Once ... there was this band ... who ... sung about kids' maladies and quickly climbed the charts. I couldn't quite explain it, but the song holds up better than I expected.
Why is it the only song I remember of theirs is “mmmm mmmmm mmmm” (something like this) and I too thought it was about abuse. But maybe it was around the same time I heard about Suzanne Vega’s hit, Luka. Once I learned that abuse happens and what it was (as a kid), every song I heard for a while was colored with this newly learned perspective. / from, a overly stimulated former fat kid (which would make for a good Substack title too but what would it be about?)
I think "B. Kent" was onto something here. This track isn't even the best one on it. When it was released, I was working in a record store, and it was on our mandatory in-store play list. Robert's voice is pretty unmistakable, but invariably, people would be pleasantly surprised by whatever song happened to be playing as they came in. Mostly, I think they were relieved this wasn't going to be an album they bought for one song, while forever skipping the rest.
It's really solid. I'm curious why it was panned in Canada but got big-time airplay in the States. Like Roberts said, it's not like it was wildly different from "Superman's Song." One of those weird '90s oddities, I suppose.
worm’s life is still so profoundly underrated
I need to give it a listen. Hearing their first two albums makes me curious to listen to more of their catalog.
self-produced gold
I remember "Keep A Lid On Things" getting a ton of airplay in Canada.
I believe it. I know I played it a lot in college and it got decent airplay on our little station, but I never heard it anywhere else.
It's been replaying in my head most of the week, though. It's still not great, but a remarkably good earworm nevertheless.
Why is it the only song I remember of theirs is “mmmm mmmmm mmmm” (something like this) and I too thought it was about abuse. But maybe it was around the same time I heard about Suzanne Vega’s hit, Luka. Once I learned that abuse happens and what it was (as a kid), every song I heard for a while was colored with this newly learned perspective. / from, a overly stimulated former fat kid (which would make for a good Substack title too but what would it be about?)
If I ever launched a second newsletter on this platform, it'll be purely about the lived experience of being a formerly overstimulated fat kid. 😂
I think "B. Kent" was onto something here. This track isn't even the best one on it. When it was released, I was working in a record store, and it was on our mandatory in-store play list. Robert's voice is pretty unmistakable, but invariably, people would be pleasantly surprised by whatever song happened to be playing as they came in. Mostly, I think they were relieved this wasn't going to be an album they bought for one song, while forever skipping the rest.
It's really solid. I'm curious why it was panned in Canada but got big-time airplay in the States. Like Roberts said, it's not like it was wildly different from "Superman's Song." One of those weird '90s oddities, I suppose.