Ginwen

Ah you got me there. I don't remember the song, but I definitely remember Tom Cruise dancing.

U6C84

I played this video because I didn't recognize it. I waited and waited to hear a part that I knew....but I have never even heard a snippet of this song before.

redhenry

Well if you 'heard it' and didn't know it, then that's the same as nto hearing it. To my knowledge, I have never heard "Gold Digga" by that idiot rapper as an example, well at least as far as I know I haven't. Not consciously anyway which amounts to the same thing.

Numanoid

No, it isn't. There are quite a few songs that I've heard time and again over the years, ones I even know the words to by now, but still have no idea who sings them or what they're actually called (though I could guess based on the lyrics). How is that the same as never hearing them?

Groucho

Pretty much what I was going to say. One of the radio stations here re-runs old "American Top 40" shows. A couple weeks ago I was listening to the top 10 from some week in the 1970's (1977, IIRC). I had heard most of the songs, but the #1 song was a complete mystery to me. It was a terrible song, so I immediately forgot the title and artist. The worst part was that Casey Kasem stated it had been #1 for three weeks in a row!

JasonF

I'm not sure what either the band or the song has to do with the Sundays. Kiss Me was written by Sixpence None the Richer, and as far as I know, neither band has anything to do with the other. Are you thinking of the La's, whose original version of "There She Goes" is superior in every way to the Sixpence cover?

redhenry

It's the same because if you weren't paying any attention and it simply washed over you, then it has about as much relevance as not hearing it. I can name you many popular somgs that I have not heard as I don't shop where they would play them, don't listen to the radio or watch MTV, I usually wear an iPod anyway.

There are plenty of VERY popular songs that I know 'of' but I know I haven't heard them. My other half will sometimees say when a song is used in something we are watching "I hate this song" and I'll ask what is it and he'll tell me it's some big number one hit like Lady Gaga or something. I have never heard Poker Face but I do know it was very popular.

I tracked it down earlier today and listened (it's awful) and I know I have never heard it before or if I did, it didn't register. Hence, to me, I have never heard it before.

Maybe the thread could have been called "The most popular song you don't know". For me it's the same thing - and there are plenty of them.

atlantamoi

I never knew that was the name of that tune even though I've heard it too many times. Pretty much cemented my disdain for DMB even though a stray tune here or there doesn't bug me that much.

About 10 years ago VH-1 ran this special playing videos from the biggest singles of all time. I believe that was the subject matter. Maybe of just the 90's? Anyway, each song they went through was something I had heard many, many times. Then they get to number one and it was some Boyz II Men tune (with Mariah Carey I believe). I sat there stunned because I had never heard it before. It confused the hell out of me!

Okay, I just did more research. It had to be "One Sweet Day" and it apparently holds a record for being at #1 for 16 weeks in 1995. It's number 29 for all time songs. I listened again on YouTube and this tune is utterly unknown to me and it SUCKS ASS!!!

Michael Corvin

Yeah, One Sweet Day was huge. Boys II Men and Mariah were probably the two biggest pop stars at the time, so them teaming up guaranteed an instant hit. I'm not to familiar with it myself. It came out shortly after I had transitioned from a pop listener to rock. I'm sure I could point it out if I heard it since Carey and BIIM have distinct vocals.

I heard Smooth(Santana & Rob Thomas) this morning on the way into work and it made me realize that while I know who Rob Thomas is, but I can't say that I know a single Matchbox 20 song.

Hiro11

I know it's not a cover. They're trying to sound like Sundays: a hazy, summery, dreamy melody with sweet/girlish vocals. It's a fine balancing act: slip a little too far into preciousness and you're wallowing in a land of kittens, starry-eyed unicorns and flopsy-wopsy sunflowers. The Sundays stayed classy and added just the right amount of bite. In contrast, Sixpence None the Richer (dumbest band name ever) doesn't just step off that cliff, they do a swan-dive into a sea of awfulness.

Don't even effing get me started on their blander-than-American-cheese La's cover. Also, was it them who massacred Crowded House's "Don't Dream it's Over"?

JasonF

Ah. I get you now. I don't know the Sundays well enough to know whether Sixpence None the Richer are watered down Sundays or watered down something else. They are definitely watered down, though.

And yes, they did cover Don't Dream (It's Over), and yes, the cover was bland pap.

Switching gears completely, I'm not a big DMB fan (Ants Marching is probably the only DMB song I like), but they do have a special place in my heart simply because when I went to college in the early 90s, they were the local bar band, so the fact that they made it big means I can say "I knew them before they were big!"

atlantamoi

Just curious, but have you heard their self-titled album that has "Kiss Me" on it? Frankly, I think that recording is light years more clever and interesting than anything the Sundays did. Musically AND lyrically. It's almost like "Kiss Me" ruined their chances for people to hear the other music they did.
They were not close to an awful band.

edit: Okay, light years is probably not the best phrase! I think I get a little miffed when I see people ragging on this band when the Sundays were just okay themselves (good debut then pffft).

atlantamoi

I heard that Boyz song "I'll Make Love To You" plenty of times by accident (restaurants, radio, etc.). Even songs we all hate sometimes are unavoidable. This makes it even more odd I never heard the Mariah Carey song.
I honestly felt like I was living in a Twilight Zone episode when I realized one, if not THE, biggest song of the 90's never made it to my ears.

terrible chong

me neither. it is utterly foreign to me. and utterly unimpressive

they should have stayed a local bar band. to me they are a testament to mediocrity

terrible chong

of course Sixpence None the Richer is watered down. they are a Christian rock band. all their songs are about Jesus, including Kiss Me

and they really spelled it out with this single
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it's like a rock version of Amy Grant.
when a band's whole purpose in making music is to celebrate their faith, it is naturally going to come out kind of Sunday school-ish (unless they are a Christian metal-core band... ugh)

As for the band The Sundays, they came from the British 80s indie alternative scene. they were on Rough Trade (U.K. indie record label), people were comparing them to the Cocteau Twins and The Smiths. it is a completely different context than Sixpence None the Richer

atlantamoi

I'm not one to stick up for religion at all, but you are not correct here. You said "all" and that's the incorrect part. Read the lyrics to their self-titled album and tell me it's "all". It's certainly not spelled out in any obvious fashion. There was a period in the late 90's when I listened to a bunch of music by and for Christians and not all of it was syrup-laden dross. I'm not talking about the metal you mention. If there is something I've discovered over the years, pretty much all genres have their gems whether people know it or not.

Jaymole

I have probably heard only around 20% of the popular songs over the past 20 years, and that is still too much.

nothingfails

Honestly you never heard it? I was in high school when that song was popular and it was played so much (I actually remember a day in January 1996, in the middle of its run at #1 that it was on four local radio stations simultaneously) that even tho I haven't heard it in a dozen years I still never want to hear it again and yet know it by heart. I've never heard a bad 90's ballad get so overplayed, not even My Heart Will Go On or I Will Always Love You reached that level of saturation that One Sweet Day had for about 3 months in late 95/early 96.

terrible chong

yes, all their songs are about their Christian faith. I have read the lyrics to their 1997 album. every song is a religious one. they are written in metaphor

you need to understand that when they use the word "you," they are often referring to God.

for example: Here we are in the waiting room of the world.
We will wait until you call our name out loud

they are saying this physical life is just a waiting room for heaven. they are saying that when we die, that is God calling for us

it is screamingly obvious to anyone who is half-way literate about religious metaphor

from Breathe Your Name

I'll view the list
And take my pick
I view my faith
And make a choice
'Cause it's nobody else's but mine

You'll view the list
And take your pick
You'll view my faith
And make a choice
'Cause it's nobody else's but yours

Once again, remember that "you" is Jesus.
How is that not obvious? They are a Christian band, their songs are about Christianity.

maybe not but Sixpence None the Richer certainly is

and so is this:

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Just in case you need it explained to you, the "baby" of Baby Baby is BABY JESUS.

DaveWadding

atlantamoi

lol, how many people listen to that song and think of Jesus? Amy Grant and Sixpence aren't even on the same page, musically speaking. I'm definitely aware of religious metaphor, but if you gave that Sixpence album to pretty much anybody who was unaware of their Christian influence, they'd not put the pieces together right away. You are choosing a Sixpence song that might be obvious, but it's not all like that tune.