lurched all over the church floor."

i have listened to the crash test dummies often in the past week. i like "swimming in your ocean," which is about your mind wandering while being intimate with a woman. i have played the ghosts that haunt me now several times. i remember my father having the cd. i know i don't need to be embarrassed at feeling moved by the maudlin, sentimental songs about death and how being in love makes life less painful. but there is nowhere to go from here.

I like how "Swimming in Your Ocean" describes something very specific and familiar from life that I've never heard articulated before.