Hootie & the Blowfish “Only Wanna Be with You” charted

Only Wanna Be with You Hootie & the Blowfish

Writer(s): Mark Bryan, Dean Felber, Darius Rucker, Jim Sonefeld (see lyrics here) Released: July 17, 1995 First Charted: June 10, 1995 Peak: 6 US, 5 CB, 2 GR, 13 RR, 3 AC, 13 A40, 2 AR, 22 MR, 87 UK, 13 CN, 40 AU, 11 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 23.3 video, 144.5 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: While freshman at the University of South Carolina, singer Darius Rucker and guitarist Mark Bryan formed the Wolf Brothers. They later added bassist Dean Felber and drummer Brantley Smith (later replaced by Jim “Soni” Sonefeld) and changed the band name to Hootie and the Blowfish in 1986. They took the name from nicknames of two of their college friends. They independently released three EPs in the early nineties before signing to Atlantic Records in 1993. Their debut album, 1994’s Cracked Rear View, was a collection of “solid, rootsy folk-rock songs that have simple, powerful hooks.” AMG “At their core, Hootie & the Blowfish are a bar band, but they managed to convince millions of listeners that they were the local bar band,” AMG offering the perfect alternative to the edgier grunge rock of the day. It became the biggest selling album in the history of the record company, SF selling more than 21 million copies and landing three top-10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100. The third of those singles, “Only Wanna Be with You,” was originally released on the group’s 1993 EP Kootchypop. The song topped the Canadian charts and became the second most successful song of 1995. WK The song quotes extensively from Bob Dylan’s “Idiot Wind,” which resulted in the band reaching an out-of-court settlement for $350,000. WK Cash Box’s Steve Baltin said of the song that “this catchy upbeat gem shows why Hootie & the Blowfish can do no wrong when it comes to the charts…Hootie’s sound is never more mainstream than it is here, as the rocking and danceable beat is accompanied by a perky chorus.” WK Rapper Post Malone covered the song in 2021, reaching #74 on the Billboard Hot 100. Because he was a Cowboys’ fan, he changed the reference in the song to Rucker’s favorite football team, the Miami Dolphins (“I’m such a baby, the Dolphins made me cry”). Resources: AMG All Music Guide review of Cracked Rear View by Stephen Thomas Erlewine SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 1/18/2023.