The 90's Billboard #1's Rate (1995-1999): We've come to the end of our road.

I'll have whatever this is pretty please.

 

Then deep-fried, and served with butter, caramel, and whipped cream. And sugar.

So in other words a song I loved when it came out, and now I cringe and pretend it never existed.

 

Maybe I'll get a funnel cake for lunch or something.

 

I'm increasingly lost as to why this is meant to be a bad thing.

 

You. I like you.

 

"I wanna bathe with you in the sea." -- This line is the bad thing. What a strange lyric I've always been bothered by since day one.

Like I said in my comments, even Cascada couldn't save it and that's saying something.

 

Are we talking about deep fried chocolate now?

Try it. You'll never forget it.

 

Its too much. As some wise sages once told us, too much of something is bad enough

 

Guys, I think they're just going skinny dipping!

Meanwhile, y'all are gonna make me get the most ridiculous ice cream.

 

It's weird. Who says they want to bathe with someone in the sea? It sounds creepy.

 

SNORT – loving the last posts. Keep 'em coming!

PS. Deep-fried Mars ice cream. It exists.

 

Well that's how American ass interpreted the lyric from day one. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

Can I get it in a munchy box with some mushroom pakora?

 

Gelato with cinnamon and Nutella!

(And also a sandwich but that's not much fun now is it)

 

I was in high school when Truly Madly Deeply charted. I remember a schoolmate singing its praises and me thinking 'yer right but I'm too cool let anyone know how much I treasure it'. Today I've got no credibility left to lose, so here it is: I LOVE Truly Madly Deeply, and I deeply regret not giving it the tenner it truly deserves (9).

 

When we discuss a particular song a lot in the thread, either it means it's hanging on a while, or it's going soon.
































Of course, it is the latter in this case.

40. Truly Madly Deeply - Savage Garden



Average: 6.979
Highest scores: 1 x 11 (@unnameable ); 5 x 10 (@Mirwais Ahmadzaï , @GimmeWork , @Empty Shoebox , @marie_05 , @Spiral )
Lowest scores: 3 x 1 (@DJHazey , @br0dy , @A$AP Robbie )
Weeks at #1: 2 consecutive Hot 100, 5 consecutive airplay
Year-End Hot 100: #4 (1998)

We've examined, over the course of this rate, a lot of the musical trends that defined the decade. But look at what they are: R&B/hip-hop soul, gangsta rap, adult-alternative, teen pop, Latin pop. In the midst of all that, I cannot for the life of me figure out where a new Air Supply fits in. And yet, we got another Australian soft-rock duo with a plethora of schmaltzy ballads anyway (and they even shared producer Charles Fisher!). Say this for Savage Garden, they deserve plenty of credit for how much success they had when sitting outside the prevailing trends in that way... too bad that, with the exception of the very boppable “I Want You”, I have never been keen on them. They can write some nice melodies, certainly, but they've got such a high cheese factor that it's really, really difficult for me to take their music in large quantities.

And pop ballads don't come much cheesier than “Truly Madly Deeply”, do they? You might be expecting me to bash on it for that, but I can't, not totally. In fact, I think it could have been something I genuinely liked quite a bit, were it not for a few factors holding it back (which is pretty much where most songs that I scored a 6.75 in this rate are). The main thing that “Truly Madly Deeply” has going for it is the melody. It's instantly memorable, smooth and sweet as you would want, twisting through the slightly breathless and run-on patterns of the verses before breaking out into the skyscraping, yearning chorus. It's quite hard to resist, and it's just made to be slow-dance material for years to come. Unfortunately, the arrangement does not quite do it the best justice it can. The ringing clean electric guitar arpeggios of the chorus are a very nice additional hook in the background, but the song begins with only the drums and single echoey piano chords, which are not really enough to support Darren Hayes' voice properly. Things get better as the song goes on, with the introduction of the additional synth pads and light palm-muted guitar in the lower range giving it some atmosphere, but still, it feels like the song was crying out for a bit more to make it sound fuller – before the last chorus, it seems like they run out of ideas altogether, because it's pretty much just the drumbeat! I mean, come on, it's not like that last chorus has enough of a big climactic feel to make that an effective “calm before the storm” moment. The drum production gets the benefit of a nice fat kick and snare, which holds the song down well enough at its base, but I just wish the instrumentals were a bit more prominent (even though what's there is good for the most part), because for the most part, it's left to the vocals to carry things.

Yeah, let's talk about those vocals. Depending on the day, Darren Hayes' vocals dance between “mmm, lovely” and “GET FUCKED”, and I've never quite been able to figure out why until now. I mean, his vocal on “Truly Madly Deeply” is good by all measures: he's got a unique, soft and slightly nasally tone, and everything sounds natural, with not the slightest hint of straining. The problem largely comes from his quivering, painfully earnest delivery, with a rather cloying vibrato in places... yeah, it's a bit too rich for my blood in terms of sentimentality. I mean, just listening to the man can give you a toothache. He does sound sincere and loving, true enough, but when applied to the lyrics, I'm not so sure that's a good thing. Seriously, they are such an overload of treacle that it's quite unbelievable. Now, we've eliminated songs like “All My Life” and “Angel of Mine”, which also had some pretty slushy lyrics, but they could overcome that with gutsier vocal performances and arrangements that weren't quite so soft-edged or obsessively polished. Meanwhile, Hayes' soppy delivery only amplifies the problem when it comes up. And that's a shame, because all the other ingredients are there: vocals, instruments, production, and above all the lovely melody and graceful hooks. It's just the delivery and feel that kills it. When considered for what it is – a cutesy slow-dance ballad meant to play on adult-contemporary radio for the rest of time - “Truly Madly Deeply” is not bad by any means. Too bad that the result is something that amounts to only an occasional listen for me. It's just... too much.

japanbonustrack (2) - @ the music video's ending.


A$AP Robbie (1) - So boring, so beige, so no.

Ray (2) - This sounds like deep fried, sugar-covered cheese. (I'm hungry now.)

Hudweiser (3) - I quite like me some Cabbage Garden, but this is a spoonful of syrup dipped in sugar then rolled in caster sugar, then sprinkled with yet more sugar. (Still hungry.)

ohnoitsnathan (2) - Schmalzy, Sickly, Creepy. (SAVAGE. A lot more savage than Savage Garden, in fact!)

K94 (8) - Corny but the topline is undeniable especially on the pre-chorus. (We stan for a good topline here.)

Rooneyboy (9) - Always had a soft spot for this. (Roll up, roll up, see the Brothers of Negativity liking things for once!)

Empty Shoebox (10) - This was originally a seven. That's how much I've had to inflate my scores by for this rate. Just think about that. Truly Madly Deeply is an 'all right' song, but it's never (Oh. Well, it's still a positive score, a 7.)

iheartpoptarts (9) - Pretty. ‘I Knew I Loved You’ is the one though. That flopped, didn't it? Oh well. (Nope. Savage Garden's second US number one!)

Mike (6) - There's a sincerity in Darren Hayes' delivery that stops this from becoming the unbearable sludgefest it could have been. Still prefer I Knew I Loved You, though. (Funny, it was the opposite way on my end. That one WAS the unbearable sludgefest for me!)

londonrain (7) - Darren Hayes is one of my favourite popstars but it irritates me that his biggest hits Stateside are his blandest songs (this and I Knew I Loved You). That being said, this is still a lovely song and I can't fault his vocal.

CorgiCorgiCorgi (7) - Darren Hayes solo > Savage Garden. (Not familiar with Darren's solo material myself. Any bops to recommend?)

WowWowWowWow (7) - An earworm of epic proportions, the kind of song that you don’t really want to like but gosh darn it, there’s something so earnest about Darren. You just want him to get to stand with someone on a mountain! We’re rooting for you Darren! Then Cascada came along and destroyed everything. (#STOPDONKINGBALLADS2018)

Sprockrooster (8) - I stan Darren Hayes more than Savage Garden and I stan many Savage Garden of this. In fact I stan the eurodance version of Cascade over the original.

Mina (6) - I prefer the Cascada cover.

DJHazey (1) - Oh hell no. This should tell you how much I despise this song: When Cascada does a cover of your song and even they can't make me love it -- then you have a problem. (I guess the dancefloor is evacuated pretty quickly in that case.)

berserkboi (8.75) - Still love this.

əʊæ (7) - Another one I heard on the radio but never recognised the title. If it was sung by a woman, I'd stan.

Blond (7.5) - This would have made such a great boyband Christmas single. (You know what, since it entered the Hot 100 in December, I'm gonna say it counts as one.)

Filippa (8) - This is a sweet song and I like his vocals. The duet version with their backing vocal singer (?) would have got 10 points, though. It simply has more spice. (Not sure which one you mean here, is that the original Australian mix?)

unnameable (11) - a truly great work by these two. I’m sad Jones and Hayes stopped working together after two albums, but they left behind two of the biggest selling albums of the 90s, and deservedly so. This is beautiful, fits Darren’s voice perfectly, and flows elegantly. The production on this is amazingly detailed, down to the whispered “I love you” in the left ear when you’re wearing headphones. (Ohh, I didn't notice that! Well, points to them for attention to detail, I guess. Sorry about dropping it at this time... but, hey, top 40, it had a decent run!)



Trivia time: "Truly Madly Deeply" was the first song by an Australian artist to top the Hot 100 in ten years (following "Need You Tonight" by INXS). Well done, Darren and The Other Bloke; Australia is proud of you!​

 

Kylie not having a #1 BILLBOARD song in the US is a choice still but we'll take Savage Garden!