Check that Wikipedia footnite:
A ^ "Santa Monica" did not enter the Billboard Hot 100, but peaked at number 29 on the Hot 100 Airplay chart.
― LimbsKing, Tuesday, 7 January 2014 20:03 (ten years ago) link
ahhhh, got it got it. My bad. Man, what a rip. It doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things, but I hate the way it totally distorts band's picture/narrative/legacy. Also, picturing upstart "Wonderful" fans trying to lord its "biggest hit" status over the historical record.
I still think "Awful" is the best thing to come out of Celebrity Skin but it always seems to get overlooked...
― Doctor Casino, Tuesday, 7 January 2014 20:05 (ten years ago) link
"Wonderful" was by far their biggest adult contempo crossover hit, though, so for a lot of people it is their biggest song
― some dude, Tuesday, 7 January 2014 20:23 (ten years ago) link
I wonder why Capitol approved Alexakis' idea to do a Use Your Illusion-style double record, but with the second entry released four months later.
― intheblanks, Tuesday, 7 January 2014 20:31 (ten years ago) link
re: "Wonderful" as the "these guys are straight up out of material" moment, I think most people who liked or kind of liked Everclear probably felt the same way. The second "Songs From an American Movie" record debuted at #66 and has sold 100K, after the first one hit #9 and is platinum.
― intheblanks, Tuesday, 7 January 2014 20:34 (ten years ago) link
The Fuddy/Duddy Experience
― some dude, Tuesday, 7 January 2014 20:36 (ten years ago) link
it was their "New Jersey"
― intheblanks, Tuesday, 7 January 2014 20:37 (ten years ago) link
i never even HEARD the single from the 2nd 'American Movie' album, only a 5-second clip in commercials for the movie Antitrust
― some dude, Tuesday, 7 January 2014 20:37 (ten years ago) link
Yeah, looking at Everclear's wikipedia page, it seems like Capitol said, "Sure, release another record, whatever, but we're only going to promote the one you released a few months ago"
― intheblanks, Tuesday, 7 January 2014 20:40 (ten years ago) link
It really does seem baffling in hindsight, given all the failed alt-rock records we've discussed from several years earlier. Could any band just have walked up and gotten two records in one year? Yeah, no promotion, but somebody paid for a video for "When It All Goes Wrong Again." Granted, it has some movie clips, but otherwise it seems to be mostly Art mugging just like the ones before.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdQjqY9JDmI
The idea, IIRC, was that this was the "rock" side to the previous "pop" album.
― Doctor Casino, Tuesday, 7 January 2014 20:50 (ten years ago) link
I recall at the time they were supposedly loved by critics and marketed as some kind of modern The Who (intelligent power pop?) but I never really cared for them.
― Emperor Cos Dashit (Adam Bruneau), Tuesday, 7 January 2014 20:51 (ten years ago) link
Maybe Capitol thought that this was the one that was really going to break them big, maybe move them from successful double-platinum alternative band to giant rock stars
― intheblanks, Tuesday, 7 January 2014 20:54 (ten years ago) link
Like it'd be their Mellon Collie, or something. Still don't understand why they'd approve releasing the albums months apart, though
― intheblanks, Tuesday, 7 January 2014 20:55 (ten years ago) link
I got So Much For The Afterglow, Celebrity Skin, and The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill in 1998 from cdnow for $1 each, new. those were the days
― Euler, Tuesday, 7 January 2014 20:56 (ten years ago) link
Songs From an American Movie, Vol. 1: Learning How to Smile [Capitol, 2000]
All doubts as to Art Alexakis's punk bona fides are hereby laid to rest--he doesn't have any. Instead he chooses to whup Dave Grohl, the jerk from the Verve Pipe, and if there's any justice Rob Thomas in postgrunge's Bryan Adams sweepstakes. The corn he indulges on this fondly detailed end-of-a-marriage song cycle has nothing to do with abstracted teen agony and everything with classic Garth Brooks, except that Garth never waxed nostalgic for the days he and his honey whiled away watching porn and eating Chinese. Laying on strings, horns, synths, and backup vocals to a fare-thee-well, it makes honest peace with a pop moment when honest pop is the toughest artistic challenge there is. Volume two will supposedly return to the guitar-o-rama of his roots--without any loss of principle, one trusts. A-
― the objections to Drake from non-REAL HIPHOP people (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 7 January 2014 20:57 (ten years ago) link
*rubs temples*
― Hungry4Ass, Tuesday, 7 January 2014 21:29 (ten years ago) link
anyway harvey danger no contest
it's very tempting to vote for either of the Jack Irons-era Pearl Jam tracks or the Counting Crows rocker that was better than it had a right to be, but i can't bring myself to vote for anything other than "Everlong," legit song of the decade contender.
― some dude, Monday, January 6, 2014 9:46 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark
song of the bizarro decade maybe, the mirror universe 90s where the world was so hellish that it could only be represented by a foo fighters song
'98 was def the beginning of the sea change--i think follow the leader coming out that year and getting radio play told me everything i needed to know
― call all destroyer, Monday, January 6, 2014 11:32 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark
yeah, it told u that the dark ages of rock were over and the combination renaissance & enlightenment (99-02) had begun http://i.imgur.com/l65mwLC.gif
― Hungry4Ass, Tuesday, 7 January 2014 21:46 (ten years ago) link
balls, have you read this long blog by Sean Demery detailing the rise and fall of 99X from his perspective? He's a little vague in key places but it's got some telling moments.
― Doctor Casino, Monday, January 6, 2014 11:47 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark
thanks for this btw, how'd u find it
― Hungry4Ass, Tuesday, 7 January 2014 21:51 (ten years ago) link
i need to not be the only person listening to the weird spoken bits in this everclear cover of "the joker" right now
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Tuesday, 7 January 2014 22:17 (ten years ago) link
H4A, found it by accident trying to find a list of all the Big Day Out festivals. Did not find.
― Doctor Casino, Tuesday, 7 January 2014 22:34 (ten years ago) link
I moved to Atlanta in '97 at age 14 and remember thinking 99X was at least a semi-OK replacement for KROQ for about a year. Fits in pretty well with the above. I used to think it was just that my own tastes were changing, but in retrospect it's clear that there was other, bigger stuff going on.
― skip, Tuesday, 7 January 2014 22:51 (ten years ago) link
KROQ's Top 20 of the year 1998:
1. Beastie Boys - Intergalactic2. Harvey Danger - Flagpole Sitta3. blink-182 - Dammit4. Sublime - Bad Fish5. Green Day - Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)6. Everclear - I Will Buy You a New Life7. Marcy Playground - Sex and Candy8. Hole - Celebrity Skin9. Goo Goo Dolls - Iris10. Garbage - I Think I'm Paranoid11. The Smashing Pumpkins - Perfect12. Save Ferris - Goodbye13. Everclear - Father of Mine14. The Offspring - Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)15. 311 - Beautiful Disaster16. Fastball - The Way17. Beastie Boys - Body Movin'18. Korn - Got the Life19. Eve 6 - Inside Out20. Everlast - What It's Like
― LimbsKing, Friday, 10 January 2014 15:51 (ten years ago) link
― Doctor Casino, Tuesday, January 7, 2014 3:05 PM (3 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
"Awful" has always been my favorite song from that album!
― Ian from Etobicoke (Phil D.), Friday, 10 January 2014 15:57 (ten years ago) link
4. Sublime - Bad Fish12. Save Ferris - Goodbye15. 311 - Beautiful Disaster
^^^ the hell? I heard "Beautiful Disaster" a few times, but there were bigger songs on that album, and I don't think I ever heard those other two. I guess KROQ is kind of its own thing.
Heard "Father of Mine" in the coffee shop yesterday. Still hits pretty hard IMO, I think it's his most successful attempt to do that kind of therapy grunge rock catharsis thing.
― Doctor Casino, Friday, 10 January 2014 16:17 (ten years ago) link
Reception
Consequence of Sound commented that "Beautiful Disaster" may be 311's greatest hit and states that it has one of most recognizable intro in any song.[2]
Nah I live on the east coast and hear "Beautiful Disaster" weekly, it's kinda gradually become one of their biggest songs, whereas I haven't heard "Transistor" or "Come Original" or any of their other late 90s singles in years.
― some dude, Friday, 10 January 2014 16:51 (ten years ago) link
I ... hear "Beautiful Disaster" weekly
I feel bad for you...
― skip, Friday, 10 January 2014 16:56 (ten years ago) link
I got 311 problems
― some dude, Friday, 10 January 2014 17:00 (ten years ago) link
I should clarify, I hear its Most Recognizable Intro and then change the station weekly. I try to be not like that, some songs really suck.
― some dude, Friday, 10 January 2014 17:01 (ten years ago) link
I was a sophomore in high school when "Beautiful Disaster" came out, and IIRC it had a slow-build into its (very relative) success. Granted none of the singles off "Transistor" were anywhere near as successful or ubiquitous as the big two from the previous 311 album. "Beautiful Disaster" was third single, and it just kind of stuck around, got played a lot on 120 Minutes, got covered by at least two high school bands in my hometown in rural Illinois.
― intheblanks, Friday, 10 January 2014 17:16 (ten years ago) link
Obviously small town Illinois high school cover bands is a pretty crucial litmus test
lol
Huh, never really noticed "Beautiful Disaster" having an afterlife. Always thought "Prisoner" should have been a little bigger, but then I also kinda liked "Transistor" which is sort of measurably stupid and lousy.
― Doctor Casino, Friday, 10 January 2014 17:42 (ten years ago) link
latter day 311 is lol, real heads step for "Freak Out"
― Euler, Friday, 10 January 2014 17:51 (ten years ago) link
Live 105 in San Francisco (where I grew up) played "Beautiful Disaster" much more than the other Transistor singles. Months and months on end.
― LimbsKing, Friday, 10 January 2014 18:47 (ten years ago) link
There is nothing on this list I like and a lot I actively dislike.
― Loud guitars shit all over "Bette Davis Eyes" (NYCNative), Friday, 10 January 2014 20:29 (ten years ago) link
how sad is it that "Beautiful Disaster" may be the closest thing 90s radio rock got to a Thin Lizzy-style twin lead guitar line
― some dude, Friday, 10 January 2014 21:18 (ten years ago) link
OK so this is the first time I hear "Flagpole Sitta." So this is how "A Horse with No Name" was translated for the Fastball era.
― the objections to Drake from non-REAL HIPHOP people (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 10 January 2014 21:23 (ten years ago) link
no idea how you can go the last 15 years without hearing that song, or what that comparison means
― some dude, Friday, 10 January 2014 21:31 (ten years ago) link
Didn't listen to modern rock radio in '99 or watch the shows in which the song appeared, and the song has an impressive lift from that America song.
― the objections to Drake from non-REAL HIPHOP people (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 10 January 2014 21:32 (ten years ago) link
*is
Hear the plants and rocks and thingsI swear to god it sounds like they're snoring
― Doctor Casino, Friday, 10 January 2014 22:08 (ten years ago) link
I've been through the desert on a horse with no nameThey cut off my legs now I'm an amputee goddamn you
― Ian from Etobicoke (Phil D.), Friday, 10 January 2014 22:52 (ten years ago) link
flagpole sitta owns
― Hungry4Ass, Saturday, 11 January 2014 16:50 (ten years ago) link
In the desert, you cannot publish a zineCause there ain't no one raging a-gainst machines
― Doctor Casino, Saturday, 11 January 2014 17:46 (ten years ago) link
I don't get Flagpole Sitta either, but Sad Sweetheart of the Radio is one of my favorite songs of all time.
― Your Favorite Album in the Cutout Bin, Saturday, 11 January 2014 21:14 (ten years ago) link
So what exactly is the distinguishing feature of Modern Rock that makes it 'modern'? Like, what exactly makes Matchbox 20 more modern than the non-modern ('mainstream' in Billboard parlance) rock acts of its era?
― Lee626, Sunday, 12 January 2014 00:43 (ten years ago) link
Singing that sounds like you are on a toilet having a difficult time.
― Emperor Cos Dashit (Adam Bruneau), Sunday, 12 January 2014 16:31 (ten years ago) link
For better or worse Billboard scrapped the term "modern rock" a few years ago in favor of calling the chart "alternative songs"
― some dude, Sunday, 12 January 2014 16:33 (ten years ago) link
My top songs from this selection: "Fade Into You", "Geek Stink Breath", "Brain Stew", "If You Could Only See", "Santeria", "Everlong", and "Flagpole Sitta". Torn between Mazzy or the Foos for my vote.
Looking at the list of modern rock #2 hits for this era I kinda wish they'd also been given their own poll, lots of gems there as well
― Frontier Psychiatrist, Sunday, 12 January 2014 17:22 (ten years ago) link