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Hootie & the Blowfish: Cracked Rear View
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Hootie & the Blowfish's mainstream pop variation of blues-rock brought the band to the top of the charts in 1995. Formed at the University of South Carolina, the group features lead vocalist/guitarist Darius Rucker, Mark Bryan, Dean Felber, and Jim "Soni" Sonefeld; the name refers to two friends of the band, not Rucker and the group itself. Cracked Rear View, the group's first album, was released in the fall of 1994 and a single, "Hold My Hand," worked its way into the Top Ten by the beginning of 1995. Its success propelled the album to number one, as well as launching a second hit, "Let Her Cry," which was quickly followed by "Only Wanna Be With You." Cracked Rear View had become a massive success by the fall of 1995, going platinum several times over. By the time the group released their second album, Fairweather Johnson, in the spring of 1996, the debut had sold 13 million copies in the U.S. alone.
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Hootie & the Blowfish's debut album, Cracked Rear View, was the success story of 1994/1995, selling over 12 million copies. It's a startling, large number, especially for a new band, but in some ways, the success of the record isn't that surprising. Although Hootie & the Blowfish aren't innovative, they deliver the goods, turning out an album of solid, rootsy folk-rock songs that have simple, powerful hooks. "Hold My Hand" has a singalong chorus that epitomizes the band's good-times vibes. N...[ read more ]
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Hootie & the Blowfish's mainstream pop variation of blues-rock brought the band to the top of the charts in 1995. Formed at the University of South Carolina, the group features lead vocalist/guitarist Darius Rucker, Mark Bryan, Dean Felber, and Jim "Soni" Sonefeld; the name refers to two friends of the band, not Rucker and the group itself. Cracked Rear View, the group's first album, was released in the fall of 1994 and a single, "Hold My Hand," worked its way into the Top Ten by the beginning of 1995. Its success propelled the album to number one, as well as launching a second hit, "Let Her Cry," which was quickly followed by "Only Wanna Be With You."
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Hootie & the Blowfish never were cut out to be superstars. They were meant to be the best band at the local bar. They were ordinary guys, and they played ordinary music, the kind that could be heard in any college town on the East Coast or Midwest during the early '90s when the local bar wasn't having grunge night. It was the ordinariness of the music on their 1994 debut, Cracked Rear View, that connected with millions of American listeners -- they sounded like everybody's favorite local band. Onc...[ read more ]
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Seemingly overnight, Hootie & the Blowfish went from selling its music out of the back of a van to achieving multi-platinum sales figures with its major label debut Cracked Rear View. Fame... is fleeting, and 11 years later, the group has slipped so far from its superstar status that the release of its last outing received less attention than did front man Darius Rucker’s recent decision to don a rhinestone cowboy suit in order to hock sandwiches for a fast-food chain. On its latest effort Looking for Lucky, the ensemble has reunited with producer Don Gehman, who assisted in sculpting the band’s biggest hits, and not surprisingly, the result is largely the same. Indeed, throughout the collection’s 12 tracks, Hootie & the Blowfish earnestly delivers its inoffensively endearing blend of pop-leaning, roots-oriented rock with all the easy-going, feel-good effervescence that its long-standing fans have come to expect. Unfortunately, this time around, the melodies aren’t nearly as memorable as those on its past endeavors, and despite the song cycle’s genesis with the Nashville music scene, it isn’t until the final few tracks that the collective truly takes advantage of its surroundings. As a result, Looking for Lucky is about as straightforward and safe an album as Hootie & the Blowfish ever has created.
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Hootie & The Blowfish's first major-label release, 1994's Cracked Rear View, remains one of the greatest debuts in pop history. To date, the album has sold over 16 million copies in the U.S. alone, and is currently tied with The Beatles' 1967-1970, Elton John's Greatest Hits, The Eagles' Hotel California, Garth Brooks' No Fences and Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill for 12th place on the RIAA's list of the "100 Best-Selling Albums of All Time." The chart-topping disc earned the group two Grammy Awards (Best New Artist and Best Pop Performance By A Group), a gaggle of critical acclaim and a ringing endorsement from David Letterman.
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Cracked Rear View