Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band sang “Old Time Rock & Roll” back in the seventies to counter the serging disco scene: “Don’t try to take me to a disco, you’ll never get me out on the floor. In ten minutes I’ll be late for the door. I like that old time rock ‘n’ roll.” If Mr. Seger had sung this song in the early nineties it would have complained about rap and grunge that ruled the charts. Later in the same song, Old Time Rock & Roll, Bob Seger sings, “Still like that old time rock ‘n’ roll. That kind of music that soothes the soul. I reminisce about the days of old with that old time rock ‘n’ roll.” In the early nineties, you would have to reminisce about old time rock ‘n’ roll. With the asergence of such bands as Hootie and the Blowfish, Dave Matthews Band, and Blues Traveler, you do not have to reminisce. Now, after years of rap, grunge, and adult contemporary, these bands are controlling the album and single charts, pop, alternative, and adult contemporary radio formats, VH1 and MTV (when they actually show videos).
During the late eighties and early nineties the Billboard Pop Charts were flooded by rap, grunge, and adult contemporary music. New albums by such artist as Snoop Doggy Dogg, Nirvana, and Michael Bolton shot straight to the top of the Top Two-hundred Billboard’s Albums Chart and could not be bumped from the top spot until the next new album by the next big rap, grunge, or adult contemporary star was released his, hers, or their next album. But in 1994, something happened that would change popular recording forever (well, for at least for right now). Late in that year, a previously unknown band, Hootie and the Blowfish, released their major-label debut, Cracked Rear View. Hootie has been able to sell over thirteen millions copies of Cracked Rear View in eighty-eight weeks on the shelf and is now one of the top five selling debut albums of all time according to Billboard Publications Incorporated and Soundscan Incorporated. Hootie and the Blowfish’s success has opened the door for many new artist such as Dave Matthews Band and Better Than Ezra. They also have brought new light and increased record sales to such older and sometimes overlooked performers like Blues Traveler and Toad the Wet Sprocket.
The one thing that connects Hootie and the Blowfish, Dave Matthews Band, and many other bands like them is the fact that they are normal. The factors that led to the success of these “normal” band are, for the most part, the same. They all started out as bar and college bands. They do not have big, elaborate stage shows. They do not wear designer clothes, they stick to wearing clothes that everyday people can pick up at the local Old Navy store. Their videos are much more lighter and fun mood. Their lead singers have more soothing voices. Their lyrics depict more everyday experiences. The bands mix up the sound of their music by bringing in different instruments into the studio. The biggest difference that these “normal” bands have that separates them from other bands is that they actually have fun playing music and actually like playing with each other. And another big difference is, of course, the music that the bands play. In October of 1994, Rolling Stone published a review of Hootie and the Blowfish’s Cracked Rear View that went like: “The South Carolina band lends an unapologetically love and peace world view to fat, folk-derived, group-written guitar rock: their absolute lack of irony is as refreshing as their sing-along hooks.” (Evans 148). This review also describes some characteristics that all the “normal” bands like Hootie and the Blowfish have. The normality of Hootie and the Blowfish has even sparked the Daily Kent Stater to add another genre of music that the labeled “Hootie Rock.” (12 Balogh).
Members of the “normal” bands took more in-depth approaches in explaining the success of their bands. Mark Bryan, the lead guitarist for Hootie and the Blowfish, explained his band’s success by saying, “We’re only a rock band which is why we appeal to different people, so many different types of listeners. We, ourselves, have so many influences that we don’t fit into any one category. We’re not ‘grunge,’ we’re not ‘alternative.’ We just play rock and roll.” Darius Rucker, the vocalist and guitarist of the same band, took another approach on explaining the success of Hootie and the Blowfish, “If you look at the four of us sitting in a restaurant, you wouldn’t say, ‘Oh, that’s a band.’ I think people really connect with the fact that we could be guys you’re sitting next to in your calculus class.” (Puterbaugh 74). Brendan Hill, the drummer for Blues Traveler, described being what it was like being famous on behalf of his band, “I think the success of Four surprised us all. It’s funny when you finally get the attention you’ve been craving, you realize it’s a mixed blessing.” Mark Bryan’s quote, Darius Rucker’s quote, and Brendan Hill’s quote all describe what all “normal” bands are like.
“I wanna move, playing in a travelin’ band. Yeah, well I’m flying across the land, trying to get a hand. Playing in a travelin’ band.” These lyrics were written and sung by John Fogerty while he was fronting his band, Creedence Clearwater Revival back in 1970, a band who is one of the Godfathers of today’s “normal” bands. The bands today have to took Creedence Clearwater Revival’s philosophy on building up their fan base by traveling around the country. Most of these bands spent most of the eighties and early nineties traveling from bar to bar and college campus to campus building up a strong fan base. Then each time the band would come back to a bar or college, the crowd would gradually get larger and larger until the size of the crowds would catch the eyes of record executives. When they caught the eyes of record executives, the executives would offer the bands record contracts to their independent labels. After the independent record releases started to sell well just from selling them at concert, the major label record executives started to get interested and bought out the band’s contract with the independent label. Dave Matthews, the lead singer and guitarist for the band that bares his name had a different take on the popularity of his band. “It’s been a very natural, very low-key progression. I don’t feel like we’ve had this dramatic, overnight success. It’s basically been a mater of word-of-mouth -- people liking what they’ve seen and bringing some friends with them the next time around.” Also, many of the band, like the Dave Matthews Band, had and continue to have a Grateful Dead type of following, where fans would follow the band around the country and go to all of the band’s concerts before and after they were signed major label record contracts.
When people go to a concert by a “normal” band, they will see a difference from other concerts by artists in other genres. a Rolling Stone writer best describe going to a concert put on by a “normal” band when he wrote an article on Hootie and the Blowfish. Puterbaugh described the stage show by writing, “there’re not capering around the stage like shirtless punks, precipitating a Green Day-at-Woodstock mud sling, nor are they inciting to riot, à la some of the choicer gangsta-rap acts. There’s no hair show, no flash pots, no video screen, no Bee Girl. They’re simply standing up there singing their well-liked songs, and a youngish girl, high-school to college-age crowd is reacting fervently to them. Without smoke or mirrors, Hootie’s solid, unpretentious pop tunes evoke a surprisingly visceral reaction. (75 Puterbaugh). Adding to Puterbaugh’s comment, if you go to a show headlined by a “normal” band there people from every age groups and every ethic background. Even though the target audience is college students, these college students bring there parents and their kids to the shows. And the influences of jazz, soul, and the blues is what attracts people who are not Caucasian (Even Snoop Doggy Dogg and Tupac Sachur have admitted to owning Hootie and the Blowfish’s Cracked Rear View.) The influences are also evidence in the song they cover in concert. The “normal” bands have cover songs by such artists as Crosby, Stills, and Nash, Jimi Hendrix, Public Enemy, Michael Jackson and Barry Manalow.
When attending a concert, people can notice something about the band that they can not say is they go to the Kiss Reunion tour, “Hey, these guys are wearing the same thing as I am.” (well, maybe there will be a few people in the Kiss crowd in full costume and make-up.) When asked if they had an image, Darius Rucker answered for his band, Hootie and the Blowfish, “For us it was whatever I had on that day. Our music is not pretentious or cutting-edge enough for us to have a look to play it. You can play it with pretty much whatever you have on.” Sprite was not right when they coined the phrase “Image is nothing”. Image is another thing that attracts music buyer to the “normal” bands. Most of the members of Hootie and the Blowfish, Dave Matthews Band, and Blues Travelers look like they could be seen at the local bar. Seeing them in a bar is something that cannot be said about Billy Joe of Green Day or Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails.
In the “normal” band’s videos, people can see for themselves that the “normal” band members are people you can sit down next to in a bar and have a beer with (not that I drink beer, I am only nineteen. I have another two years to go until I can participate in this act). Videos are another reason the “normal” bands are more appealing than bands in other genres. The videos by the non-“normal” band are usually boring, sexist, or disturbing. Some of the bands are not very creative and it is just them lip-synching on stage like in Pearl Jam’s “Alive.” In Sir Mix-A-Lot’s “Baby Got Back,” and many other rap videos, there are many close-ups of the female anatomy and women parading around in something out of a dental floss container. There are also many disturbing videos showcased on MTV. The most disturbing video MTV has shown is Nine Inch Nails’ video for “Closer” which opens with a heart beating to the beat of the music. Another video, Nirvana’s “Heart-Shaped Box,” features a little wandering around in a Ku Klux Klan outfit and an old man with a Santa Clause hat and a diaper being crucified. These videos are far from the one made by the “normal” band which have more of a lighter mood. The plot behind Blues Traveler’s “Run-Around,” is an 1990’s updated of the Wizard of Oz where Dorothy, Toto, the Tin Man, the Scarecrow, and the Cowardly Lion try to get into a club eventhough they are under-aged. The gang from Oz soon find out that it is Blues Traveler are the wizard behind the curtain (when asked why his band did not appear much in the video, the hefty lead singer for Blues Traveler, John Popper, turned his back to the interviewer and answered “This isn’t the type of butt that sells records to fourteen year olds.”) The Hootie and the Blowfish video for “Only Wanna Be With You” played out every man’s fantasy, making ESPN’s SportCenter while playing basketball with the Miami Heat’s Alonzo Morning (then of the Charlotte Hornets) and Walt Williams (then of the Sacramento Kings), and Mugsy Bouges of the Charlotte Hornets, playing golf with Freddy Couples, and playing football with the record-setting quarterback for the Miami Dolphins, Dan Marino. The “normal” band have also lured such television personalities besides the cast of SportCenter like Ken Ober host of early MTV’s game show, “Remote Control” (he appeared in Blues Traveler’s “Run-Around” and “Hook”), Paul Shaffer of “The Late Show with David Letterman” (he also appeared in Blues Traveler’s “Hook”), and Courtney Cox of “Friends” (she appeared in Toad the Wet Sprocket’s “Good Intentions”).
Another appealing aspect about the “normal” bands that people notice when they go to a their concert or watch their video is the voice of their lead singer. After awhile, Kurt Cobain and Eddie Vedder’s whinny voices start to get annoying and the nasal sound of Cypress Hill’s, B-Real, voice starts out annoying to begin with. With the “normal” bands, the lead singers have much more soothing, almost polished, voices. Hootie and the Blowfish’s lead singer, Darius Rucker, sang in the University of South Carolina college choir (while in the choir, Darius meet up with a guy with big eyes, who Darius called Hootie, and a guy with big cheeks, who Darius dubbed the Blowfish.) The lead signers of the “normal” bands don’t need to shout to get there lyrics across either such as some artist like Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails or Billy Joe of Green Day.
Lyrics are another thing that set apart the “normal” band apart from the other genres of music. The lyrics of the “normal” bands are lyrics that everyone can related to. They write about bad communication: “We look at each other wondering what the other is thinking. But we never say a thing. And these crimes between us grow deeper.” (from Dave Matthews’ “Ants Marching”). The write about the loss of a family member: “I’m a stranger in my home now that everybody’s gone. Someone please talk to me because I feel you cry. And your sitting with him and I know I’ll never see you again... And I wonder if you’re looking down at me and smiling at me right now. Oh, and I want to know if it’s true when he looks at me, won’t you tell me, does he realize he came down and he took you too soon.” (from Hootie and the Blowfish’s “Not Evan the Trees”). They write about love: “I want more than a touch, I want you to reach me and show me all the thing no one else can see.... But you. Why you want to give me the run-around?” (from Blues Traveler’s “Run-Around”). And they write about love lost: “Maybe I’m just too sure, or maybe I’m just too frightened by the sound of it. Pieces of note fall down but the letter said ‘It was good living with you.’” (from Better Than Ezra’s “Good”). Even though many of the “normal” band’s songwriters stick to love and relationships, sometime they slip in a politically driven song: “I don’t understand children killing in the streets, dying for the color of a rag.” (from Hootie and the Blowfish’s “Time”).
The lyrics by “normal” band are much more relatable to most people than songs written by Pearl Jam. In “Jeremy,” Eddie Vedder sings about a neglected boy: “Daddy didn’t give attention to the fact that mommy didn’t care. King Jeremy, the wicked, ruled his world.” Even thought it is good to bring this topic to the general public, it is the government that should have tackled the subject, not a rock and roll band. The point of rock and roll bands are to entertain people not scare them. The other good aspect of the lyrics is there respect towards woman. I would print a few lines from Sir Mix-A-Lot’s “Baby’s Got Back,” but most of the lyrics in the song are not appropriate. And the obsessed lyrics of Nine Inch Nails’ “Closer” and Alanis Morissette’s “You Outta Know” depict two sex-craved characters who would to do anything to get or get back at a lover at any cost.
After the “normal” bands write the lyrics, they decide to go into the studio and record an album. Most other band go in with just them playing guitars and drums. The “normal” bands bring in different instruments to spice up the music. These instruments include organs, pianos, accordions, cellos, violins, mandolins, saxophones (including alto, soprano, tenor, and baritone), flutes, harmonicas, and many different types of percussion instruments. The “normal” bands also invite other musicians to play on their album. Dave Matthews Band has had John Popper of Blues Traveler do a guest spot on one of their albums. Blues Traveler themselves have had Paul Shaffer repeatedly appear on their albums. Hootie and the Blowfish have invited David Crosby, Nanci Griffith, members of Toad the Wet Sproket, and even lead singer, Darius Rucker’s little daughter makes a cameo in a song. Outside of the studio, the bands have stayed close. Blues Traveler have traveled with Dave Matthews Band. Dave Matthews Band has toured with Hootie and the Blowfish. And Hootie and the Blowfish has been around the country with Toad the Wet Sproket. While in the studio and out on the road, the band members still like being around each other and other bands. The band members even share the spotlight. Dave Matthews once said, “the way I see it, we have five lead singers in this band.” This is comforting to see that the band member’s egos have not gotten in the way. Sometimes the band members feel too modest. Mark Bryan once told a reporter: “It’s pretty amazing, and in some ways I, like , feel guilty. There are so many other great bands I listen to and think, ‘This band is great, and no one knows who it is. This guy can play better guitar us, and these people can write better songs than us, so why do we get to sell five million records.’” (43 Cohen). This is better than the Oasis philosophy on themselves. Noel Gallagher, the lead guitarist and songwriter for the band, said in a interview, “I’m in the best band, and I’ve just written the best album.” Oasis is also known for constant bickering between the two brothers in the band, Noel and Liam.
No one can tell why Hootie and the Blowfish’s Cracked Rear View, Dave Matthews Band’s Under the Table and Dreaming, and Blues Traveler’s Four flew off the shelves last year. Some might think it could have been because of these bands sound like folk-derived bands of the past like the Steve Miller Band, Benny And The Jets or Creedence Clearwater Revival. Others might think it was because of the lead singer’s voice, or the lyrics, or the their videos, or the band image. Or maybe it is because of simpler reason, like the person got a kick out of saying Hootie or maybe a girl bought it because she found Darius Rucker or Dave Matthews attractive (hopefully John Popper is not the case for this one). Some might even think it was because some one played the record one too many times causing a neighbor to break it making the owner to go out and buy a album again and again (this is my theory of why the Bodyguard Soundtrack sold as many copies as it did). The real test on whether the multi-platinum success of the “normal” band were flukes or not will be taken in the next few weeks. With new albums out by Hootie and the Blowfish and Dave Matthews Band and a new album by Blues Traveler is due out in late June, we will see if they are here to stay or if they were just another fad. And the new albums will probably be blasted by the critics but the true fans will reply with a line from an old Billy Joel song, “Hot funk, cool punk, even if it’s old junk, it’s still rock and roll to me.”
Copyright © 1996 Scott Brown
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