New Radicals: C/D?

In any event, I hated it then, and I hate it now.

I should add that I like Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too quite a bit, too...

I was reminded of her earlier this year when one of the songs from that record ("Just Missed the Train") turned up on the Kelly Clarkson disc. Went looking around and found out she completed an album in 1999 called Portable Life which never got released by MCA. Promo copies go on eBay for $60 or $70, so I've been scoping the used bins -- to no avail.

As for the Brisebois thing, I think she was sort of "in the band," but it was pretty much all him and sessioniers. Didn't know about the Clarkson thing.

He was also on the recent Mel C record, I believe...

He had a hand in the Justin Guarini album too...for shame!

The Alexander-in-name "solo records" are very funny.

-- Andrew Frye (andrewjfry...), August 3rd, 2003."

oh man...I have a very distinct memory of being in a car with my brother the first time either of us heard it on the radio, and we both said "is this World Party?"

singer/songwriter said he wants to focus his efforts on producing. "I view myself much the same as a just-getting-started Babyface," he said in a statement, referring to the producer of such hit acts as Mary J. Blige, Whitney Houston, Boyz II Men and Madonna. Alexander said he will produce an album, due in September, by singer/actress Danielle Brisebois, who was a member of the New Radicals. "Over the last several months, I'd lost interest in fronting a one-hit wonder to the point that I was wearing a hat while performing so that people wouldn't see my lack of enthusiasm," Alexander said.

It suddenly occurs to me I don't know if I've ever heard this song. I THOUGHT I did.

Not EVERYTHING everything. ;-) Anyway, I know I must have, it's just not sticking in the memory.

The album's first track is good, but it rips off Depeche Mode's 'Just Can't get Enough', probably winkingly. I picked it up a few months back for 2.99; definitely worth the price.

"If I could ask god just one question...why arn't you here with me...TONIGHT!?"

shivers and goosebumps all around

The 2005 dance remix of "You Get What You Give" is teh suck though.

Don't hold your breath. Oh wait, on second thought, do hold your breath.

And the irony of the message of the lyrics in such a mass-marketed song.

-- Sasha (ahmar...), September 8th, 2005.

eh?

know who said that? someone on telextext that's who said that.

-verse breakdown
-market
-competition

http://andwedanced.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/hoates.jpg

-- Alex in NYC (vassife...), September 8th, 2005 11:33 PM. (later)

This. By far.

And the irony of the message of the lyrics in such a mass-marketed song.

-- Sasha (ahmar...), September 8th, 2005.

eh?

-- N_RQ (bl0cke...), September 8th, 2005 11:35 PM. (later)

Well, the song called for the 'kids' to wake up and think for themselves - which, if they followed the advice in the song, would lead to them eschewing bland commercial pap like this, no?

Bahahahahahaha

This is not at all true.

Plus: no video for a good song has ever taken place in a mall.

This is the very quintessnce of truth.

This is the very quintessnce of truth.

-- Alex in NYC (vassifer@earthlink.net

Er, Tiffany's "I Think We're Alone Now."

I interned at SPIN in 1989, hence the t-shirt.....and that also explains why it's a bit too "form fitting".

x-post

http://www.newradicals.net/

http://www.newradicals.net/downloads/etc/New Testament.pdf

PS. Eat a dick.

Get some sense and realize you make a public ass out of yourself regularly with a real email address.

I interned at SPIN in 1989, hence the t-shirt.....and that also explains why it's a bit too "form fitting".

That does not explain the beard, Beardy!

You obstreporously defend New Radicals, and I'm the ass? Okay, whatever you say.

That does not explain the beard, Beardy!

I really don't see any problems with having a beard. Get over your tonsorial hang-ups.

I'm not the biggest fan of the Tiffany version but "I Think We're Alone Now" is a good song, Alex. Cf. the Tommy James thread that was live a few days ago.

Well, I was referring specifically about Tiffany's rendition. And Tommy James' finest hour, for my money, is "Crimson & Clover".

As remade by Joan Jett.

It would kick your ass in, even.

Hang on a moment! Weren't the tow-headed brothers Hanson on Greggggg's list of prospective kicked-in asses? What a cop out.

Obstreporously? Yeah, you're the ass all right. If you're going to use such a ridiculous word, at least spell it right. If George Bush hid behind an anonymous proxy, he could use words like "Strategery" all day long without embarrassing himself. That's what Karl Rove and Dick Cheney do when they laughingly write his scripts.

Who's more embarrassing: Buckethead or Axl Rose?

Who's more embarrassing: Buckethead or Axl Rose?

That's a bit of a random question here, but at this point I'd say Axl. For all of Buckethead's numerous quirks, he's at least still moving forward.

Not that I'd do that, because I think "Love Like Blood" is awesome, but still, just as a hypothetical...

xpost - dont you get it? we talk mad shit about music here! people talk shit about kj all the time.

No. What I mean is, people who ostentatiously shoehorn their personal barometer into some kind of universal "objective" statement, it's a bit rum. Carry on. "You Get What You Give" is great.

And Buckethead can still stand to show his face, regardless of what he does publicly. See, there is "courage" and then there is "sense."

Oh do get one sense of humor. At the end of the day, none of this fucking matters. You like what you like, I like what I like. What would be the point of these threads if we were so painfully worried about a lilttle ribbing? This isn't a fucking think tank, for chrissakes.

And Buckethead can still stand to show his face, regardless of what he does publicly. See, there is "courage" and then there is "sense."

That's part of his act. His act isn't my cup of tea, but I think he's a decent musician. Courage doesn't enter into it. And unlike yourself, he hides behind a mask while portraying a character. You're hiding, it appears, because you're afraid of some repercussion. Good lord, man, we're just talking about music.

Alex, would you stand it if people who like, you know, pop, went on your Killing Joke threads and said "Your taste is shit"?.

You obviously haven't spent a lot of time reading any threads devoted to the band in question. It used to happen on a daily basis. Why would I care? I know what I like, and anyone else's opinion about it is nigh on meaningless, though can make for interesting reading.

Alex, Mr. Know-it-all, Buckethead has always worn a mask because he likes the idea of being able to walk down the street. Being anonymous allows him to play up whatever aspect his imagination dreams up, which is precisely what I'm doing. "Appear" is a key word in your sentence, please note. Appearances can be deceiving. For instance, you appear to be a dad who is about 5'9" and not in the most terrifying shape who works at the Voice and has some personality conflicts with his coworkers, is dissatisfied with his pay, etc. Does it appear odd to you now that I would be afraid of any repurcussions from you? BTW, Ion Records, home of Buckethead is right across the street from where you work. The building you took that picture near appears to be the same one they use in Will & Grace. It appears I could stalk the living shit out of you if I wanted!

But, of course I wouldn't because I really don't care. Like Buckethead's psycho act, this is mine.

Anyway, back on topic for the New Radicals, my feeling is that you don't know shit about it, Alex, and honestly couldn't give it a chance if you tried. You're too streamlined in your thinking.

I was given a promo disc by the band's manager something like 4 months before the New Radicals actually came out. He swore they were about to break big. So, I had a good while to enjoy it (not what I expected at first at all) and just as I was thinking that this manager was wrong, that the New Radicals were NOT going to be the "next big thing," all of a sudden a friend of mine told me he saw their video on MTV: "I saw that band you've been talking about; what is it, the New Radicals? I didn't really like it. Too teenybopper."

What? I was bummed. Then I saw the video. If I had seen the video first, perhaps I would've reacted as you did, Alex. We have very similar tastes in music, although I'm a bit more open-minded if I do say so myself. Pats back. However, I only saw the video half a time and I only ever heard "You Only Get What You Give" on the radio, so the rest of the album is purely unmarketed power pop rock for the enjoyment of my ears, along the lines of Beck and Prince. How many times have you heard the album? And do you realize that he decided to kill his contract himself? He was not a "one hit wonder" at all. Now, go back to laughing at my correct characterization
(your audacious presumption) and embarrass yourself some more.

If I knew it all, I wouldn't bother reading ILX. And I've never claimed to know it all.

Your Buckethead analogy gets weaker with each post.

For instance, you appear to be a dad who is about 5'9" and not in the most terrifying shape who works at the Voice and has some personality conflicts with his coworkers, is dissatisfied with his pay, etc.

6'1" and I don't work at the Voice (that's Chuck) I have no problems with my coworkers.

on Records, home of Buckethead is right across the street from where you work

No it isn't, actually.

It appears I could stalk the living shit out of you if I wanted!
But, of course I wouldn't because I really don't care. Like Buckethead's psycho act, this is mine.

Refresh my memory, please. It's me who is being the ass?

Anyway, back on topic for the New Radicals, my feeling is that you don't know shit about it, Alex, and honestly couldn't give it a chance if you tried. You're too streamlined in your thinking.

Clearly you don't know shit either, but I've clearly hit a nerve with you, as you need to make this a personal issue and not simply a debate about music.

We have very similar tastes in music, although I'm a bit more open-minded if I do say so myself. Pats back.

While I consider it more of burden than a blessing, I own over two-thousand compact discs, only about twenty-something of which are by Killing Joke. Again, you're the one jumping to conclusions.

How many times have you heard the album?

More time than I'd prefer. My wife owns it.

He was not a "one hit wonder" at all.

Oh really? Cite some of hits by the New Radicals.

You're right, I am being an ass. But, that's usually why I come here! Thus, the fake email address.

I thought my Buckethead analogy was pretty strong from the start. It's been the same concept all along; not getting any trickier.

Not at The Voice, huh? My bad.

Was it chuck that said, "Oh please don't lecture me" to his coworker and then posted asking for advice?

I believe there were 2 other New Radicals songs that got airplay, but the only one I heard REPEATEDLY on the radio was the one we've been talking about.

The term "one hit wonder" implies that "it's a wonder they had one hit in them" which just isn't the case with a guy who kills his contract by his own volition and then goes on to write successful songs for other artists.

I know a woman who got a record contract TWICE and fucked them both up intentionally. Her last band was "Sugarglider" and cost several thousands of dollars of the co's money to record the album, then she promptly freaked out and moved to Florida with her boyfriend to be a salmon farmer. I would not call her a "failed musician" any more than I would call the New Radicals a "one hit wonder" for the same reasons.

I think the music is great, though I never liked the hat or the imagery or the video and I completely understood when Jimmy Fallon mocked them on SNL.

Still, I think you've totally misunderstood where Gregg Alexander was coming from and completely misread the album. What makes it so much worse than the sorts of power pop that self-respecting rock fans align themselves with everyday? I'd say you've summed it up perfectly in what I believe to be a complete misunderstanding: "it's so painfully earnest and self-important" ... It's not at all. It's a feel good jokey album about not taking yourself too seriously and having fun. The guy wrote a song for his sister as an inside wink about them having been raised Jehovah's Witnesses to cheer her up for fuck's sake.

http://www.angelfire.com/ca2/TechnicolorLover/personal.html

No, that was me, but if you read the rest of that thread, you'll see we've since mended fences. People have disagreements from time to time, but that doesn't mean bad blood always ensues.

I believe there were 2 other New Radicals songs that got airplay, but the only one I heard REPEATEDLY on the radio was the one we've been talking about.

To be fair, I do seem to remember another video of theirs (them playing in a room), but couldn't remember the title. Not sure how it charted of anything like that, so am unaware of its arguable status as a "hit".

The term "one hit wonder" implies that "it's a wonder they had one hit in them" which just isn't the case with a guy who kills his contract by his own volition and then goes on to write successful songs for other artists.

Fair enough, but I usually take it to mean a band that was fortunate enough to catch the moment with one hit. Hell, some people consider Devo a one hit wonder ("Whip It"), when of course they had a pile of albums. I do know that Gregg has gone on to be a sizably successful songwriter for other artists. By the same token, I don't think "One Hit Wonder" has to necessarily be the worst fate in the world.

I think the music is great, though I never liked the hat or the imagery or the video and I completely understood when Jimmy Fallon mocked them on SNL.

I don't think Jimmy Fallon's really in a position to be mocking anyone these days,

In all seriousness, I'm going to dig out the Mrs.'s copy of this album (which I believe I've been threatening to use as a coaster for some time) and give it another spin.

No hard feelings, I hope. Despite the impression I may sometimes give, my word is not law.

.....yet.

Anyway, I'm not saying the album is great or anything. I haven't listened to it in ages! But, it's pretty good. I kind of wish he'd do something else, but I doubt he will.

All completely cool (well, `cept for maybe Mantas). All had facial hair.

No worries. I am often -- if not usually -- guilty of same.

"Eh? Not cool? ME?"

Damn this thing.

Hey guys! Can I play, too?

"Know who said that? someone on telextext that's who said that. "
That would have been John Peel, on Top Of The Pops.

well maybe but I read it on teletext, perhaps Peel did too.

http://www.billmon.org/archives/strangelove.jpg

General Jack D. Ripper: Mandrake, do you recall what Gregg Alexander once said about war?
Group Capt. Lionel Mandrake: No, I don't think I do, sir, no.
General Jack D. Ripper: He said music was too important to be left to fahion shows with Beck and Hanson. When he said that, 50 years ago, he might have been right. But today, music is too important to be left to Courtney Love and Marilyn Manson. They have neither the time, the training, nor the inclination for strategic thought. I can no longer sit back and allow New Radical infiltration, New Radical indoctrination, New Radical subversion and the international New Radicalconspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids.

I don't think Jimmy Fallon's really in a position to be mocking anyone these days,

-- Alex in NYC (vassife...), September 10th, 2005.

To be fair I don't think he was mocking NR, just doing his goofy lyrics to popular songs thing--something about showing up drunk at his ex-girlfriend's house "3am, I drank a fifth of Jim Beam."

"And when the night is cloudy,
You cannot find the light (light)
You feel your tree is breakin'[...]
Come around, we'll kick your ass in"

I've been obsessing over this for almost a week now, having dug it out. Aside from the title track, which is like some weird Mick Jagger slur impression gone horribly wrong, almost every track on this cuts through. "I Hope I Didn't Just Give Away The Ending" has a great conceit, hilarious lyrics and a brilliant melody. "I Don't Wanna Die Anymore" with its climactic coda sounds like one of the better cuts Gregg Alexander produced for Danielle Brisbois. And "Mother We Just Can't Get Enough" manages the awesome feet of fusing the Stones and Depeche Mode.

And, of course, "You Get What You Give" is clearly now among the great masterpieces of the late-90's.

not to mention "Technicolor Lover", which recalls "Sign O' The Times"-era Prince...

o, wherefore art though, Gregg Alexander?

This is my 567th favorite miffed-Alex-in-NYC thread.
I read that as "This is my 567th favorite miffed-Alex-in-NYC band"

Awesome "feat," that is, tho I may have been thinking of this:
http://cache.umusic.com/images/local/500/20626372B0F6447AB84FBCEA964196BE.jpg

not to mention "Technicolor Lover", which recalls "Sign O' The Times"-era Prince...

Indeed -- for space purposes, I omitted it, but that's definitely one of the highlights as well.

too bad my awkward drunken 'draw a line in the sand' new radicals thread from early in my ilx posting career wasn't revived instead of this

xpost: Someone needs to adopt "awesome feet" as their screen name.

Hall and Oates covered "Someday We'll Know"!

It's funny: as soon as I learned H&O covered a song of theirs, I knew it was "Someday We'll Know." Somehow, Daryl probably wasn't going to be singing about being in porn and how got "big in Japan."

are there really H&O overtones in their (er, his) music? I keep reading this. If so, I'm gonna fork the $2 for the album.

Alfred, you should fork over the $2 even if there weren't any.

you get what you give is awesome song! Q

More Rundgren, Alfred...

I occasionally make up new lyrics to "You Get What You Give" (because really, who couldn't improve on them).

But you're like Exhibit A of someone with the dreamer's disease.

in many circles you get laughed at for liking this album, but....

....I played the hell out of it after I bought it! I still really like it...

especially "I Don't Wanna Die Anymore", Mama We Just Can't Get Enough, and that gave away the ending song....

I love it when this thread gets revived because, c'mon, this album is way classic.

i had no idea anybody else liked it....I got it real cheap on cassette when I was po'

Haha at strangelove gag.

you get what you give is awesome song! Q

And a lost influence on Flight Of The Conchords!

I'll bet this dude and Greg Dulli hate each other.

Don't understand why everyone reps for You Get What You Give - I find it boring as shit.

Boring people find things boring. ;)

I still have this shit on tape. Play it on rainy cold days.

Crap then. Crap now.

still completely radical. someday we'll know is my jam

someday we'll know why Gregg Alexander packed it in as a performer so quickly...

http://blog.allmusic.com/2008/1/23/out-with-carly-hennesy-in-with-carly-smithson/

someday we'll know why Gregg Alexander packed it in as a performer so quickly...

A sudden jolt of self-awareness maybe?

This morning I woke up to an email from my best friend from high school, which contained only a youtube link to the video for You Get What You Give. Best top 40 hit of the late 90s, no question.

STILL haven't bought the album.

Joni Mitchell did an interview a while back in which she said the 'You Get What You Give' was the only decent song to have emerged out of the pop industry during the 1990s, which confirmed her descent from genius to complete fucking freak/bitter old cow.

-- The Lex (The Lex), Saturday, 2 August 2003 21:54 (4 years ago) Bookmark Link

lol healthy attitudes towards women

Best top 40 hit of the late 90s, no question.

Really really not, whether we're talking US or UK.

That is I strongly disagree with that statement. All the negatives make it a bit confusing.

always hated it

air of smugness masquerading as optimism

a fine album.

I always really liked that weird sound at the beginning of "You Get What You Give," not sure if it's anything but the video, but that kind of vrroomy loop noise thing.

I wonder how much this guy is an uncredited influence on the Coldplay guy.

Soto, I'm genuinely stunned that you still don't own the album. It's the most Sotoriffic longer player of the 1990s. Buy it this instant!

Agreed. I used to have two copies of it, even. If I would've known I'd still need an extra to give someone several years later, I'd have held onto it.

It's the most Sotoriffic longer player of the 1990s.

As long as there's a difference between this and soporific.

ou get what you give is awesome song! Q

ripe for covers

As long as there's a difference between this and soporific.

Yes, of course. Huge difference. And I didn't even need to look up "soporific." ;)

"You Get What You Give" strikes me as being a pleasant-enough pastiche of certain-era Rundgren, but the rest of the tracks on this record leave me cold.

i truly hate that song, i probably already said so.

prolly my favorite LP of the 90's...most-played, fer sure...

i felt really guilty for liking this back in the day. teens-new-to-indie-snobs kinda thing.

STILL haven't bought the album.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Tuesday, May 13, 2008 5:53 PM

Just checking in...

Thanks! The answer is no.

Why is You Get What You Give held in such high esteem? Dull dull dull.

Cuz it' s fun to sing at karaoke.

Spent the week going through shit I bought when I was 12. Stuff I didn't like: That Matchbox 20 album with the fat glasses dude (didn't remember any of the songs and the ones I did kinda sucked), Everclear, So Much for the Afterglow (every song was the same! How did I not see it?) Stuff that was okay: Barenaked Ladies, Stunt (though "It's All Been Done" is as annoying now as "One Week" was back then, and "One Week" is borderline unlistenable). Stuff that was good: Beastie Boys, Hello Nasty (really underrated! it's brilliant!) and this one. Why do people pay so much attention to "You Get What You Give" when there are so many other good tunes on here? Yeah the ending is embarrassing but there are a few really bad moments on here - 1) On "Mother We Just Can't Get Enough" the part in the end where he does mock Spanish, 2) Almost turning "Technicolor Lover" into a muppet singalong, 3) "By the way this girl was sexy, and she wouldn't touch you...that may not be true but I said it so you'd feel involved with this song", 4) all the "guys I really do a lot of drugs" lines, 5) "Biiiirkin out for a miracle!", and I dunno, outside of "Technicolor Lover" the last 4 songs aren't very good. But this is a good album!!

Revive again.

Alfred, have you bought this yet? Two dollars!!

I was just listening to Resolution by Andy Pratt and dude's singing often reminded me of the New Radicals, especially high notes

All his songs—not just the NR and Danielle Brisebois but also the Mel C and Santana songs—have this very recognizable bratty shout singing style. It's pretty cool.

"Mother We Just Can't Get Enough" would probably best YGWYG if they cut it off before the cringey "credit card, please; soul, please" and the two minutes of awful ideas that follow

STILL haven't bought the album.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Tuesday, May 13, 2008

I dunno if I can rep for this any longer but "biirkin out for a mira-caaale" still makes me laugh

I wonder if Alexander ever regrets dating "You Get What You Give" with that dumbass final bit.

"Oh, hey, when is this fro...oh wait, 1998. Got it."

I doubt he remembers he even sang it

http://www.billboard.com/biz/articles/news/tv-film/6281763/found-star-new-radicals-gregg-alexander-grants-first-interview-in?utm_source=twitter

Alexander smiles and recalls, "I was on Sunset Boulevard walking down the street shortly after the record came out and I heard the song blasting out of someone's car -- and my immediate instinct was, 'Oh, my God, someone stole my demo tape!' I was really serious, too. And then I heard it coming from another car like a minute later and I was like, 'Oh, my God, how did all these people get my demo tape?!"

Haha!

I vaguely heard of the movie Begin Again, but didn't realize he wrote the music for it. Listening to the soundtrack right now, and it sounds very Gregg Alexander except with songs sung by people like Keira Knightley, Adam Levine, and Cee Lo Green.

ah! lil more curious about Begin Again now.

You Get What You Give is an awesome song. the album is kinda goofy, but in a good way

That interview is outstanding:

But perhaps most intolerable to him was the insistence by the industry itself -- "the big business that run these corporations and multinationals that own the record companies and all of the conduits through which artists get their music out there" -- that he and other artists "whore out" themselves in order to continue to make art. An example? "Things like doing station P.A.s, you know, where you have to go, 'You're hangin' with The Party Pig!' [The Party Pig was the mascot for the LA area's now-defunct KQLZ 100.3 AM.] You know? 'This is Gregg from the New Radicals and you're hangin' with The Party Pig!' 'Hangin' with the Party Pig' is a metaphor for all the sort of stuff that artists, to this day, have to do, and as bad as it seemed back then, it has multiplied a thousand times. It seems like a sad trade-off for artists. It's the deal with the devil: if you want your work to be seen, it's unfortunately not just about the work. And when it becomes less about the art, then the art suffers."

Enjoying this playlist of his oeuvre:

http://open.spotify.com/user/1231040653/playlist/1M8YzvmoY3RszAdGCsMtmX

wonder how much this guy is an uncredited influence on the Coldplay guy.

― Doctor Casino, Wednesday, 14 May 2008 01:26 (eleven years ago) link

Not sure bout Coldplay, but the final song on this single-handedly invented the band Train

Revisited this today, really not bad except for a handful of incredibly embarrassing moments (the first two minutes of track 3 especially)

I always thought Maroon 5 was the bland 2000's rock group that they were precursors to.

Lol if only

this album has been really helping with my mood, harkening back to summer of 1998, doing a summer stock performance of Into the Woods, and going immediately after rehearsal to my shift at Arby's, up until it was time for me to move six hours away for my one year at FSU.

really like the melancholic inspirational "I Don't Wanna Die Anymore", and the meandering opening to "I Hope I Didn't Just Give Away the Ending".

really find this to be a weird little time capsule of an album because there's practically NOBODY that was around then that doesn't remember the hit, but Alexander just kinda vanished and nobody talks much about TNR except niche fanbois like me. the people who like this album seem to REALLY like it. idk what it is about it.

still never purchased another copy after the original cheap cassette of it I got from Walmart.

time to possibly listen to the *whole thing* instead of just disembodied tracks.

people don't talk about them because they promptly disappeared, idk if they ever even played live. but for a brief minute they were very big. I think I still have the Spin magazine they were on the cover of

but yeah I think it's actually held up pretty well

They did shows cos apparently he covered his face up during them lol

how does a band that doesn't play shows get a song on a label and appear on the cover of spin and inspire a nation of millions?

sorry, weird accidental public enemy reference there

Rise to mainstream fame
New Radicals was formed in Los Angeles, California in 1997 by Gregg Alexander, who had previously released two unsuccessful solo albums, 1989's Michigan Rain and 1992's Intoxifornication. Michael Rosenblatt, MCA Records' A&R Senior Vice President, signed the band to the label in 1998,[8] and Alexander received a $600,000 advance for their first (and only) album, Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too.[9] The album was released on October 20, 1998, and was well received by music critics, who praised the record for its wide range of atypical influences for a modern pop rock album, such as Todd Rundgren, World Party and Hall & Oates, and compared its funk and soul-influenced upbeat pop rock to the early work of Prince and Mick Jagger.

it makes it sound so simple

lol apparently "they" (he and Danielle Brisboise, most likely) appeared on Leno in the middle of their only tour. Gregg must have hated that.

the funny thing about Begin Again, mentioned upthread, is I saw that movie on a whim, and the music sounded very familiar throughout, stylistically. I kept thinking "that writing sounds like Gregg Alexander/New Radicals", and then the credits come up and sure enough, it was music he co-wrote with Danielle. so I immediately FB msged the other New Radicals fan friend of mine on FB lol. for a dude that didn't last long, I can pick out his style very quickly!

Noone ever talks about the song “maybe you’ve been brainwashed too” and it was probably my favorite moment in the album.

https://youtu.be/mgrEhrXHMB0

billboard charts are weird

The album was followed on November 17, 1998 by the release of their first single, "You Get What You Give" (co-written with Rick Nowels), which reached No. 36 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, No. 5 on the UK Singles Chart, and No. 1 on the RPM Canadian Singles Chart.

#36? that song was ubiquitous!!

thought the same thing when I read that - people STILL recognize the song, it was in the trailer for that shitty Adam Sandler movie Big Daddy, it's been in commercials, but....yeah, #36!

No CD single/Cassingle release? I forget when they changed the rules on that.

Hot 100 placements pretty meaningless in the 90s

I guess I got what people saw in them but I could never identify with the philosophy of a man in that bucket hat.

I dunno, bucket-hat wearers have been among the great sages of our time...Gilligan, LL Cool J, Buckethead...

last bit of "I Hope I Didn't Just Give Away the Ending" always reminds me of Isaac Brock, I wonder if that was intentional

probably my favorite song on this thing now, its actually kinda heartbreaking

Does indeed sound like World Party, but maybe the songs are better or something.

I dunno, bucket-hat wearers have been among the great sages of our time...Gilligan, LL Cool J, Buckethead...

Who knows, haven’t listened to Goodbye Jumbo in decades, maybe it has aged well.

#36? that song was ubiquitous!!

― Karl Malone, Thursday, September 3, 2020 12:32 AM (eight hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

there was a weird disconnect in the 90s billboard charts between the airplay charts and the sales charts. idk for sure, but i'd bet that had something to do with the relatively low chart position.

actually, that prob didn't affect 'you get what you give' that much, cause i believe it was released as an official single, but it did keep completely ubiquitous songs like no doubt's 'don't speak' from even reaching the hot 100

I remember being really excited to play that song for my dad who was big into Todd Rundgren and Steely Dan and stuff like that, thinking finally I found something he would like too

he did not like it and I still don't know why not

For a second I thought you were referring to my post and the song "Way Down Now."

Also, in the 90s you had the phenomenon of some songs being much bigger on MTV because of the video than they ever were on the radio or in the charts.

I was thinking about this the other day. Is there a thread for songs that were hits substantially because of the video?

Call On Me by Eric Prydz

There was a really narrow window where a local record store had multiple (4 or 5?) copies of Alexander's first solo cd for a buck a pop that I could immediately flip for $75-$100 each on ebay.

Correction: it was his second solo album, Intoxifornication. lol the 90s.

Not A Lot Of People Bought Gregg Alexander Solo Albums, But Everyone Who Did Also Bought A Bucket Hat.

I downloaded that. cannot imagine paying more than a buck for it

it's mentioned waaaay upthread, but are US ilxors familiar with this 2000 UK (& Irish, Scottish, Czech, Polish, Danish, Icelandic...) number 1?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpBTTlXzuGY

It’s on that giant playlist NTI mentioned upthread but I haven’t gotten to it yet.

Fashion shoots with Beck and Hanson
Bucket hat
and Cargo pantsin'
One hit wonder, no one's dancin'
Glad my house has good financin'

I've never heard that "Life is a Rollercoaster" song, we only know the 730 versions of Tom Cochrane's much inferior "Life is a Highway".

there is only one rollercoaster song in my library

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-KvyKNSV7U

thought that was going to be the Billy Corgan one

never noticed it before but there is some real disconnect between chart position and how popular some songs were in the late 90s. Here's others from 1998 which didn't make it past #50 and leave me scratching my head because they seemed ubiquitous to me:

The Offspring - Pretty Fly (for a white guy) (#53)
Stardust - music sounds better with you (#62)
Everclear - Father of Mine (#70)
Cake - Never There (#78)
Elvis Crespo - Suavemente (#84)
Fatboy Slim - Rockafeller Skank (#76)
Massive Attack - Teardrop (did not chart)
Radiohead - No Surprises (did not chart)

above #50 but thought they were at least top 10:

Natalie Imbruglia - Torn (#42)
Aaliyah - Are You That Somebody? (#21)
2pac - Changes (#32)
Beastie Boys - Intergalactic (#28)
Jay Z - Hard Knock Life (#15)
The Verve - Bitter Sweet Symphony (#12)

“The only thing I heard in many years that I thought had greatness in it was the New Radicals,” Joni Mitchell told Rolling Stone in 2002. “I loved that song ‘You Get What You Give.’ It was a big hit, and I said, ‘Where did they go?’ It turns out the guy [Gregg Alexander] quit. I thought, ‘Good for him.’ I knew he was my kind of guy.”

xp. feel fairly confident that literally all of those songs charted higher in the uk

The deal with "Torn":

In the United States, the song peaked at number one on the Hot 100 Airplay chart for 11 consecutive weeks. However, as a result of rules preventing tracks which had not been released as physical singles from charting on the Billboard Hot 100, the song did not chart there during its peak of popularity in the United States. When the song was declining in popularity, the rules changed to allow airplay-only songs onto the chart, and the song charted for 2 weeks, peaking at number 42.

This is generally forgotten (and I only know it because I saw the original quote in Guitar World) but prior to "YGWYG", Joni said a lot of the same things in regards to "Doll Parts" by Hole.

there is only one rollercoaster song in my library

haha, as soon as i posted that i thought "i probably have just dissed multiple good rollercoaster songs"

i live a life of constant fear and shame

I remember looking up the charts from 97-99 and realizing I actually didn't know too many of the songs that actually did make the top 10. Pretty Fly for a White Guy & Intergalactic were everywhere when I was a kid. Everybody I knew loved those songs.

I remember looking up the charts from 97-99 and realizing I actually didn't know too many of the songs that actually did make the top 10.

i feel this way about every year in music history after like 1969

now the 1960s - that decade had some goddamn hits

Wheres in the seventies there were Osmonds, lots of little Osmonds, everywhere.

Whereas

exactly. and they would cover the most wonderful songs, like the early steely dan classic "reelin' in the years" and somehow make them awful every time, even though they were technically proficient.

yeah if you wanna see the stuff that actually charted check out the $2 bin at your local record store

the pop charts came to life again in the 80s

But they really popped up when the 90s starting rolling:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wwm2dWN3UM

1999 picks also surprising:

https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/list/8505742/greatest-songs-of-1999-top-99

Whats My Age Again peaking at #58, Nookie at #80, My name Is at #36 and Still Dre #93 and coffee and tv not charting at all are particularly baffling to me.

how does a band that doesn't play shows get a song on a label and appear on the cover of spin and inspire a nation of millions?

like counting crows and third eye blind, train are another band from san francisco that no-one ever heard about until they were signed to a major label. which makes me think that there is some other kind of hidden music scene of shit out here filled with bands who never play out in local clubs and spend loads of money and time kissing label reps asses in LA. which makes them a band from LA as far as I'm concerned.

i guess it's just knowing somebody that knows somebody, like most other things in life

learned today that gregg alexander wrote 'murder on the dancefloor,' and listening back, it does bear some of his hallmarks (two triads alternating the major and relative minor bass notes, forced metaphors, shouty-yet-conversational vocal melody)

idk why I looked this up, but they had a weird TRL trajectory that might be worth noting.

The video debuted on 120 Minutes in early October '98 and aired at least once more in November. Then it debuted on TRL December 10th at #10 and disappeared for over a month, eventually re-appearing at #6 on January 12th and sticking around for most of the remaining episodes between Jan and Feb.

This goes against how I normally think of TRL, where a video that didn't catch on right away or hit #10 only once wasn't worth the extra investment. It looks like someone or someones believed in this song a lot and kept pushing.

With that aside, I go back and forth with this song. It's musically dope enough that it sometimes feels like one of the greatest songs, but there are other times when I can't get past how stupid the lyrics are. A few years ago, I put in some effort trying to get deeper into this album but it didn't happen for me.

#36? that song was ubiquitous!!

― Karl Malone, Thursday, September 3, 2020 1:32 AM (seventeen hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

thought the same thing when I read that - people STILL recognize the song, it was in the trailer for that shitty Adam Sandler movie Big Daddy, it's been in commercials, but....yeah, #36!

― Neanderthal, Thursday, September 3, 2020 1:33 AM (seventeen hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

No CD single/Cassingle release? I forget when they changed the rules on that.

― "...And the Gods Socially Distanced" (C. Grisso/McCain), Thursday, September 3, 2020 1:45

This has been written about often. The labels stopped making singles, forcing consumers to buy albums. Airplay and sales saw huge, uh, disconnects between 1996-1998.

...which both to the golden age of piracy and the sudden viability of NOW comps in America.

"YGWYG" appearing as track 2 (after "...Baby, One More Time") on NOW II in early '99.

Actually mid '99.

Weird to even think of those 2 songs together, what made this song unique is how it didn’t seem tied to any era, could’ve been written in the 70s, could’ve been written now

Like even the one off genre novelty hits were full of 90s beats and acidy synthesizers

I made a comp over a decade ago, leaving out his 1989-92 solo shit, of some of their high points as a team. Thanks to this thread for making me dig it back up.

https://i.imgur.com/6jbELq6.jpg

Dunno how I never mentioned it in this thread before but since 2008 my brother and I have gifted each other the same copy of Alexander's solo album "Intoxifornication" back and forth for Christmas

I did even listen to it one year, pretty awful

"Intoxifornication" is somehow even cringier than "Californication"

otm

Steven Page briefly discusses the late 90s bar-band-gone-major one-hit-wonder phenomenon 32:00 into the recent Reply All 'Case Of The Missing Hit' podcast, when he can't identify the song they're looking for:

https://gimletmedia.com/shows/reply-all/o2h8bx

Oh wow. That's the podcast that did a whole episode on so not gonna happen

thank you for the tip off

The Missing Hit episode is the late 90s one-hit-wonder answer to David Essex's 'Stardust' in podcast form

the thing I remember most from that episode was the Barenaked Ladies guy saying that in the late 90s there was so much competition that you had to have a really great song to get any airplay. Really?

I don't get what people liked about the big single. So dull, doesn't go anywhere at all.

what's real can't die

xp I think Susan Rogers said that.

xp "YGWYG" and "Baby One More Time" debuted on TRL in the same week

Maybe I'm remembering wrong but it felt like a minor hit that wasn't really on the radio as much by the end of the year -- not nearly as ubiquitous as "Slide" or "Believe" or "No Scrubs." Even on rock stations I don't remember it sticking around. #36 on Hot 100 and #30 on Airplay seems about right to me -- one of those minor hits with some longevity.

Wait, what did Susan Rogers say?

https://youtu.be/TvAi2L3KgVw

I only encountered this incredible, incredible piece of business from Intoxifornication for the first time yesterday

I think 1:40 of this might be the worst thing I've ever heard?

Can we ask the mods to put that behind an 'h' tag?

fuckin lmao I had to rewind that THREE TIMES to make sure I was hearing that right

that might honestly be the worst song I've ever heard. it's like something Sifl & Olly would've come up with.

how on earth did this man get a second chance

Are you ready?
Here it comes
Here Comes the lawsuit baby!
(sings "Slow Ride")

wow this is amazing

whoa damn did not expect him to look like that. all I remember is the bucket hat, figured he was a Dave Matthews or Jack Johnson lookin dude or somethin

The New Radicals will reunite for the first time in 22 years to perform "You Get What You Give" during Biden inauguration virtual parade https://t.co/2BkC9H7aWI

— Rolling Stone (@RollingStone) January 18, 2021

“we regretfully must declare that ‘the dreamer’s disease’ is now a global pandemic”

lol 'reunite', was pretty much a glorified solo act as it was

but still dope cos I love TNR

was pretty much a glorified solo act as it was

More of a duo. Danielle Brisebois and Gregg Alexander were partners in NRs and as a songwriting/producing team for many years after.

yeah especially in the movie Begin Again, where I was pleased to hear their work again

So is the last verse just going to be him listing members of the previous administration?

Attempted coups with Giuliani
Pence and Kayleigh McEnany
Traitors in all nooks and crannies
Come around, we'll kick your fannies

"I Don't Wanna Die Anymore" might be a more fitting track

Hawley, Cruz and all you fascists
Come around, we’ll kick your assess

*asses

Maybe You've Been Brainwashed, Q

i can't believe how much this took over my twitter feed today. a higher percentage of tweets than anything i can remember, including big deaths, surprise releases, dumb Trump shit, etc.

xp Kudos

Attempted coups with Giuliani
Pence and Kayleigh McEnany
Traitors in all nooks and crannies
Come around, we'll kick your fannies

applause to this and the other followups

Here come the lawsuits, baby!

has there been a lot written on the last part that he sings? i wiki'd it and the details are bare

i forget how much the US knew about y2k in 1998, but out of a bunch of songs that tried to sum up "the times," this one makes a decent effort

pretty standard, common, American malaise, i guess:

Health insurance, rip-off lying (pretty sure this was common knowledge in the US at the time)

FDA, big bankers buying (vague enough to not mean much but fits the FDA/drug corruption sentiment)

Fake computer crashes dining (if alexander lived in los angeles when he wrote this, i can totally see him being aware of and this being a reference to the y2k bug)

Cloning while they're multiplying (is this a proto idiocracy take?)

Fashion shoots with Beck and Hanson,
Courtney Love and Marilyn Manson
You're all fakes, run to your mansions (probably true but sounds more of a jab at the LA type the rest of the country seems to make fun of)

Come around, we'll kick your ass in (hilarious punk rock charlatanry/demogoguery for funsies)

if i recall correctly, Manson clapped back at him for that line

Marilyn Manson challenged him to a FITE during an MTV interview around this time. That would have been one for the ages, like when Manute Bol and Jawann Oldham (both north of 7'-0") squared off in an NBA game years ago.

I don't recall any of the others taking the bait.

Cloning while they're multiplying (is this a proto idiocracy take?)

there was a lot of talk about cloning in the news, iirc there were controveries maybe about stem cells around this time?? adult stem cell research was patented in '95 so this would make sense, i think a lot of in retrospect right wing ppl and probably just mainstream newspapers might have been drawing lines between stem cells >>>> human cloning as a kind of dystopia fear mongering thing

but idk thats off the top of my head, i definitely remember 'cloning' being a big 20/20 type news show hook in teh late 90s

that was around the time that sheep got cloned (Dolly?) so people were talking about cloning in every day life a lot, as D-40 says.

even came up as a topic in our AP English class, one of our classmates wrote a paper on the ethics of cloning

feel like Outkast's "Synthesizer" was another example of a song that brought that up

clones (we're all)

Beck said that the New Radicals guy came up to him in the supermarket and gave a gushing, unprompted apology. One of the Hanson guys said the guy was weird but cool. Marilyn Mason was pissed he was included in the same line as Courtney Love.

It's a good thing everyone has been appeased before the inauguration.

(IIRC, the guy also said “I’m actually a huge fan of all those artists; I only included that verse to prove everyone would pay attn to that celebrity drama instead of my Very Important political verse,” etc.)

That short list of names reads like a sampling of featured guests at a Comedy Central Roast these days.

I remember playing this song for my dad when I was 15. I thought it sounded a lot like the stuff he listened to - Todd Rundgren and Steely Dan and all that. Within 30 seconds he tells me, "this is pretty annoying, isn't it?". I was gutted.

It is actually really bizarre that this is happening— a few months ago they came up in some odd context, and I was like, "I don't recall knowing a single song by this band," and my partner was like, "Dude, you got the music in you," and I was immediately like, "Oh, shit, that song! Fuck." Then I promptly forgot about it until today.

It's also a visionary song in that it invented The 1975.

The lead singer looks like he is on serious hallucinogenic drugs in the music video

THAT IS HOW IT CAME UP I THINK

(ie, they were mentioned in the context of the 1975, the band that I thought I hated but now begrudgingly get stuck in my head all the time)

I forgot about Dolly! Of course

Gregg Alexander and Hanson actually did a song together:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYYw82sS0l4

(Which is v good)

"You Get What You Give" wore out for me years ago, but I still love this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qC5pC7CVmps

can't wait for him to perform this at the inauguration

god I'm already dreading how he'll update the end of "Get What You Give"

can you even say "asses" on all those networks, at the same time?!

You Get What You Give is such a frustrating listen because it's like *this* close to being a really good song and I'm a big dumb sucker for the chord changes. But the lyrics and vocals are exhaustingly cringe for me. I have no opinions about any of this band's other songs, because I'm quite sure I've never heard them.

Hearing this great collab he did with Sturmer and Manning from Jellyfish made me go and listen to the ...Brainwashed album last year, but found it pretty dull and full of daft lyrics about 'revolution'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ta3srapUYFQ

i think everybody around me thinks I'm kidding but I'm legit excited to see the New Radicals. everybody has their time capsule albums, and this is mine. I literally bought the cassette after a shift at Arby's, I was 18 and just graduated high school.

I had maybe the greatest summer of my life up until that point. I did a summer stock production of "Into the Woods", which was very invigorating, was working Arby's at nights (as mentioned upthread). but there was a foreboding sadness beneath it all, because I was an awkward, formerly bullied kid who wasn't very social, yet had somehow managed to form a solid group of close friends for the first time in my life. I had severe anxiety that I didn't understand at the time, and I was freaked out about moving 6 hours away to go to FSU, living on my own for the first time.

the drive to and from rehearsal was about 45 minutes, so I played this cassette a lot that summer. I only bought this tape cos I liked "You Get What You Give", but was surprised how much I liked the rest of it. yeah, a lot of us sneer now at Gregg's weirdness, but songs like "I Don't Wanna Die Anymore" hit me right in the chest, as I was dealing with my own nebulous emotions and a looming depression that would take hold of me for almost 2 years after the magical summer ended.

every time I hear the songs I pretty much think to that one peaceful summer in my life. Pre-9/11, post-Columbine, pre-Dubya, post-Oklahoma City bombing. felt like a transitional period before the rocky 21st century.

great post. thanks for sharing.

also, man, I could go for a Chicken Finger & Curly Meal with a shake

I'm sorry for the struggles that came after, but I'm glad to hear that an album can resonate with you so deeply and remind you of the happier times. I, too, would now love some Arby's, but there are none on my island, unfortunately.

I love this album, and I'm not ashamed at all. My dad is actually the one that bought this album because he liked "You Get What You Give" when it, hilariously, played on the classic rock station over here when it came out. I hope this helps soothe everyone who played this for their father and found that he was disappointed, because my dad played it for me and we bonded over it.

I also think a lot about the line, "WE DID A PORNO FILM FOR COKE! I HEAR I'M BIG IN JAPAN!"

mentioned on the other thread but "Hope I Didn't Just Give Away the Ending" is almost as ridiculous as "The Truth"

OH SHIT
OH SHIT

also one of my fav songs lol

Gonna take a wild guess that this will be a 2-minute version without the lengthy intro and without the coda.

Also no bucket hat.

no bucket hat, no credibility

if the 4-count gets in there i guess that's good enough for me

i will not be watching this bc i will be heartbroken when they inevitably don't play "the truth," the new national anthem of america and the world, 2021-til-extinction

you will eventually find yourself asking why the previous american national anthem did not include the phrase "here comes the lawsuit baby"

but since the lawsuit actually happened, instead of "Slow Ride", he'll start singing "Can You Read My Mind?" from Superman

"During breakfast, Beau would often make me listen to what I thought was his theme song, ‘You Get What You Give’ by the New Radicals,” Biden wrote. “Even though Beau never stopped fighting and his will to live was stronger than most – I think he knew that this day might come. The words to the song are: This whole damn world can fall apart. You’ll be ok, follow your heart.”

"...as well as some digs at Courtney Love. Beau really hated her"

so, he didn't do the final verse, but he did wear the bucket hat, so

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfcWpXadQPY

what a strange time

That backing vocalist hitting that staccato breakpoint harmony consistently is impressive

Ah this was fun.

got to be honest, seeing an aged gregg alexander has me pondering my own mortality

high notes were a little wobblier than they were 22 years ago, but gregg sounds pretty great all in all

went and listened to the original. I still hear "we'll kick your ass in"

i relistened to this record today and i love it though it's also possibly the most '90s album of all time and that is not my favorite thing about it

"someday we'll know" though.... so amazing. should've been an even bigger hit than it was

deep cuts on the record are definitely nearly as good as the singles though, cf. "flowers"

"in need of a miracle" is my fav deep cut

otm re someday we’ll know

is it not supposed to be "we'll kick your ass in" ? that's what i remember as the word on the high school hallway. by that time there would have been some kind of looking stuff up like that online, but not necessarily from anything that would have felt authoritative.

that's what I always thought it was too

I always heard "kick your ass in"

Jake Tapper just did a whole segment on CNN of The New Radicals reforming to perform this for the inaugural parade – reading from Biden’s memoir in which his daughter wrote about how his son, Beau, used to listen to this song all the time while he was battling cancer and how she believed it was actually his way of telling his family to persevere after he died.

In addition to making things a little dusty in the NTI household, the segment was actually kind of funny as Tapper kept circling back to the band when other commentators would start to veer off topic. Guessing he is a fan.

I feel ancient looking at Gregg Alexander in here. I know it’s tongue in cheek but that hat looks as goddamn stupid today as it did back in 1999.

He sounds pretty good live... I wasn’t expecting him to nail it and he did for the most part. I don’t know how much they practiced beforehand but you’d think they’d actually spent the past two decades playing it live.

yeah I thought it was prerecorded at first cuz he was so close to the studio version

wait, they really skipped the 4-count? wtf

He kept his hat all those years!

Neanderthal's reminiscence of this song parallels exactly how I feel about it. Roughly the same age, roughly the same feelings about having felt ostracised at school and worried about going to university etc. But also a glorious summer where I felt like I'd finally found a good group of friends, working in an off licence in the evenings, and being able to go on the odd road trip away. It wasn't my favourite song, just a thing that was in the air, but it pinpoints a time and a feeling for me.

It's a great song, I'm shocked it hadn't been revived at large already by kids. For example, I keep hearing one of my kids play "Torn" by Natalie Imbruglia (et al.), and I was all, what's up with that? And it's because she just discovered One Direction covered it once. And there are all sorts of random songs I've heard them play because of Tik Tok, or Glee, or some other secondary source. This New Radicals jam seems built for that.

There was a cover of it a few years ago that got a bunch airplay in Canada. It's not very good:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cf7lSbyyDs4

i think glee did a version of it

Yeah, "You Get What You Give" was used in an episode of Glee, but that almost a decade ago.

I often argue that a key component for a song from the late 90s to get revived by kids on the Internet, is whether it was used in a Rock Band game, which would have given people access to it's multi-tracks to be used in remixes/mashups/hilarious memes etc. And "You Get What You Give" never showed up in a Rock Band game.

activision was too scared to offend beck and marilyn manson smh

A E S T H E T I C vapourwave version:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wP7jZtw_mcg

what guitar heroics would have existed in "You Get What You Give"? is there a Van Halen tapping solo?

wouldn't have been a good Rock Band song

maybe you could just sing or play drums on it, and then when you sing "we'll kick your ass in", Marilyn Manson shows up in a Tekken-styled fight

though it's not just about guitar heroics, plenty of iconic Rock Band songs aren't what you'd consider metal guitar slinging stuff, Lazy Eye by Silversun Pickups, Reptilia by the Strokes, Rebel Girl by Bikini Kill

the song is a little too strummy to be a good rock band song, i agree with that

But yeah, they are in essence rhythm games, doesn't really matter how many notes are played.

too many notes

the bass part would be good

maybe you would be required to wear an Activision bucket hat while you played

you would lose points if your eyes weren't at least partially covered

they could wire the hat like bongos and you'd have to tap along on your head.

I often argue that a key component for a song from the late 90s to get revived by kids on the Internet, is whether it was used in a Rock Band game, which would have given people access to it's multi-tracks to be used in remixes/mashups/hilarious memes etc. And "You Get What You Give" never showed up in a Rock Band game.

― MarkoP, Thursday, January 21, 2021 9:25 AM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

Or GTA. I've lost track of the number of the times I've encountered some comment like "I've been a huge fan of Boyz II Men ever since hearing them on Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas!"

Tony Hawk Pro Skater (especially the third one) was pretty big for this in the mid 00's - a bunch of classmates got into The Ramones because "Blitzkrieg Bop" was on the soundtrack

rock band wasn't activision - harmonix split w/activision after guitar hero II then neversoft took it over (tony hawk another game that is essentially a rhythm game in a way) - mtv games bought harmonix w/publishing help from EA

I have nothing to add other than fuck a bucket hat

that's an easy way to get the price marked down at Urban Outfitters

I have nothing to add other than fuck a bucket hat

https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/fatalbert/images/7/7b/Donald.jpg/revision/latest/top-crop/width/220/height/220?cb=20190924013744
"You're like school on Saturday: no class."

Dammit. It was funny.
https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/fatalbert/images/b/b2/Dumb_Donald_DD.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/340?cb=20120221021759

Dammit again!
https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/fatalbert/images/b/b2/Dumb_Donald_DD.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/250?cb=20120221021759

this is funnier than whatever the joke was at this point

Regardless, Billy agrees with me.
https://cdn.cnn.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/130823132521-talk-asia-billy-corgan.jpg

have any Q types remarked on the band name yet

Why do you guys hate the hat lol

It is funny that there is a micro generation in their ... early 40s? That hates this song when everyone else likes it. What’s up with that

theyve got the dreamers disease

idk i've always loved the song. I think people side-eyed it because a) it was a one-hit wonder, b) lol bucket hat, c) guy threatened to beat up Marilyn Manson and called Beck/Hanson "fakes", d) it has a positive, uplifting message, which isn't edgy enuf.

it's the power-pop record that broke, what's not to like

Love how breezy the song is. Good song for driving with windows down.

wait is he doing a sly play on words of some sort by pairing Beck (Hansen) and Hanson?

"Someday We'll Know" is terrific.

Hall & Oates did it right:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlBEIUJIqvI

It is funny that there is a micro generation in their ... early 40s? That hates this song when everyone else likes it. What’s up with that

It's so very earnest and trying to be inspirational. This cohort were roughly college age when it came out, not a group known for their attraction to that tone. I was 16 and I think it just slid under the wire after I had begun to shun pop music but before I had tuned it out completely, so I was still able to latch on to the occasional catchy melody and enjoy it.

Also bucket hat

good: the song, the performance
bad: the hat, later collaboration with R*nan K**ting

Why does he not wear the hat for most of the video. Has been bothering me for 22 years

I recall seeing Run DMC back when they were first getting big, and Run ditched his trademark stetson hat about halfway through the show. I felt cheated, like I wasn't getting the full Run DMC experience.

I was just out of college and dreaded the song (for none of the reasons listed above) - the sound & melody just irked me, I don't have a good explanation other than "personal taste." (I also had to hear it / see the video many times per day, at work, which didn't help.)

It is funny that there is a micro generation in their ... early 40s? That hates this song when everyone else likes it. What’s up with that

Fwiw, assuming you're talking about music fans and not like accountants who listen to the radio, I like the song now but virtually all modern rock alt-pop sounded like an abomination in the late 90s. Having grown up listening to hard rock/classic rock, getting into early 90s alternative rock, and following that to noisier and further out music, this stuff that took 'alt' in the opposite direction seemed bland and limp and not even hooky. I didn't hear it as earnest or inspirational at all. I did like 3EB's "Never Let You Go", which reminded me of 70s power pop and did sound earnest, and made an effort with the album, but hated "Semi-Charmed Life". Matchbox 20 were sort of the archetypal offenders. I don't think I was even aware of the New Radicals or of the title of this song at the time but I did hear it.

I was 23 when it came out and it annoyed me. I think it's fine now. At the time, it was snobbishness and its damn ubiquity. I lived in Australia for a while in 1999 and it was huge there too. I worked at a fairground for a couple of weeks and must have heard 10 times a day. I hated the limp faux-earnestness of it, the kind that you might hear at a, well, an inauguration, where the main goal is to sound vaguely uplifting without offending anyone.

ive def gone through multiple stretches of thinking this song had different titles over the last 20 years

Have to admit I was turned off the song when it came out due to mistaking them for the band Live having gone pop

i was in my early 20s and i kind of mentally filed it away with stuff like "Steal My Sunshine" as sort of Graduation Party Rock, or the song a 'cool' character would be listening to in an SNL movie or something. i didnt hate it but it was definitely not where i was at.

I remember liking it at the time partly because I thought it was World Party lol

LIGHT!
NING!
CRASH!
placenta FALLS to the floor!!

buck-et hat
i'm wearing on my bald head

d40 are you sure you're not creating a micro generation out of like 4 tweets he saw yesterday

ive def gone through multiple stretches of thinking this song had different titles over the last 20 years

― nobody like my rap (One Eye Open),

"Don't Let Go (You've Got the Music in You)"

It was also released in the UK in time for finally getting MTV/VH-1 along with the late 90s North American one-hit-wonder boom that sat uncomfortably with being 18 and getting into Knock Knock and I See A Darkness

I would have been put off by the iconography too, the twat in the hat with his big shoes - like the dude had cycled through every other style in his desperation to get noticed and had seized on Manchester 10 years after everyone else.

There were a bunch of pseudo power pop hits around the same time, iirc. This, Fastball, "Closing Time," and also "Steal My Sunshine."

all of those are great. first two songs on the Fastball album ("The Way" and "Fire Escape") still sound awesome

Steal my Sunshine is a bit different though, its all based on a disco sample

I love Steal My Sunshine, I still listen to it fairly often.

I was 13/14 at this time and this was exactly the type of popular music that I turned to in order to escape the oncoming onslaught of Teen Pop and Nu Metal. Well that and a lot of pop/skater punk stuff.

semisonic's UK hit was Secret Smile, which I still cannot stand.

this song and Chris Cornell's "Sunshower" were two songs taht slowed the daily deluge of misery into my young teenage head with a dose of optimism

I loved "Steal My Sunshine," H-A-T-E-D "Closing Time"

"Closing Time" can get fucked

Yes, this song was on heavy rotation when we finally got cable and could watch music TV, along with Groovejet and Tender

I loved "Steal My Sunshine," H-A-T-E-D "Closing Time"

― one of the only artist who is genuine (morrisp), Thursday, January 21, 2021 12:33 PM (fifty-seven seconds ago) bookmarkflaglink

i hated most alternative pop, or at least, late 90s alternative pop with generic vocals. The Flys "Got You Where I Want You" being a prime example.

yet I liked Econoline Crush "All That You Are", *Shrug*

i am basically reliving 1999 now and it's a mixed bag of emotions.

Also, I was under the impression for a good while that the New Radicals were Canadian because I confused the Staten Island Mall in the video with the Yorkdale Mall in Toronto.

Ha, I didn't know Econoline Crush were known outside Canada. (Thought that was called "Shooting Star"?) That was probably my actual most-hated band.

might have been called shooting star.

two of their singles got played a bit here

Totally forgot about Closing Time, fuck that song

Yeah, Len is different. But speak of the devil, "Torn," the Imbruglia version, was right around this time, too. Post the peak of Letters to Cleo and Better Than Ezra, though, two bands I'm not sure I've ever heard whose names I always get confused.

I read that book about "Closing Time" long before I ever heard the song. Feel like there is at least one other thread about songs like that.

The only noteworthy thing about "Closing Time" is that the dude managed to pull off what the New Radicals guy did (and Rob Thomas?) and become a go-to songwriter for other acts. There was a really good story about "Closing Time" in TapeOp recently, though. I guess the future hit version was done, and the band liked the results, but the label wanted to give them extra money to work on it some more. The manager or producer pulls Dan Wilson aside and makes a really smart point: if there are two versions of the song, and one is the one you like and one is the one the label spent a bunch of extra money on, which one do you think they're going to pick? So they stuck with the original one.

I read that book about "Closing Time"

?!?

d40 are you sure you're not creating a micro generation out of like 4 tweets he saw yesterday

― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, January 21, 2021 11:17 AM (fifty-seven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

are you suggesting there are flaws in the methodology of whiney's hipster studies

I would have been put off by the iconography too, the twat in the hat with his big shoes - like the dude had cycled through every other style in his desperation to get noticed and had seized on Manchester 10 years after everyone else.

― Vanishing Point (Chinaski), Thursday, January 21, 2021 11:19 AM (fifty-nine minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

this is a very non american perspective on an american artist lol

i still dont get what was wrong w the hat ...

id say his image overall ... the ringer tee and his age .. made me think of the slightly older / young gen x dude guiding me (i was 16 at the time) to a kind of leftist optimism ... feel like it resonated in a pretty unique way for its time

I like "closing time" tbh

in high school we sang "Farting Time"

cos we were 'edgy'

I’ll slap the face of anyone who speaks ill of the unadultered joy of “steal my sunshine”.

https://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/13/books/sex-no-drugs-no-panic-attacks-yes.html

Dan Wilson has been behind some music I like, but the lyric of "Closing Time" is so clunky that its kinda surprising that he became this big journeyman songwriter (or maybe not, since that song was huge).

every twat at a british music festival had been wearing that exact hat for the previous decade, it was a handy shorthand for who not to talk to.

xp

Ah, ok. I was thinking there was some book-length critical analysis of "Closing Time" out there...

the melody was ear-wormy and the type of thing you could hum. it was one of those songs like Staind's "It's Been a While" where people only knew the main refrain so they'd just be at school/working humming:

"Closing time
mumbabumbanurphur
dahdahdahdahdahdah something's end

I know who i want to take me home!"

"It's been a while
Since muddabuddabrruhburrrburrrr
It's been a while
Mubbbadduddaaburrbrrburrr"

Have to agree that the image of a guy in Adidas trainers and a buckethat singing a sunny power-pop song about smashing the establishment felt like a strange juxtaposition

There is a book about that band’s rise & fall, by the drummer; it (naturally) discusses “Closing Time” at length: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/168438/so-you-wanna-be-a-rock-and-roll-star-by-jacob-slichter/

are you suggesting there are flaws in the methodology of whiney's hipster studies

― ILX’s bad boy (D-40), Thursday, January 21, 2021 1:18 PM (forty-six minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Here's the graph

Here's the "You Get What You Give" micro-generation line graph

• Most passionate number of likes from 34-38 y/o group
• Biggest dissension in the 40-44 y/o group
• Highest concentration of clueless ppl are 43-48 y/o pic.twitter.com/M4gq0jG09L

— Christopher R. Weingarten (@1000TimesYes) January 21, 2021

always thought he sounded like one of the Sifl & Olly dudes

There is a book about that band’s rise & fall, by the drummer; it (naturally) discusses “Closing Time” at length: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/168438/so-you-wanna-be-a-rock-and-roll-star-by-jacob-slichter/

― one of the only artist who is genuine (morrisp), Thursday, January 21, 2021 1:05 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

I've read this - it's pretty amusing

"in need of a miracle" is my fav deep cut

― boz conspiracy by toby hus (voodoo chili), Wednesday, January 20, 2021 2:23 PM (yesterday)

This is correct.

too many notes

― Looking for Cape Penis house (Neanderthal), Thursday, January 21, 2021 4:52 AM (five hours ago)

I appreciate this.

I showed my dad this performance and he laughed and laughed. We're going to listen to this album again on my next night off.

i... didn't foresee this song being like a dad / son thing?

My dad liked "You Get What You Give" as well. I'm pretty sure I remember him thinking it was Mick Jagger at first.

Yeah, I can hear that.

I thought it was World Party.

...
nothing
...

no way is the vocal on "Got You Where I Want You" generic --- dude is giving his all to a very specific imitation of Chris Cornell

and somehow, it rules

(why Samson loved Delilah)

i... didn't foresee this song being like a dad / son thing?

― satanist of size (map), Thursday, January 21, 2021 10:31 AM (fifty-nine minutes ago)

Maybe it's an age thing? I'm 31, and my dad is 70. I definitely think he thought it was older than it was, and so did our radio station, because it was on the classic rock station when he first heard it when it came out.

Isn't the whole reason they reformed for the inauguration that the song was a father/son thing for Joe and Beau Biden?

Great reason, honestly.

I hated this song at the time, but that's because I hated most things at the time-- I was a fat queer kid who was really into hardcore and crustpunk.

Now I think it's pretty good.

And I'm 36, fwiw

Feel like the inaugural performance was really missing the piano. It was too quiet. That song is all about the piano to me.

yeah it was definitely low in the mix

so this had to have been the most dad rock version of this track -- at least live

not that the world is clamouring for more controversy, but totally omitting the last part was lame

woulda made the song sound even more dated.

Beck? Hanson? Manson?

throw in a Everlast ref and we complete the cycle

so, not necessarily singing it word for word, but changing it up to fit with the times while still keeping the same intent

but considering this was a song beau used to listen to a lot, maybe biden had other reasons to have them perform

pretty sure 50% of my love for that song is dedicated to the fact of my upbringing and seeing that inside-out Mickey Mouse shirt I used to wear when I was 7.

Let’s talk Fuel.

woulda made the song sound even more dated.

yeah, keeping the bit about the US' twisted health insurance system directly leading to preventable deaths would have totally sounded out of date

I was referring to the musician part of that coda but i take your point

Feel like the inaugural performance was really missing the piano. It was too quiet. That song is all about the piano to me.

Old Gregg was weird to see, his front teeth are still cute, but:

Yeah, "You Get What You Give" was used in an episode of Glee, but that almost a decade ago.

THIS is what made me ponder my own mortality, holy fucking shit

I just came here to make a point about the bucket hat— my friend's kids who are in high school have been rocking these. The kids are into late 90s fashion/shit from right before they were born, from what I can tell.

I am about Brian Johnson's hat