she/her
I'm not scared!
The 90's US One-Hit Wonders Rate: WINNER REVEALED - Goodbye, farewell and amen
- Thread starter Ironheade
- Start date
hehehehe duuuuuuuuuuudes i'm so high right now
...and so is she, for the record!
39. SHE'S SO HIGH
Average score: 6.271
Highest scores: 1 x 11 (@yuuurei ); 1 x 10 (@Andy French )
Lowest scores: 1 x 0 (@Sprockrooster )
Chart positions: #14 Hot 100, #10 Radio Songs, #6 Mainstream Top 40, #1 Adult Top 40
Year-End Hot 100: #51 (1999)
Who? Oh yeah, them...
You know that particular sunny subgenre of late 90's pop rock that I described in the writeup for “Counting Blue Cars”? Well, believe it or not, it could get even more mainstream and poppier... and even more incredibly happy, if that's possible. 1999 and 2000 saw two of that style's apotheosises, in “Story of a Girl” (too bad that was in 2000, because it would fit in perfectly here)... and this little peppy slice of love-interest-worship. So let's dig into the story of “She's So High”, and find out just why Tal Bachman's fortunes got so low in the following years. And, of course, celebrate CanCon Excellence.
You could almost say that I was... TAKIN' CARE OF BUSINESS.
So, do we have any Manitobans in the house? Because this is one rate where you've got good reason to take pride in your location. As I mentioned previously in the writeup on Tom Cochrane, Talmage “Tal” Bachman happens to be the third artist appearing in our rate to be born in Winnipeg, because apparently there's just something in the water there that produces one-hit wonders in the States. But not only that, he is also another one of the rate's Lil Nepotizzes, for he is the child of one of Winnipeg's most famous native sons, Randy Bachman: the lead guitarist for the Guess Who (of “American Woman” fame) and guitarist/singer for Bachman-Turner Overdrive (of “You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet” fame). So that was the kind of environment that young Tal grew up in – he was constantly immersed in his father's world, learning multiple instruments and getting a chance to bang on the drums at Bachman-Turner Overdrive rehearsals. The touring life and little kids might have made for a rather odd mix in other circumstances, but not to worry: Randy was a very clean-living sort, but what else do you expect from Mormons?
Hello! My name is Elder Price...
I don't want to fill the “where are they now” up too full with this, so we may as well talk about it now. If you didn't know this already, Randy Bachman is (or was at the time) a devout Mormon; that was in fact what drove him apart from the Guess Who, as he had recently converted and his separation from the “sex, drugs and rock n' roll” lifestyle alienated him from the other members. Tal was even named after James Talmage, who was a prominent member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles from 1911-1933. He certainly kept his son on the straight and narrow. After turning nineteen, Tal did a two-year mission to Argentina, and in his adult life, he would teach Sunday school from time to time. But cracks eventually started to appear in his faith, and he began doing some research into its history. (And it's a very interesting history, is that of Mormonism... too bad space doesn't permit me to talk more about it, or we'd be here all night.) He concluded that Joseph Smith had made all of the stories in the Book of Mormon, and cut his ties to the faith shortly before the release of his second album Staring Down the Sun in 2004. He was later interviewed about the LDS church in the 2007 four-hour PBS documentary on it, The Mormons, and in Bill Maher's surprisingly even-handed documentary film Religulous, released the next year.
Anyhow, that is later. So's the music, as it happens, as Tal was reluctant to get into it for a while, seeing “a divide between rock and the Mormon church”. He got married, did his mission as I've said, and attended Utah State and (briefly) Brigham Young University for a while, majoring in political philosophy and turning his back on music. But the artistic bug couldn't stay away for too long. Tal got back into performing with Randy's encouragement, playing drums in his band for a couple of years, but soon struck out on his own. He recorded some demos in New York for his solo material, some executives at EMI got a hold of his tape and liked it, and eventually managed to secure Tal a deal with Columbia. And the name probably didn't hurt him either, but it was ever thus in such cases. Recording his self-titled debut with Bob Rock (producer of Motley Crue's Dr. Feelgood and Metallica's self-titled) behind the boards, he found himself a sudden hit with “She's So High”, which took over adult pop radio for a long time to come. It even became a hit for Kurt Nilsen, winner of the first season of Norwegian Pop Idol and champion of the one-off World Idol in 2004, who took it into the Top 40 in multiple European countries as his winner's single. (It's about as good as Idol winner's singles tend to be. In other words, NOT GOOD.)
So what do I think?
5! I dunno, guys. It's not horrendous, but something about “She's So High” just grates on me. For one thing, there's the vocal front to contend with, where things ain't really great. Tal's shrill falsetto on the chorus is not terribly pleasant to listen to, as he strains for notes that he can't quite hit and his voice peters out in the process, but I can't say I'm all that fond of his lead vocals even when he's singing within his natural range. He's got a sort of dry, faux-soulful tone that attempts to balance super-clean pop vocals with a bit of rock grit, but it falls between two stalls and doesn't quite work for me, because he mostly just sounds like he has a head cold. Instrumentally, things are more pleasant, and “She's So High” can even boast a decently catchy power-pop chorus (dig that tambourine accenting) and a smoothly plucked clean lead guitar figure that works as a good introductory hook. But every single thing here, from the guitar tones chosen to the organ fills to the dopey silly-love-song lyrics, you've heard before elsewhere, and probably done better... and it probably won't have been compressed to hell by Bob Rock, and the organ tone won't have been as shrill and weedy as it is on the chorus here either. So, enh. Listenable, I guess, but it's just Triple A pop wallpaper at the end of the day.
Yvonne Scio here is pretty Aphrodite-like, though.
Where Are They Now?™
Tal found some success in the live arena in the years immediately after his debut, touring with Bryan Adams and the Barenake Ladies. Tal also took home a Juno Award for Best New Solo Artist in 2000, and thanks to his co-production credit on “She's So High”, he was also able to share in the win for Best Producer with Bob Rock. However, over on the radio, he proved to be rather less successful. The other two singles from Tal's debut album were “Strong Enough”, which reached #31 in Canada and also got some play on that country's AC stations, and “If You Sleep”, which fizzled out at #61; neither single charted in any other territory. So it seemed, despite being the son of one of his home country's living legends of rock, that the CanCon guardians were not looking out for him. And down in the States, he fared even worse, as his debut album peaked at a decidedly lowly #124 on the album charts. Out of the albums that contain the one hits featured in this rate, I believe it and Citizen King's Mobile Estates are the only ones not to attain an RIAA certification (though I will have to go and check on this; anybody reading it later, you might find an edit in this space).
Tal took a whole five years with his sophomore album Staring Down the Sun, which came out in 2004 on Sextant Records, a small and short-lived label distributed by EMI – and the album was largely self-financed and self-produced. I'm not exactly sure why he sat in limbo for so long; this was the time when he was having his crisis of faith, but I'm not sure that had all that much to do with it, and though a Globe and Mail article around the time of the album's release mentions some record label shenanigans, I don't have quite enough information to be able to declare this one a straightforward case of Because Record Labels Are Dicks. Only one single was released from it, but as a matter of fact, “Aeroplane” did see some success, reaching #20 in Canada, and also being featured in the credits of American Pie Presents: Band Camp. (You know, the first one of those really shitty direct-to-DVD sequels with almost none of the original cast, the ones where Eugene Levy makes return appearances in all of them for some reason just to make you feel depressed with the “what the hell are you doing here” factor? Yeah, that one.) But considering that the Canadian charts only counted physical singles for way, way too long, that probably shouldn't be taken as an indication of how popular it actually was. The album didn't even see an American release until 2006, and though it was distributed there by Artemis, which was at that time a fairly big player in the world of indie labels, it unsurprisingly failed to chart south of the border. And that is more or less where Tal's musical career ends. He hasn't released an album since.
Stifler's brother is not as awesome as Stifler's mom, let's just get that out of the way.
So, yeah. As you might expect from that, Tal more or less completely fell out of the public eye in the following years – apparently, he lives in Victoria these days and is spending most of his time being a family man to his seven (!) children, though he does occasionally pop up here and there, like in those documentaries I mentioned. He's also moonlighted as a political commentator on a few occasions, and played for a Victoria-based rugby club, Castaway Wanderers RFC. According to a guy on the Steve Hoffman forums (from a post in 2009), he also has a Blogspot account. The link still works, but unfortunately, it's only open to invited people, so I can't pop over and see what he's talking about – though the Steve Hoffman poster said “he seems like quite an intelligent guy”, so there's that, I guess. And at her 2011 show in Vancouver, Taylor Swift brought him out as a surprise guest, calling "She's So High" one of the songs that inspired her to take up music! (Has the student surpassed the master? You be the judge.) D'aww. Here's a video of it.
And whatever happened in the aftermath of Tal leaving his father's faith, it doesn't seem to have spoiled their relationship any – that Globe and Mail article I mentioned above has him talking about how he wanted his son to choose his own path, and that he would always support him no matter what he chose. They are apparently still very close (and, by all accounts, Randy himself more or less left the faith in the early 2000's). Given some of the stories I've heard about the LDS church community shunning ex-Mormons, that's really nice to hear about them. Tal's sung backup for his father on some of his more recent recording projects, and also plays alongside him at concerts or as a backup musician for him every now and them. Since 2011, he's acted as the fact researcher for Randy's CBC radio show Vinyl Tap, but does not contribute to the on-air segments. A video of the two of them playing Tal's one hit together last year is posted below. And... whoa. Tal has switched his look up a bit, hasn't he? I mean, jeez, he's barely even recognizable as the same person from the “She's So High” video. Then again, Tal is fifty years old – which would make him thirty when he recorded “She's So High”, but for what it's worth, I could have sworn he was younger than that. He looked it, anyway. But it's quite the family resemblance the two of them have going on now, no?
OVER TO THE PEANUT GALLERY
It's so looooooooooow... low beneath me!
Sprockrooster (0): I am instantly triggered cause I am reminded of Kurt Nilsson. And then I am reminded of Kelly Clarkson in world idol. And I do not want to be reminded. (Too bad, I just did.)
CasuallyCrazed (1): I've always hated this song with a burning passion. I gave it a sympathy point only because the lyrics are so pathetic. (Hate to break it to you Tal, but comparing a woman to Aphrodite is a good way to get some divine wrath on her ass. Because Greek gods are giant douchebags.)
WowWowWowWow (3): OK but Cleopatra committed suicide, Joan of Arc was burned at the stake, and Aphrodite lost both of her arms somewhere in the 1800s before being permanently stuck inside in Paris, so I’m not exactly sure we should be using them as exemplars, Tal… (Hahahaha! I wonder if we can come up with a better choice of three women? Answers in the posts below, people.)
Auntie Beryl (5.3): The American Chesney Hawkes, even down to being the son of an ancient rocker.
chanex (3): OMG this ubiquity! I feel like it been in the background of my life forever so it's hard to rate...but it still sucks hard so yeah its a 3.
ModeRed (5.5): Sadly not the Blur song of the same name. (Which is a CHOON.)
DJHazey (5.5): Love a woman-worshipping song but this is lukewarm at best.
iheartpoptarts (5): Imagine being in Canada where this song was even more overplayed. (I'd really rather not if it's all the same to you.)
Ganache (6): Cute but not essential.
Empty Shoebox (2): You don't have the range boy. Give it up. ("Sorry pal, already did once but it was pretty boring." - Tal)
Like Cleopatra, Joan of Arc or Aphrodite
Untouchable Ace (9.3): Thank God they synthesized the high notes or blended them with the keyboard. (As they say, an attempt was made.)
4Roses (7): The chorus just snatches me.
DominoDancing (7): Points for a very good chorus. Reminds me a bit of Mark Owen's Clementine, which is the better of the two. (Don't remember that one, I'll have to have a look later!)
Filippa (8): I like his voice and the power of the refrain! ("Refrain" is a good word. It needs more use in this rate. Cheers for the reminder!)
pop3blow2 (9): That chorus is a straight-up 10. Super power-pop, like a lost Raspberries song or something (how about that reference!). The verses are passable. I didn’t mind hearing this literally 1,000 times on the department store satellite radio channel in the early 2000’s… as I folded endless tables of shirts & sweaters.
Seventeen Days (7): We love a sunny and uptempo track. (So says everyone in the late 90's. Case in point, most of the list's second half. - Ed.) This was always one that I really liked.
unnameable (9): Surprisingly enjoyable.
CorgiCorgiCorgi (7): I forgot all about this guy and his Craig Kilborn hair! Cute but simple little tune.
berserkboi (9.9): Everything about this is gorgeous except the stalker vibe! I still listen to it though! (Buck up yer courage and pop the question, Tal me lad! What's the worst that could happen?)
yuuurei (11): This is so cheesy and I know it, but I love this song, I think it's really sweet. I would 100% sing it to my future wife at our wedding. (I'd change the silicone line though, that's a little judgey.) I don't expect this to do super well, but it's a longstanding fave and it had to get my 11.
...and so is she, for the record!
39. SHE'S SO HIGH
Average score: 6.271
Highest scores: 1 x 11 (@yuuurei ); 1 x 10 (@Andy French )
Lowest scores: 1 x 0 (@Sprockrooster )
Chart positions: #14 Hot 100, #10 Radio Songs, #6 Mainstream Top 40, #1 Adult Top 40
Year-End Hot 100: #51 (1999)
Who? Oh yeah, them...
You know that particular sunny subgenre of late 90's pop rock that I described in the writeup for “Counting Blue Cars”? Well, believe it or not, it could get even more mainstream and poppier... and even more incredibly happy, if that's possible. 1999 and 2000 saw two of that style's apotheosises, in “Story of a Girl” (too bad that was in 2000, because it would fit in perfectly here)... and this little peppy slice of love-interest-worship. So let's dig into the story of “She's So High”, and find out just why Tal Bachman's fortunes got so low in the following years. And, of course, celebrate CanCon Excellence.
You could almost say that I was... TAKIN' CARE OF BUSINESS.
So, do we have any Manitobans in the house? Because this is one rate where you've got good reason to take pride in your location. As I mentioned previously in the writeup on Tom Cochrane, Talmage “Tal” Bachman happens to be the third artist appearing in our rate to be born in Winnipeg, because apparently there's just something in the water there that produces one-hit wonders in the States. But not only that, he is also another one of the rate's Lil Nepotizzes, for he is the child of one of Winnipeg's most famous native sons, Randy Bachman: the lead guitarist for the Guess Who (of “American Woman” fame) and guitarist/singer for Bachman-Turner Overdrive (of “You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet” fame). So that was the kind of environment that young Tal grew up in – he was constantly immersed in his father's world, learning multiple instruments and getting a chance to bang on the drums at Bachman-Turner Overdrive rehearsals. The touring life and little kids might have made for a rather odd mix in other circumstances, but not to worry: Randy was a very clean-living sort, but what else do you expect from Mormons?
Hello! My name is Elder Price...
I don't want to fill the “where are they now” up too full with this, so we may as well talk about it now. If you didn't know this already, Randy Bachman is (or was at the time) a devout Mormon; that was in fact what drove him apart from the Guess Who, as he had recently converted and his separation from the “sex, drugs and rock n' roll” lifestyle alienated him from the other members. Tal was even named after James Talmage, who was a prominent member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles from 1911-1933. He certainly kept his son on the straight and narrow. After turning nineteen, Tal did a two-year mission to Argentina, and in his adult life, he would teach Sunday school from time to time. But cracks eventually started to appear in his faith, and he began doing some research into its history. (And it's a very interesting history, is that of Mormonism... too bad space doesn't permit me to talk more about it, or we'd be here all night.) He concluded that Joseph Smith had made all of the stories in the Book of Mormon, and cut his ties to the faith shortly before the release of his second album Staring Down the Sun in 2004. He was later interviewed about the LDS church in the 2007 four-hour PBS documentary on it, The Mormons, and in Bill Maher's surprisingly even-handed documentary film Religulous, released the next year.
Anyhow, that is later. So's the music, as it happens, as Tal was reluctant to get into it for a while, seeing “a divide between rock and the Mormon church”. He got married, did his mission as I've said, and attended Utah State and (briefly) Brigham Young University for a while, majoring in political philosophy and turning his back on music. But the artistic bug couldn't stay away for too long. Tal got back into performing with Randy's encouragement, playing drums in his band for a couple of years, but soon struck out on his own. He recorded some demos in New York for his solo material, some executives at EMI got a hold of his tape and liked it, and eventually managed to secure Tal a deal with Columbia. And the name probably didn't hurt him either, but it was ever thus in such cases. Recording his self-titled debut with Bob Rock (producer of Motley Crue's Dr. Feelgood and Metallica's self-titled) behind the boards, he found himself a sudden hit with “She's So High”, which took over adult pop radio for a long time to come. It even became a hit for Kurt Nilsen, winner of the first season of Norwegian Pop Idol and champion of the one-off World Idol in 2004, who took it into the Top 40 in multiple European countries as his winner's single. (It's about as good as Idol winner's singles tend to be. In other words, NOT GOOD.)
So what do I think?
5! I dunno, guys. It's not horrendous, but something about “She's So High” just grates on me. For one thing, there's the vocal front to contend with, where things ain't really great. Tal's shrill falsetto on the chorus is not terribly pleasant to listen to, as he strains for notes that he can't quite hit and his voice peters out in the process, but I can't say I'm all that fond of his lead vocals even when he's singing within his natural range. He's got a sort of dry, faux-soulful tone that attempts to balance super-clean pop vocals with a bit of rock grit, but it falls between two stalls and doesn't quite work for me, because he mostly just sounds like he has a head cold. Instrumentally, things are more pleasant, and “She's So High” can even boast a decently catchy power-pop chorus (dig that tambourine accenting) and a smoothly plucked clean lead guitar figure that works as a good introductory hook. But every single thing here, from the guitar tones chosen to the organ fills to the dopey silly-love-song lyrics, you've heard before elsewhere, and probably done better... and it probably won't have been compressed to hell by Bob Rock, and the organ tone won't have been as shrill and weedy as it is on the chorus here either. So, enh. Listenable, I guess, but it's just Triple A pop wallpaper at the end of the day.
Yvonne Scio here is pretty Aphrodite-like, though.
Where Are They Now?™
Tal found some success in the live arena in the years immediately after his debut, touring with Bryan Adams and the Barenake Ladies. Tal also took home a Juno Award for Best New Solo Artist in 2000, and thanks to his co-production credit on “She's So High”, he was also able to share in the win for Best Producer with Bob Rock. However, over on the radio, he proved to be rather less successful. The other two singles from Tal's debut album were “Strong Enough”, which reached #31 in Canada and also got some play on that country's AC stations, and “If You Sleep”, which fizzled out at #61; neither single charted in any other territory. So it seemed, despite being the son of one of his home country's living legends of rock, that the CanCon guardians were not looking out for him. And down in the States, he fared even worse, as his debut album peaked at a decidedly lowly #124 on the album charts. Out of the albums that contain the one hits featured in this rate, I believe it and Citizen King's Mobile Estates are the only ones not to attain an RIAA certification (though I will have to go and check on this; anybody reading it later, you might find an edit in this space).
Tal took a whole five years with his sophomore album Staring Down the Sun, which came out in 2004 on Sextant Records, a small and short-lived label distributed by EMI – and the album was largely self-financed and self-produced. I'm not exactly sure why he sat in limbo for so long; this was the time when he was having his crisis of faith, but I'm not sure that had all that much to do with it, and though a Globe and Mail article around the time of the album's release mentions some record label shenanigans, I don't have quite enough information to be able to declare this one a straightforward case of Because Record Labels Are Dicks. Only one single was released from it, but as a matter of fact, “Aeroplane” did see some success, reaching #20 in Canada, and also being featured in the credits of American Pie Presents: Band Camp. (You know, the first one of those really shitty direct-to-DVD sequels with almost none of the original cast, the ones where Eugene Levy makes return appearances in all of them for some reason just to make you feel depressed with the “what the hell are you doing here” factor? Yeah, that one.) But considering that the Canadian charts only counted physical singles for way, way too long, that probably shouldn't be taken as an indication of how popular it actually was. The album didn't even see an American release until 2006, and though it was distributed there by Artemis, which was at that time a fairly big player in the world of indie labels, it unsurprisingly failed to chart south of the border. And that is more or less where Tal's musical career ends. He hasn't released an album since.
Stifler's brother is not as awesome as Stifler's mom, let's just get that out of the way.
So, yeah. As you might expect from that, Tal more or less completely fell out of the public eye in the following years – apparently, he lives in Victoria these days and is spending most of his time being a family man to his seven (!) children, though he does occasionally pop up here and there, like in those documentaries I mentioned. He's also moonlighted as a political commentator on a few occasions, and played for a Victoria-based rugby club, Castaway Wanderers RFC. According to a guy on the Steve Hoffman forums (from a post in 2009), he also has a Blogspot account. The link still works, but unfortunately, it's only open to invited people, so I can't pop over and see what he's talking about – though the Steve Hoffman poster said “he seems like quite an intelligent guy”, so there's that, I guess. And at her 2011 show in Vancouver, Taylor Swift brought him out as a surprise guest, calling "She's So High" one of the songs that inspired her to take up music! (Has the student surpassed the master? You be the judge.) D'aww. Here's a video of it.
And whatever happened in the aftermath of Tal leaving his father's faith, it doesn't seem to have spoiled their relationship any – that Globe and Mail article I mentioned above has him talking about how he wanted his son to choose his own path, and that he would always support him no matter what he chose. They are apparently still very close (and, by all accounts, Randy himself more or less left the faith in the early 2000's). Given some of the stories I've heard about the LDS church community shunning ex-Mormons, that's really nice to hear about them. Tal's sung backup for his father on some of his more recent recording projects, and also plays alongside him at concerts or as a backup musician for him every now and them. Since 2011, he's acted as the fact researcher for Randy's CBC radio show Vinyl Tap, but does not contribute to the on-air segments. A video of the two of them playing Tal's one hit together last year is posted below. And... whoa. Tal has switched his look up a bit, hasn't he? I mean, jeez, he's barely even recognizable as the same person from the “She's So High” video. Then again, Tal is fifty years old – which would make him thirty when he recorded “She's So High”, but for what it's worth, I could have sworn he was younger than that. He looked it, anyway. But it's quite the family resemblance the two of them have going on now, no?
OVER TO THE PEANUT GALLERY
It's so looooooooooow... low beneath me!
Sprockrooster (0): I am instantly triggered cause I am reminded of Kurt Nilsson. And then I am reminded of Kelly Clarkson in world idol. And I do not want to be reminded. (Too bad, I just did.)
CasuallyCrazed (1): I've always hated this song with a burning passion. I gave it a sympathy point only because the lyrics are so pathetic. (Hate to break it to you Tal, but comparing a woman to Aphrodite is a good way to get some divine wrath on her ass. Because Greek gods are giant douchebags.)
WowWowWowWow (3): OK but Cleopatra committed suicide, Joan of Arc was burned at the stake, and Aphrodite lost both of her arms somewhere in the 1800s before being permanently stuck inside in Paris, so I’m not exactly sure we should be using them as exemplars, Tal… (Hahahaha! I wonder if we can come up with a better choice of three women? Answers in the posts below, people.)
Auntie Beryl (5.3): The American Chesney Hawkes, even down to being the son of an ancient rocker.
chanex (3): OMG this ubiquity! I feel like it been in the background of my life forever so it's hard to rate...but it still sucks hard so yeah its a 3.
ModeRed (5.5): Sadly not the Blur song of the same name. (Which is a CHOON.)
DJHazey (5.5): Love a woman-worshipping song but this is lukewarm at best.
iheartpoptarts (5): Imagine being in Canada where this song was even more overplayed. (I'd really rather not if it's all the same to you.)
Ganache (6): Cute but not essential.
Empty Shoebox (2): You don't have the range boy. Give it up. ("Sorry pal, already did once but it was pretty boring." - Tal)
Like Cleopatra, Joan of Arc or Aphrodite
Untouchable Ace (9.3): Thank God they synthesized the high notes or blended them with the keyboard. (As they say, an attempt was made.)
4Roses (7): The chorus just snatches me.
DominoDancing (7): Points for a very good chorus. Reminds me a bit of Mark Owen's Clementine, which is the better of the two. (Don't remember that one, I'll have to have a look later!)
Filippa (8): I like his voice and the power of the refrain! ("Refrain" is a good word. It needs more use in this rate. Cheers for the reminder!)
pop3blow2 (9): That chorus is a straight-up 10. Super power-pop, like a lost Raspberries song or something (how about that reference!). The verses are passable. I didn’t mind hearing this literally 1,000 times on the department store satellite radio channel in the early 2000’s… as I folded endless tables of shirts & sweaters.
Seventeen Days (7): We love a sunny and uptempo track. (So says everyone in the late 90's. Case in point, most of the list's second half. - Ed.) This was always one that I really liked.
unnameable (9): Surprisingly enjoyable.
CorgiCorgiCorgi (7): I forgot all about this guy and his Craig Kilborn hair! Cute but simple little tune.
berserkboi (9.9): Everything about this is gorgeous except the stalker vibe! I still listen to it though! (Buck up yer courage and pop the question, Tal me lad! What's the worst that could happen?)
yuuurei (11): This is so cheesy and I know it, but I love this song, I think it's really sweet. I would 100% sing it to my future wife at our wedding. (I'd change the silicone line though, that's a little judgey.) I don't expect this to do super well, but it's a longstanding fave and it had to get my 11.
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she/her
I've been to Winnipeg once, if that counts. My Mom likes this song. @Ironheade, I stan you for even knowing what CanCon is.
she/her
Alas! I knew it couldn't last too much longer since people were already calling for it. Still, I'm glad it made it as far as it did. It's far from a masterpiece of a song but it's just got that nostalgic sappy factor for me, ya know? All negative comments are evidence of utter heartlessness!
Funnily enough, that's where I was born. The background info on ol' Tal was interesting to read, thanks as always @Ironheade! I never knew anything about the singer despite my love for the song.
Oh that one! No that's fine, that can go. Bit surprised I gave it a 7, but considering the chorus instantly got back into my head after reading the song title the songwriters must have done something right.
And so my 11 lives to see another day...
And so my 11 lives to see another day...
He/Him
Should I start worrying for my 11 too at this stage? Possibly...
DDD I don't even hate She's So High but this commentary killed me.
Though it was a bit cheesy, I always did have a soft spot in my heart for "She's So High". Last weekend I was bowling with friends when it came on, and I had a momentary "oh god, not this song" kind of thought. But even then, I was singing along with it by the first chorus.
he/him
Thoughts on results overall:
We got 1991 correct with "There She Goes" left.
We need "Jump Around" to win 1992, why hasn't "Would I Lie to You?" gone yet?
We got 1994 correct with "Fade Into You" left.
Songs on my radar to be ousted anytime:
Groove Is In The Heart
I Touch Myself
Would I Lie to You?
Rebirth of Slick
You Gotta Be Free
Freak Like Me
I Wish
I Got 5 On It
My Boo
Mouth
We got 1991 correct with "There She Goes" left.
We need "Jump Around" to win 1992, why hasn't "Would I Lie to You?" gone yet?
We got 1994 correct with "Fade Into You" left.
Songs on my radar to be ousted anytime:
Groove Is In The Heart
I Touch Myself
Would I Lie to You?
Rebirth of Slick
You Gotta Be Free
Freak Like Me
I Wish
I Got 5 On It
My Boo
Mouth
he/him
I know it's not ddd, but I'd still like to see it.
Aaaaaghghghbbblbgbbll STOP DOING THIS!
...hehehehe duuuuuuuuuuuuuudes i'm so high right now
38. I GOT 5 ON IT
Average score: 6.326
Highest scores: 1 x 11 (@chanex ); 2 x 10 (@Remorque , @Blond )
Lowest scores: 2 x 0 (@saviodxl , @yuuurei )
Chart positions: #8 Hot 100, #36 Radio Songs, #4 Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, #2 Hot Rap Songs, #15 Rhythmic Songs
Year-End Hot 100: #36 (1995)
Who? Oh yeah, them...
So, it's more of that hippity-hopping music on the table this time – the cull of the less “pop” (and usually male) entries continues, and this time we're taking care of one of the more hardcore entries in this rate. Well, “hardcore” is probably pretty generous, but it's fairly straightforward street-corner hip-hop and it's about smoking the devil's lettuce, so I'm going to say it counts, fuck it. So grab your blunts, bowls and bongs, and let's find out why Luniz got 5 on a dimebag in 1995 but probably couldn't get anything on it within a few short years.
Not this Dimebag, unfortunately.
Unfortunately, this is the first time in a while where I don't have much I can really say about the backstory of the artist in question. Luniz are a duo from Oakland who first got together in 1992, consisting of rappers Yukmouth (Jerold Ellis III) and Numskull (Garrick Husbands), and were originally known as the LuniTunes, before having to change the name to Luniz - I'm not sure why, but I would presume that it was to avoid any potential copyright issues with Warner Bros. They signed to Noo Trybe Records, which was then a sublabel of Virgin and distributed a number of other rap labels, and put out their debut album Operation Stackola in 1995. Then one little song called “I Got 5 On It” caught on, stepping through the door that Cypress Hill had broken down for the weed anthem to become a huge thing in rap culture. The song also featured vocals from R&B singer Michael Marshall, who provides us with a little OHW CROSSOVER himself; his group Timex Social Club had taken “Rumours”, an early example of a crossover between R&B and hip-hop beats that would become one of the first big hits of new jack swing, to #8 on the Hot 100 in 1986, but the group had disbanded shortly afterwards, and his subsequent solo career had failed to take off. In fairly short order, Operation Stackola had reached #20 on the Billboard 200, and both it and “I Got 5 On It” had gone platinum. Not only that, but “I Got 5 On It” had even become a top 10 hit in several European nations, at a time when straight-up hardcore rap coming out of America often didn't have much penetration. And that's pretty much all there is to say about Luniz.
Hideous album art will be sort of a running theme in this writeup. Heads up.
So... hmm... what to do for my usual installments of filler when the artist has nothing to say about them? Ooh, I know, we could talk about where they fit in with rap culture and my white British suburban ass can pretend like I know what I'm talking about! Great, let's do that! So, you think of West Coast rap in the early to mid 90's, you think of Dr. Dre and his G-funk, I think that's a pretty safe bet. But Luniz were from the Bay Area, not from LA and its environs like most of the big G-funk dudes, and that region's style of rap production was a little different. They specialized in “mobb music”, which originated from the slow-tempo, funk-heavy sound of Too Short's early work, and was also typified by E-40's first recordings around this time. It shared the deep bass sounds and high-pitched lead keyboard melodies with its sister scene, but it had a heavier and grimier tone with thicker bass and less reliance on P-funk samples; the lyrics, too, had a greater tendency towards the ultra-violent and purely street-level, laden with cryptic Bay Area slang. Luniz, however, don't quite tick all these boxes, despite their one hit's beat perfectly representing mobb production. You will notice, for instance, that “I Got 5 On It” has no profanity whatsoever, and despite a few bits of gangsta posturing, at the end of a day it's a pretty friendly, poppy tune about kicking back and blazing up. No surprise that it blew up, really – and that contrast does make for quite a revealing portrait of where mainstream rap was at the time.
So what do I think?
NINE. What can you say? “I Got 5 On It” is smooth mid-90's West Coast rap at its best, a stone-cold hip-hop classic in every respect, and it all begins with that beat, which, a whole twenty-four years later, is STILL one of the most compelling among rap hits this big. The deep, watery blurts of bass and icy keyboard tones that slice right through it, all laid over those crisp snare hits and a chilled yet tense sparse groove, are an immediate killer hook. The way the bass notes sort of sprawl out in the bottom of the mix, by contrast to the sharp staccato tones that make up the rest of the beat; the quick scratches and chopped samples that cut up the groove and stop it from becoming too placid; the mesh of small bits of sampling from old R&B and soul hits (Club Nouveau's “Why You Treat Me So Bad”, Kool & The Gang's “Jungle Boogie” and Audio Two's “Top Billin'” this time) that is typical of West Coast rap of this time, and always sounds so damn good no matter how it's done... ah, it's pure bliss. Yukmouth and Numskull aren't particularly going to impress as technical emcees, but they have cool laid-back voices and easy flows that sound great over the beat, and they manage to take one of the most overused subjects for rap lyrics in smoking weed and make it compelling. There's plenty of amusing lines (“stop hittin' cause you know you got asthma!”), and they infused it with a good level of detail and plenty of pot-related slang that puts them right on the same level as rap's stoner kings Cypress Hill. Plus, there's this slightly casual, free-association conversational feel that draws me right in. It really does give off the feeling of just sitting around with your bros and smoking. And even though I may have only smoked weed twice in my life and didn't particularly care for it either time, I can never resist singing along to that chorus. Michael Marshall's got a great voice, and he just sounds so enthusiastic about going halfsies on a dimebag that it's... argh, it's just so infectious. So, yeah. Here's to “I Got 5 On It”, another fantastic tune that should have lasted a lot longer than it did.
Where Are They Now?™
You know, if you like this kinda shit, Operation Stackola really is a pretty damn solid album. Good West Coast vibes, nice to kick back to and pretend I'm cool. But despite its platinum status and the ubiquity of “I Got 5 On It”, further success for Luniz was not forthcoming. The only other single from Operation Stackola was “Playa Hata”, which got a fair amount of play on urban radio, reaching #13 on the Hot Rap Songs chart, and surprisingly enough, went to #20 in the UK (seventeen positions below “I Got 5 On It”, but hey, still not bad). However, it did not cross over to the Hot 100. Things got even worse with their second album, Lunitik Muzik, released in 1997. Though it did reach #34 on the album charts, not a bad start for their follow-up record, it slid down the Billboard 200 quickly, failed to reach certification, and to make matters worse, none of the singles from it charted. The thing is, I don't think Luniz really could have secured themselves a stable place in the rap game, for as big as “I Got 5 On It” and Operation Stackola were. Mostly, that was down to a shift in where the most prominent scenes were, in the aftermath of the deaths of Biggie and Tupac, and the subsequent squashing of the East-West beef. The coasts would never quite regain their centrality in the game, as by the start of the 2000's, the Dirty South was primed to take over – but whereas the East managed to stay somewhat prominent thanks to the Bad Boy stable and newcomers like 50 Cent, plus their 90's veterans, the West was not so lucky. Death Row Records faded after Tupac's death, and few new artists from the West were able to break through for some time. Luniz, unfortunately for them, were no exception.
...Why is there a bedazzled... something coming out of his left ear?
But if there's one thing the Bay Area likes, it's independent hustle; it abounds with rappers who are huge regional stars aroun their local area but remain almost unknown outside it. Luniz were able to slip right in to that status. Right around the time of Lunitik Muzik, Yukmouth launched a solo career, signing to Rap-a-Lot Records, the legendary Houston-based label home to the Geto Boys and fellow king of smoked-out rappers Devin the Dude, and which had done more than any other to put the South on the hip-hop map. And he actually saw some success: his 1998 solo debut Thugged Out: The Albulation (produced mostly by Southern rap big-name producer Mike Dean, and featuring guest appearances from MC Ren, Tech N9ne and Tha Dogg Pound) charted at #40 on the Billboard 200, and was certified gold, despite not producing any charting singles. And from there, he was primed to become yet another local hero by himself. Luniz stayed together, but their third album, 2002's Silver and Black, saw no success, and they took a hiatus as Yukmouth concentrated on his solo career. Luniz do have one notable appearance during this time that I've been aware of a while, though. It was a song called “Watcha Workin Wit”, on this obscure, low-selling album from 1998... which is only notable because just so happens to have the best cover art of any record ever made. BEHOLD!
Oh, Pen and Pixel.
By this time, Yukmouth had also become the CEO of his own label, Smoke-a-Lot Records (hmm, I wonder if these guys like pot?), which as you could probably tell from the name was distributed by Rap-a-Lot. It actually still exists to this day. Yukmouth's racked up an extensive solo discography, consisting as of this date of a total of twenty studio albums and mixtapes, various compilations and random unofficial things, and he's also got a nice long list of collaborations and guest appearances down; none of them have really seen anything in the way of mainstream success, but he's remained a pretty prominent cult figure in the Bay Area rap scene right up to this day. I didn't really get the chance to check out much of his solo work, but I'm frankly a bit wary of anybody who's that hyper-prolific, as it generally speaks to a lack of quality control in my experience. Still, the few bits I did hear are pretty damn decent, so have my endorsement anyhow, Yukmouth.
However, come the late 2000's, the story of Luniz would end up taking a rather dark and disturbing turn. In 2008, Numskull was arrested and charged with twelve to fifteen felonies: a pretty grotesque list that included rape of a victim incapable of consent, domestic battery, dissuading a victim from reporting a crime, making criminal threats, and vandalism... and it doesn't end there, it's really nasty stuff. For these, he was facing 25 to life in prison. However, he was acquitted of all of them, with the exception of charges of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon (as he had already been convicted in 1993 on drug charges), to which he pleaded guilty. Ultimately, he would serve seven years in prison for those. Numskull has since stated that he was a victim of somebody, apparently a childhood fan, filing bogus claims against him. Personally, I don't feel qualified to make any sort of claims as to his guilt or innocence, as specific details of this case have proved rather hard to come by via my research, and anything that I have seen feels a bit too murky and unofficial for me to trust it. But... man.
Anyway, after Numskull's release from prison, Luniz got back together, releasing a mixtape called High Timez in 2015. It was followed by a new album called No Pressure last year, their first official studio album in sixteen years. Yukmouth's also stayed busy by himself, running Smoke-a-Lot and attending to his solo career, his most recent release being a triple album called JJ Based on a Vill Story, the first two volumes of which came out in 2017 and the third last year. And more recently – while I was preparing this rate, in fact - “I Got 5 On It” saw a new surge of popularity, thanks to its instantly iconic use in the trailer for Jordan Peele's sophomore directorial effort Us. I tell you what, if I wasn't already hyped to see that film, that would certainly do it for me!
OVER TO THE PEANUT GALLERY
Puff puff PASS
DJHazey (2.5): Yeah it wishes I could give it a 5. So dull it's not even funny. (I should point out, nobody who scored this song a 5 bothered to make the obvious joke. I mean, what do I even HAVE commentators for if the feeble puns I want don't happen?)
ModeRed (6): My hip hop appreciation is very varied. This I'm not a fan of.
iheartpoptarts (5): Every time someone sends Lunik to PJOPS and I mistakenly expect this guy… (Lesson learned, start submitting Luniz to PJOPS so you'll expect Lunik.)
Seventeen Days (3): I dunno, something about pot? Not really my style.
Empty Shoebox (2): Not as bad as some of the other 'stoner' songs in here, but I still don't like it. (If only Kyuss had had a mainstream hit...)
berserkboi (4.4): Not exactly great but the beat is actually very pleasant!
Hudweiser (3): Interesting bassline and ding-dongs but the rest of it sucks. (Ding-dongs are always good. Just ask Sister Ray.)
Ganache (6): The Club Nouveau sample is the best part. (Certainly beats their cover of "Lean on Me", at any rate.)
I got 11 on it
pop3blow2 (7.5): I never really considered this song a big hit & had pretty much forgot about it before this rate. It’s fine. Not something I am coming back to.
Filippa (6): Like the beat and the refrain. (Just the soulful touch any good West Coast rap song needs.)
WowWowWowWow (8): Mostly for the refrain and for J-Lo using it on the “I’m Gonna Be Alright” remix. (Don't remember that one, I'm afraid. Apologies!)
unnameable (9): Excellent classic.
2014 (7.5): A throwback bop wow
DominoDancing (8): Such a great, moody beat. Samples Club Nouveau's Why You Treat Me So Bad, which everyone should definitely check out. (Can confirm, it's pretty good.)
4Roses (8): Such an atmospheric track. Makes me feel like i'm cruising downtown late at night.
Auntie Beryl (7.3): Even in my mid-twenties I was naïve in the ways of the narcotic, so I though this was about gambling for years. (Love it.)
Blond (10): One of the all-time classic hip hop beats and my fury will be unleashed if it doesn’t get the respect it deserves in this rate. (Cue the fury.)
chanex (11): MY JAM! I have always lived for this song especially this line: "I got more Growing Pains than Maggie cause homies nag me to take the dank out of the baggie." I'll admit that being an aficionado plays a part, but I'm sorry lines like "foggy windows, soggy Indo" are classic and "taking sacks to the face" cracks me up as a gay on-and-off pothead lol. (I SPECIFICALLY DID NOT MENTION THAT BECAUSE THIS IS A DIGNIFIED AND CLASSY RATE)
LATER ADDENDUM: The trailer for Us was revelatory and made me realize that it’s the music as much as the lyrics that make me love I Got 5 On It so so much. The way it was broken down and used so effectively and spookily really highlighted that for me. It’s always created an icey and spacy mood, especially when you suck up the dank like a slurpee lol.
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she/her
I don't do drugs and I'd never heard the song before the rate so it really meant nothing to me and I didn't find it enjoyable at all. That album cover with the bears, however, is incredible - whoever designed that is an artiste of the highest degree.
Also Us looks amazing and I really want to see it when it comes out, but my anxious ass can't handle movie theatres at the best of times let alone to see a horror flick, so I'll have to wait like 6 months to rent it off On Demand. Life is suffering, 1st world problems etc.
Also Us looks amazing and I really want to see it when it comes out, but my anxious ass can't handle movie theatres at the best of times let alone to see a horror flick, so I'll have to wait like 6 months to rent it off On Demand. Life is suffering, 1st world problems etc.
he/him
Gasp!
Although I never knew that there were samples in IG5OI so maybe they actually used another song.
Noooooo! Haha actually I never expected it to do so well, and just when I thought I couldn’t love it more I find out that the two rappers are named Yukmouth and Numskull!
Thanks for the truly proper tribute @Ironheade xoxo
Thanks for the truly proper tribute @Ironheade xoxo
