Post by trashcanman on Jan 29, 2014 20:59:37 GMT 2
This week, let us travel back to the 90's for one of the most short-lived careers ever for a band whose debut album was one of the biggest sellers of all time. It is an album that will get snorts of derision and laughter if mentioned now and I can't remember the last time I heard a song played from it on the radio or anywhere else. They sold nearly 20 million albums in the 90's and then vanished almost overnight but they actually represent an important milestone in the development of my own musical tastes that led me to where I am now. The band: Hootie and the Blowfish.
Hootie was so ubiquitous that they became the biggest target for folks like Beavis and Butthead and Soulfly's Max Cavalera, who named them in his song "No" which consisted of listing things he hates like so:
So Darius Rucker and crew were on par with slavery, bovine excrement, and redneckism in the metal community. but I didn't give a shit. There has seldom been a band that combined acoustic and electric guitar more effectively. The album sales weren't an accident. This is not Vanilla Ice. The music was actually pretty damn good, even if the hits were sappy beyond sap.
As I said, the acoustic/electric interactions of Hootie's style signaled a turning point in my musical taste. Prior to my mother buying me the cassette for Christmas only the occasional acoustic song like the Pumpkin's Disarm actually affected me in a positive way. Acoustic guitars were for gays (hey, it was the 90's and I was a teenager, cut me some slack).
After some time spent with Cracked Rear View, I no longer feared or loathed the acoustic guitar.
They had a good string of hits from the album, the most popular was Only Want to Be With You. Have a listen.
So basically, you can probably blame this band for my fascination with acoustic performance and belated turn towards folk music in adulthood. That brings me to this sequence from the song:
Of course, I didn't know this at the time, but that verse is a tribute to Bob Dylan, utilizing verbatim lyrics from the incredible Idiot Wind with a different melody. Even though I wasn't aware of the link, I could definitely argue that that song foreshadowed and possibly even led me to become a Dylan freak later in life. It's funny how things work out.
Nonetheless, Hootie and the Blowfish crashed, burned, and dropped off the face of the earth after only a single minor hit on their second album. Maybe it was the overexposure, but nobody fucking wanted to hear about the band after losing their minds over the debut album. Last time I saw frontman Darius Rucker, he was dressed as a cowboy singing a jingle for Burger King.
This was a real thing, and it hurts my soul. Not necessarily because I think Hootie was the height of musical brilliance and integrity, but just the sheer embarrassment for someone who was the biggest act in the world at one point having to stoop so low. I don't think I've ever seen something so baffling as the fall of Hootie and the Blowfish. I'd laugh if they hadn't actually been good, but they kind of were.
Hootie was so ubiquitous that they became the biggest target for folks like Beavis and Butthead and Soulfly's Max Cavalera, who named them in his song "No" which consisted of listing things he hates like so:
No enemies, no redneck shit
No bullshit, no slaveship
No muthafucking Hootie & The Blowfish
No bullshit, no slaveship
No muthafucking Hootie & The Blowfish
So Darius Rucker and crew were on par with slavery, bovine excrement, and redneckism in the metal community. but I didn't give a shit. There has seldom been a band that combined acoustic and electric guitar more effectively. The album sales weren't an accident. This is not Vanilla Ice. The music was actually pretty damn good, even if the hits were sappy beyond sap.
As I said, the acoustic/electric interactions of Hootie's style signaled a turning point in my musical taste. Prior to my mother buying me the cassette for Christmas only the occasional acoustic song like the Pumpkin's Disarm actually affected me in a positive way. Acoustic guitars were for gays (hey, it was the 90's and I was a teenager, cut me some slack).
After some time spent with Cracked Rear View, I no longer feared or loathed the acoustic guitar.
They had a good string of hits from the album, the most popular was Only Want to Be With You. Have a listen.
So basically, you can probably blame this band for my fascination with acoustic performance and belated turn towards folk music in adulthood. That brings me to this sequence from the song:
Said I shot a man named Gray
Took his wife to Italy
She inherited a million bucks
And when she died it came to me
I can't help it if I'm lucky
Only wanna be with you
Ain't Bobby so cool
Took his wife to Italy
She inherited a million bucks
And when she died it came to me
I can't help it if I'm lucky
Only wanna be with you
Ain't Bobby so cool
Of course, I didn't know this at the time, but that verse is a tribute to Bob Dylan, utilizing verbatim lyrics from the incredible Idiot Wind with a different melody. Even though I wasn't aware of the link, I could definitely argue that that song foreshadowed and possibly even led me to become a Dylan freak later in life. It's funny how things work out.
Nonetheless, Hootie and the Blowfish crashed, burned, and dropped off the face of the earth after only a single minor hit on their second album. Maybe it was the overexposure, but nobody fucking wanted to hear about the band after losing their minds over the debut album. Last time I saw frontman Darius Rucker, he was dressed as a cowboy singing a jingle for Burger King.
This was a real thing, and it hurts my soul. Not necessarily because I think Hootie was the height of musical brilliance and integrity, but just the sheer embarrassment for someone who was the biggest act in the world at one point having to stoop so low. I don't think I've ever seen something so baffling as the fall of Hootie and the Blowfish. I'd laugh if they hadn't actually been good, but they kind of were.
