she/her
Well, that's one thing they've got.
The 90's US One-Hit Wonders Rate: WINNER REVEALED - Goodbye, farewell and amen
- Thread starter Ironheade
- Start date
I bet misandryJustice strikes again...
seriously, if it's Deep Blue Something I'm going to demand a recount, or voter ID to confirm that the forum hasn't been hijacked by preteens.
seriously, if it's Deep Blue Something I'm going to demand a recount, or voter ID to confirm that the forum hasn't been hijacked by preteens.
I didn't vote, but I was already 16 when that song came out and my opinion of it has always been the same.
And I said
what about
(for real this time)
33. BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S
Average score: 6.520
what about
(for real this time)
33. BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S
Average score: 6.520
Highest scores: 1 x 10 (@Sprockrooster , @DJHazey , @yuuurei , @unnameable , @Conan )
Lowest scores: 2 x 1 (@chanex , @4Roses )
Lowest scores: 2 x 1 (@chanex , @4Roses )
Chart positions: #5 Hot 100, #4 Radio Songs, #3 Mainstream Top 40, #3 Adult Top 40, #8 Adult Contemporary, #30 Modern Rock
Year-End Hot 100: #39 (1996)
Who? Oh yeah, them...
Any music writer will tell you this: the hardest songs to write about are the average ones. The ones that aren't horrendous enough that you can get out your brickbats and write the verbal equivalent of “monkey peeing in its own mouth” (if you don't know act like you know), but not good enough to really praise at all. And no song epitomizes that better, I think, than “Breakfast at Tiffany's”. So let's see if I can squeeze some interest out of Deep Blue Something, who were, most definitely, and without any doubt in my mind, a band.
404 INTERESTING FACTOIDS NOT FOUND
Like their fellow Texan one-hit wonders the Toadies, Deep Blue Something also originate from the Dallas-Fort Worth area: specifically, from Denton. They formed in 1991, with most of the members being students at the University of North Texas at the time. The band was originally known as Leper Messiah, a name taken from the lyrics of “Ziggy Stardust”, but soon realized that their tame jangle-pop was way too lame for them to have a Bowie-referencing name. (OK, not really.) Apparently, “Deep Blue Something” was the exact response one of the members blurted out when he was put on the spot to come up with a new name, and they decided it would work. Anyway, they put out their first album, which was called 11th Song and contained an early version of “Breakfast at Tiffany's”, independently in 1993, and started grinding it out on the Texas club circuit, playing a startling 250 shows a year. The money for them to record it was ponied up by a guy named Louis Bickel; remember that name, because unfortunately, he'll be important later.
Their second album Home followed in 1995, containing a new version of the song that would make them famous, and here is where their rise begins. According to the band's biography on the website of their label Kirtland Records (on which much more later), “Breakfast at Tiffany's” first took off when a snippet of it was featured in a radio ad for a local rock club in Lubbock. The demand for it among listeners grew so great that the station put it in regular rotation, and from there it spread to other rock radio stations in Texas. That caught the attention of Interscope, who released a version of Home with a remixed version of “Breakfast at Tiffany's”. And from there, the song just went massive, bypassing the alternative rock charts almost entirely on its merry way to the pop stations. Of course, the song was inspired by... not the film of the same name, actually. No, the Audrey Hepburn film that inspired the band's singer/bassist Todd Pipes to write “Breakfast at Tiffany's” was, in fact, Roman Holiday. He just thought that “Breakfast at Tiffany's” would make for a better song title, and I can't say he was incorrect in that. (“And I said, what about, Roman Holiday?” Nah, it doesn't really fit, does it?) Unfortunately, Pipes said that the song's title got them into quite a few situations they'd rather not have got in...
Too bad Audrey died two years before this song was a hit. I'd love to have heard what she thought of it...
So what do I think?
FIVE. Basically the definition of a 5, actually, because I think there might just be a way to prove, mathematically, that “Breakfast at Tiffany's” is the most average song that has ever existed. You could practically use it as a barometer for quality: if a song is better than “Breakfast at Tiffany's”, it's good, and if a song is worse than “Breakfast at Tiffany's”, it's bad. The guitars switch between inoffensive acoustic jangles and mild distorted fuzz in an efficient enough manner, Todd Pipes sings it competently but with very little personality, the chorus is decently catchy, it goes up and down in volume where it should. It's professional pop-rock writing all around. There's just no oomph to it whatsoever, nothing in the way of fire or intensity to elevate it, and there is just nothing that makes it stick out, with only the delay-pedalled post-chorus clean guitar fills standing out as distinctive at all. Actually, I tell a lie, because there is its lyric: a story of a man desperately clinging on to one single thread in a doomed-to-fail attempt at salvaging a broken relationship. Now, I see a lot of people dumping on that lyrical conceit, but honestly, I think it could have potential, maybe if it was presented in a really dry, cynical sort of song, or something bleak maybe. But “Breakfast at Tiffany's” just doesn't have the right sound to frame it like that. It's a dorky, happy sunshiney pop sing-along, and the way Pipes blandly and emotionlessly projects it, it sounds like the narrator is either idiotically optimistic or just plain pathetic. Maybe they were going for the whole “upbeat tune + downbeat lyrics” thing, but if so, it wasn't executed very well. But say this for Deep Blue Something: they're definitely a band.
I know just how she feels.
Where Are They Now?™
One of the most regularly-occurring reasons for a commercial downfall that I've given here, at least by my analysis, is that the artist took too long to follow up their breakthrough hit. Deep Blue Something were on track to avert that, recording their second major-label album Byzantium for a planned 1996 release. However, their previous efforts hadn't exactly been stellar: “Josey” peaked at #27 in the UK, but made no impact at all on home shores, and “Halo” tapped out at #2 on the Bubbling Under chart, just failing to break into the Hot 100. And with the sudden massive AC/pop success of “Breakfast at Tiffany's”, alternative rock radio didn't want to touch them – they were suddenly, in a similar situation to what happened with Sister Hazel, massively unhip because of it. To make matters worse, the band got battered by an utterly psychotic touring schedule, with virtually no downtime for a year, and when they got off it, they found the record industry in a state of flux, panicking about Napster and getting blasted by upheavals of all sorts. So things were not promising from the start.
And things were suddenly about to get a lot worse, once the band returned home exhausted from an intense tour abroad. Louis Bickel suddenly re-emerged from the woodwork, claiming that he owned the rights to “Breakfast at Tiffany's” thanks to its original release on 11th Song and that he was owed royalties; it was made all the more complicated by the fact that the band themselves had sued Bickel a month earlier, their claim being that he had refused to give them an accouting of profits from the sales of 11th Song and that they had not been paid royalties from it. (Yeah, guess whose side I'm on with this one?) The courtroom drama dragged on for a long time, with both parties eventually settling out of court.
I was going to say something bad about him before I realized he was dead. Ouch.
But in the meantime, Interscope were still messing with the now-completed Byzantium, continuously delaying it and holding it back as they were making a lot more money off their other artists (Limp Bizkit is the specific name that comes up most often here). Deep Blue Something were all of a sudden a band out of time, lost in limbo. Eventually, the record did make its way out into the world in 1998... but for some reason, and I really couldn't tell you why, it was only released in Japan. Basically, Deep Blue Something had got screwed over in terms of being able to have a successful follow-up in America, plain and simple, and started turning their crack team of lawyers towards Interscope, looking for a release from their contract. (Once more with feeling: Because Record Labels Are Dicks.) They did get it, and signed with the Arizona-based independent label Aezra Records, where they released a self-titled album in 2001, containing five tracks from Byzantium in the first official American release they ever got. But just as you might expect, it saw no success whatsoever, and the band, burned out and exhausted by the record label ructions that had tossed them about like a ship on stormy seas, ended up drifting apart and going on hiatus.
And I said, what about BREAKING STUFF?
The band members all ended up playing in various small-time projects locally. The most interesting path, by far, belonged to drummer John Kirtland, who got a job at Trauma Records, an independent label which was distributed and financed by Interscope. The label's founder Rob Kahane ended up borrowing money from Kirtland, using as collateral royalty rights on the sales of Tragic Kingdom, the best-selling album ever released on that label, as well as all the rights to the back catalogue of Bush, the label's other highest-selling artist. Kahane ended up defaulting on his debts, and as a result Kirtland found himself sitting on a goldmine in short order. He sold the Tragic Kingdom royalty rights off in short order, but retained the rights to Bush's catalogue until 2014 (when he sold them back to Gavin Rossdale and the publishing company Round Hill Music). In 2003, he used the money to found the independent label Kirtland Records, which still exists to this day – it's home to a number of Texas indie rock bands, including OHW CROSSOVER beneficiaries the Toadies, as well as the Polyphonic Spree, in which his wife Jenny is a choral vocalist. So just keep that in mind: every time you heard “Glycerine” on your local buttrock station, a bit of money went to the drummer from a 90's one-hit wonder pop-rock band.
OK, does the Polyphonic Spree freak anybody else out? They look like they're going to talk my ear off about some weird cult.
Eventually, Deep Blue Something got back together to release an EP of new material on Kirtland Records in 2015. They still exist, but they're mostly busy with other matters: John Kirtland has his hands full running his label, while Todd Pipes and his guitarist brother Toby co-own Bass Propulsion Labs, a recording studio in Dallas where they've recorded a number of other local acts. So, yeah, the story of Deep Blue Something just kind of squitters to a halt there. Fitting, I suppose, for the creators of the most average song in history.
OVER TO THE PEANUT GALLERY
"It may be normal, darling, but I'd rather be natural."
Auntie Beryl (2.7): Nah, this is no good. At all.
chanex (1): The lowest score in my rate and justifiably so. Audrey is rolling in her grave every time this is played. (So, continuously since 1995? Poor her.)
4Roses (1): How can a song have such an iconic title but be so...bland. I blame heterosexuality. (What would the opposite be? A song called "Song" that was a half-hour-long free-jazz odyssey?)
WowWowWowWow (3): I was really trying to be positive in this rate and not let my own personal stuff bleed over into my scores, but I cannot listen to this song without being transported back to being an awkward, confused, unpopular 12-year-old, and remembering the miserable school events where this song would always be played. I still haven’t even seen the movie because of this song, which I know has nothing to do with it. (Pretty good movie. Except for one flaw. A big Mickey Rooney shaped flaw.)
iheartpoptarts (4): This is average but kind of annoying in its averageness.
Empty Shoebox (4): As @Ironheade pointed out, there's nothing really interesting about this song. At all. (Always glad to have my work appreciated!)
chanex (1): The lowest score in my rate and justifiably so. Audrey is rolling in her grave every time this is played. (So, continuously since 1995? Poor her.)
4Roses (1): How can a song have such an iconic title but be so...bland. I blame heterosexuality. (What would the opposite be? A song called "Song" that was a half-hour-long free-jazz odyssey?)
WowWowWowWow (3): I was really trying to be positive in this rate and not let my own personal stuff bleed over into my scores, but I cannot listen to this song without being transported back to being an awkward, confused, unpopular 12-year-old, and remembering the miserable school events where this song would always be played. I still haven’t even seen the movie because of this song, which I know has nothing to do with it. (Pretty good movie. Except for one flaw. A big Mickey Rooney shaped flaw.)
iheartpoptarts (4): This is average but kind of annoying in its averageness.
Empty Shoebox (4): As @Ironheade pointed out, there's nothing really interesting about this song. At all. (Always glad to have my work appreciated!)
"Anyone who ever gave you confidence, you owe them a lot."
2014 (8.5): So good but I can see it struggling here. (Actually, it got further than I thought it would!)
ModeRed (7.25): Something enjoyable, cheery, and then I forget all about it. (adultalternative.mp3)
Ganache (6): Still catchy in a very dorky way.
saviodxl (6): Feels like a teenager embarking in the adult life would listen to this song over and over again.
əʊæ (6.5): Relatively harmless. (Just like Earth!)
Hudweiser (6.5): Great tune but the lyrical context: 'Let's stay together on account that we kinda liked the same very famous movie'?
Seventeen Days (6): I never realized just how bleak the lyrics were until I looked them up recently. “Our relationship has nothing left to make it work, but we both like that movie Breakfast at Tiffany’s so I guess that’s enough”. (Jeez. Move over, John Darnielle... - Ed.) That being said, this is just jangly and vaguely Britpop-sounding enough to be enjoyable.
Filippa (8): I love this chorus!
berserkboi (9.8): This classic has taken a bit of time to pull at my heartstrings but it certainly has now!
Sprockrooster (10): An undeniable classic. (And yet, I denied it anyway.)
yuuurei (10): I absolutely love this song! A major fave. I think the lyrics are really cute.
DominoDancing (9): Super fun, super catchy. The production has just the right amount of energy to keep the song alive - which should not be underestimated, as the version of the same song from their previous album 11th Song proves. (It's amazing what a good rearrangement can do, isn't it?)
pop3blow2 (9): I always thought this song & these guys in general, were delightfully random. I mean, this song is a catchy little ear worm. Their album though, was really solid, there are 5 or 6 great tunes on there. I played it quite a bit that summer & beyond. (Home isn't one of the one-hit wonders' albums I got to in preparation for this, but I may go back and have a squiz. Can't be much worse than the Primitive Radio Gods album, anyway...)
DJHazey (10): The first song on this entire list that starts to make feel at home as far as songs I remember staying up late to listen to the radio on my bedroom floor to.
unnameable (10): A solid contender for 11, this song is endlessly repeatable. I found the CD in Poundland last year and the album was better than I remembered. (Poundland sells CDs now? Be right back guys, gotta make a trip.)
ModeRed (7.25): Something enjoyable, cheery, and then I forget all about it. (adultalternative.mp3)
Ganache (6): Still catchy in a very dorky way.
saviodxl (6): Feels like a teenager embarking in the adult life would listen to this song over and over again.
əʊæ (6.5): Relatively harmless. (Just like Earth!)
Hudweiser (6.5): Great tune but the lyrical context: 'Let's stay together on account that we kinda liked the same very famous movie'?
Seventeen Days (6): I never realized just how bleak the lyrics were until I looked them up recently. “Our relationship has nothing left to make it work, but we both like that movie Breakfast at Tiffany’s so I guess that’s enough”. (Jeez. Move over, John Darnielle... - Ed.) That being said, this is just jangly and vaguely Britpop-sounding enough to be enjoyable.
Filippa (8): I love this chorus!
berserkboi (9.8): This classic has taken a bit of time to pull at my heartstrings but it certainly has now!
Sprockrooster (10): An undeniable classic. (And yet, I denied it anyway.)
yuuurei (10): I absolutely love this song! A major fave. I think the lyrics are really cute.
DominoDancing (9): Super fun, super catchy. The production has just the right amount of energy to keep the song alive - which should not be underestimated, as the version of the same song from their previous album 11th Song proves. (It's amazing what a good rearrangement can do, isn't it?)
pop3blow2 (9): I always thought this song & these guys in general, were delightfully random. I mean, this song is a catchy little ear worm. Their album though, was really solid, there are 5 or 6 great tunes on there. I played it quite a bit that summer & beyond. (Home isn't one of the one-hit wonders' albums I got to in preparation for this, but I may go back and have a squiz. Can't be much worse than the Primitive Radio Gods album, anyway...)
DJHazey (10): The first song on this entire list that starts to make feel at home as far as songs I remember staying up late to listen to the radio on my bedroom floor to.
unnameable (10): A solid contender for 11, this song is endlessly repeatable. I found the CD in Poundland last year and the album was better than I remembered. (Poundland sells CDs now? Be right back guys, gotta make a trip.)
he/him
Woohoo @unnameable , someone else with positive thoughts about the album! It really is a pretty solid collection of songs.
I remember deciding to buy their album, mainly because I liked the b-side to Breakfast At Tiffany's, too ('A Water Prayer'). I was always pleasantly surprised the album started with an instrumental. I was like, 'that's an unexpected way to start an album by these guys'. The songs 'Halo', 'A Water Prayer', & 'Home' got played a lot by me. There's several others on there that are pretty good, too.
I wouldn't have minded this song staying a bit longer, but based on the way the wind was blowing... I felt it was leaving sooner than later.
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she/her
A lot of people seem to get something different out of this song's lyrics than what I hear. I don't think they're meant to be depressing OR silly! The narrator's not literally saying that the only reason they have to be together is that they both like a movie, he's saying, "you think we have nothing in common, but we both like this movie so that's something" - meaning, maybe they're not as unalike as she thinks, so there could be hope for them to stay together. Is it like, lyrical genius of the highest degree? No, but it's a perfectly pleasant little song and some of y'all need to get off your high horses tbh.
That aside, I agree with @Ironheade - the movie in question would be pretty cute without the Mickey Rooney thing. I liked the cat.
That aside, I agree with @Ironheade - the movie in question would be pretty cute without the Mickey Rooney thing. I liked the cat.
He/Him
Sad this is gone but it was time considering the pitchforks were out for it for ages!
Such a fascinating read, what happened with the band afterwards! Thanks @Ironheade!!
Such a fascinating read, what happened with the band afterwards! Thanks @Ironheade!!
I'm glad it managed to last this far. Also, the song "Halo" is really good from that album.
And note to our host - yes, Poundland does albums - they recycle all the leftover 90s/early 2000s CDs and DVDs that charity shops can't flog and sell them for a pound. It's like a goldmine of mainstream late 90s taste - if there's an artist from the late 90s who were even semi-mainstream, you have a 50/50 chance of finding one of their CDs. I have to stop myself or I'll suffocate by turning my bedroom into the stockroom of a 90s second-hand record shop.
And note to our host - yes, Poundland does albums - they recycle all the leftover 90s/early 2000s CDs and DVDs that charity shops can't flog and sell them for a pound. It's like a goldmine of mainstream late 90s taste - if there's an artist from the late 90s who were even semi-mainstream, you have a 50/50 chance of finding one of their CDs. I have to stop myself or I'll suffocate by turning my bedroom into the stockroom of a 90s second-hand record shop.
he/him
...it's a perfectly fine song (I gave it a 7, which in retrospect seems...generous [even for me, har har]) but this confuses me. It's so...there.
He/Him
Poor White Town!
