Green Day charted with “Time of Your Life”

Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) Green Day

Writer(s): Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt, Tré Cool (see lyrics here) Released: December 23, 1997 First Charted: November 29, 1997 Peak: 11a US, 12 RR, 11 A40, 4 AA, 7 AR, 2 MR, 11 UK, 5 CN, 2 AU, 1 DF (Click for codes to singles charts.) Sales (in millions): 5.0 US, 0.6 UK, 5.75 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 0.8 radio, 101.30 video, 471.26 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: The punk-rock trio Green Day formed in 1987 in California. After two independently released albums, they made their major label debut in 1994 with Dookie. The blockbuster sold more than 10 million copies fueled by three chart-topping songs at alternative rock radio. The follow-up, 1995’s Insomniac, wasn’t as big, but still sold two million copies and produced two top-10 alternative rock hits. The next album, 1997’s Nimrod, followed the same pattern with two million more in sales and two more alternative rock hits. The second of those was “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life),” which spent thirteen weeks at #2. The band’s singer, Billie Joe Armstrong, wrote the song in 1993 about his girlfriend, Amanda. She moved to Ecuador to live with her family and continue with her schooling. SF He wrote the song about his anger regarding her leaving, calling it “Good Riddance.” He said it was “about trying to be cool, accepting that, in life, people go in different directions.” SF He shared it with his bandmates during the Dookie sessions, but its “mellow, contemplative lyrics with acoustic music” WK were too sonically different than the punk style of that album. They took another stab at it during the Nimrod sessions, adding strings to the song. It became a hit, but it also resulted in a high rate of returns at record stores from fans who thought it was too different than what they expected. SF The band was surprised to find that it became a staple at high school proms. Many graduating seniors interpreted the lyrics as a nostalgic reflection of their time in school. In 2015, Rolling Stone magazine named it one of the 20 best graduation songs of the past 20 years. WK Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Green Day SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia First posted 11/1/2022.

 

Yes Open Your Eyes released

Open Your Eyes Yes

Released: November 25, 1997 Peak: 151 US, -- UK, -- CN, -- AU Sales (in millions): -- Genre: progressive rock

Tracks: Song Title [time] (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to singles charts. New State of Mind [6:00] (single, --) Open Your Eyes [5:14] (9/22/97, 33 AR) Universal Garden [6:16] No Way We Can Lose [4:56] Fortune Seller [5:00] Man in the Moon [4:41] Wonderlove [6:06] From the Balcony [2:43] Love Shine [4:37] Somehow, Someday [4:47] The Solution [5:25] The Source [16:21] All songs written by Anderson, Howe, White, Squire, and Sherwood. Total Running Time: 72:06 The Players: Jon Anderson (vocals) Steve Howe (guitar, backing vocals, mandolin, banjo) Chris Squire (bass, backing vocals, harmonica) Alan White (drumers, percussion, backing vocals) Billy Sherwood (guitar, keyboards, backing vocals, recording, mixing)

Rating: 1.885 out of 5.00 (average of 5 ratings)

About the Album: In 1996 and 1997, Yes released a pair of albums known as Keys to Ascension and Keys to Ascension 2. Both were double albums which included live material from 1996 along with new material. The lineup featured Anderson, Squire, Howe, White, and keyboardist Rick Wakeman. The albums were produced by Billy Sherwood. Sherwood met Chris Squire in 1989. The Yes lineup at that time featured Squire, Anderson, White, Tony Kaye, and Trevor Rabin. Anderson reunited with Yes bandmates’ Howe, Wakeman, and Bill Bruford while Rabin focused on solo work. Squire, White, and Kaye recruited Sherwood as a possible Yes member, but he was uneasy about replacing Anderson as a frontman. He did, however, contribute to Yes’ 1991 Union album and played guitar and keyboards on the band’s 1994 tour in support of Talk. Sherwood and Squire formed a strong writing partnership and toured as the Chris Squire Experiment in 1992. They were developing songs for an album to be called Chemistry when Sherwood was enlisted for Yes, becoming an official member in 1997 after Wakeman left the group. Two of the songs the pair had developed for that project, Open Your Eyes (originally called “I Wish I Knew”) and Man in the Moon, were re-worked for Yes. Sherwood then sent tapes of early versions of Wonderlove, Love Shine, New State of Mind, and Universal Garden to Anderson, who liked the songs, recorded vocals for them, and sent them back to Sherwood. White then recorded new drum tracks and, as Sherwood said, “all of a sudden it had that [Yes] flavor.” WK Howe, who came in toward the album’s completion, has said he and Anderson had little input on the songs, WK although they did contribute From the Balcony. While Sherwood served as the band’s primary keyboardist, the album also included work from Russian keyboardist Igor Khoroshev as a guest on a few songs. He was brought on board at the request of Anderson and Howe, who’d heard tapes of him. He then joined the band on their 30th anniversary 12-month world tour and became a full member after the tour. The album was poorly received, becoming one of their least successful commercially. Entertainment Weekly’s Chuck Eddy criticized Yes as “neither as self-indulgent nor as magnificent as they’re capable of being.” WK Stereogum was even harsher, saying it was “written at a child’s level of musical sophistication.” WK

Resources and Related Links: WK Wikipedia First posted 7/25/2021.

Shania Twain Come on Over spent first of 50 weeks atop the country chart

Come on Over Shania Twain

Released: November 4, 1997 Peak: 2 US, 150 CW, 111 UK, 15 CN, 120 AU Sales (in millions): 20.0 US, 3.34 UK, 40.0 world (includes US and UK), 47.06 EAS Genre: country

Tracks: (Click for codes to charts.) Man! I Feel Like a Woman! [3:53] (11/15/97, 23 BB, 18 BA, 18 GR, 17 RR, 16 AC, 12 A40, 4 CW, 3 UK, 17 CN, 4 AU, 12 DF) I’m Holdin’ on to Love to Save My Life [3:30] (7/3/00, 17 CW) Love Gets Me Every Time [3:33] (10/4/97, 25 BB, 1 CW) Don’t Be Stupid (You Know I Love You) [3:35] (11/11/97, 40 BB, 6 CW, 5 UK, 32 AU, 29 DF) From This Moment On (with Bryan White) [4:43] (11/15/97, 4 BB, 13 GR, 14 RR, 1 AC, 22 A40, 6 CW, 9 UK, 4 CN, 2 AU, 24 DF) Come on Over [2:55] (11/15/97, 58 BB, 43 BA, 6 CW, 36 DF) When [3:39] (6/1/98, 18 UK, 14 CN) Whatever You Do, Don’t! [3:49] If You Wanna Touch Her, Ask! [4:04] You’re Still the One [3:34] (1/24/98, 2 BB, 6 GR, 3 RR, 1 AC, 6 A40, 1 CW, 10 UK, 7 CN, 1 AU, 8 DF) Honey, I’m Home [3:39] (11/15/97, 1 CW) That Don’t Impress Me Much [3:38] (12/12/98, 7 BB, 5 BA, 5 GR, 4 RR, 8 AC, 6 A40, 8 CW, 3 UK, 5 CN, 2 AU, 18 DF) Black Eyes, Blue Tears [3:39] I Won’t Leave You Lonely [4:13] Rock This Country [4:23] (1/10/00, 30 CW, 29 DF) You’ve Got a Way [3:24] (5/31/99, 49 BB, 42 BA, 40 RR, 6 AC, 13 CW, 17 CN, 28 AU) All tracks written by Shania Twain and Robert John “Mutt” Lange. Total Running Time: 60:06

Rating: 4.213 out of 5.00 (average of 26 ratings) Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

Shania’s Early Years Country singer/songwriter Eilleen Regina “Shania” Twain was born in 1965 in Ontario, Canada. After graduating from high school in 1983, she toured with a cover band called Flirt. Toronto DJ Stan Campbell noticed her talent and used her as a backing vocalist on an album by Canadian musician Tim Denis. Twain halted her burgeoning music career in 1987 when her mother and stepfather died in a car accident. She moved home to take care of her younger siblings. After her siblings moved out on their own, Twain re-entered the music world by assembling a demo which caught the attention of a few labels. She signed to Mercury Nashville Records and released her self-titled debut album in 1993. The album failed to chart in her native Canada or the United States, although the single “What Made You Say That” backed by “Dance with the One That Brought You” reached #55 on the Billboard country chart. Her next album, 1995’s The Woman in Me, was a blockbuster. It reached the top 10 in Canada and the U.S. and has sold 20 million copies worldwide. It featured four #1 country hits, including the double-platinum “Any Man of Mine.” It “proved that the world was ready for a combination of traditional instruments, girl-power themes, and dance-pop dynamics.” AM She proved to be equally as marketable as “a modern-day Dolly Parton or a country music Spice Girl.” AM Mutt Lange One of the key components in Shania’s huge leap in commercial success had to do with Robert John “Mutt” Lange. The famed producer reached out to her after hearing her first album. After hours on the phone, the two met six months later and married by the end of 1993. As the man who had produced iconic rock albums for Bryan Adams, AC/DC, the Cars, Def Leppard, and Foreigner, he was able to bring that same sensibility for catchy hits to Shania’s The Woman in Me. Bigger and Better Come on Over, also produced by Lange, “was essentially more of the same, but with even more hooks and a more polished, commercial sound.” TB Twain “updated her image accordingly, and now looked less like a country singer and more like she’d just walked out of the pages of Vogue. This immediately boosted her appeal internationally.” TB Twain “accentuates the sing-along choruses and simple dance rhythms while downplaying the country elements.” AM “There are still country elements, such as the fiddles on ‘Man! I Feel Like a Woman!,’ but even they have been processed to fit with the record’s modern pop sheen.” TB Entertainment Weekly praised the album for “incorporating a substantial rock influence without losing its country sensibilities.” WK “The emphasis is on fun rather than depth.” AM The Biggest Country Album Ever As big as The Woman in Me was, it still didn’t properly prepare the world for the monstrous success of Shania’s third album, Come on Over. Twain took a page out of Michael Jackson’s Thriller playbook, pulling singles over multiple years, stretching from 1997 to 2000. Powered by eight top-10 country hits, including three #1’s, Come on Over spent a whopping 50 weeks atop the country chart. It received Grammy nominations for Album of the Year and Best Country Album. It became the best-selling country album of all-time, as well as the best-seller by a woman and by a Canadian. WK Twain had never even charted in the UK, but the album went to #1 and generated six top-10 singles. TB The Songs Here are insights into individual tracks. “Love Gets Me Every Time” and “Don’t Be Stupid” Love Gets Me Every Time was the lead single from Come on Over. It topped the country chart and went gold. The second single, Don’t Be Stupid (You Know I Love You), was the album’s second top-40 hit on the Billboard pop chart and also reached the top 10 on the country chart. “You’re Still the One” The album’s third single, You’re Still the One, was the album’s biggest hit and the biggest hit of Shania’s career. It was another #1 country hit, reached #2 on the pop charts, and went double platinum. It also landed four Grammy nominations, including Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Country Song, and Best Female Country Vocal Performance, winning the latter two. “From This Moment On,” “Honey, I’m Home,” and “That Don’t Impress Me Much” The album’s biggest hit was followed by From This Moment On, Shania’s second entry into the top five on the Billboard Hot 100. It was another top-ten country hit and went platinum. Honey, I’m Home became the album’s third #1 country hit and went gold. That Don’t Impress Me Much was a platinum single that hit the top 10 on the country chart and the Billboard Hot 100. “Man! I Feel Like a Woman!” and “Come on Over” Twain landed another top-40 pop hit and top-five country hit with Man! I Feel Like a Woman!. The triple platinum earned Twain another Grammy for Best Female Country Vocal Performance. That same year – 2000 – Twain landed the Grammy for Best Country Song for Come on Over, the album’s eighth and final top-10 country hit. Notes: An international version of the CD was released in 1999 that contained some remixes of the original tracks and a different track listing.

Reviews: AM AllMusic.com review by Michael McCall TB Thunder Bay (2005). Albums: The Stories Behind 50 Years of Great Recordings. Thunder Bay Press; San Diego, CA. Page 285. WK Wikipedia Related DMDB Links: First posted 3/27/2008; last updated 12/9/2024.

50 years ago: Thelonious Monk recorded “Round Midnight”

‘Round Midnight Thelonious Monk

Writer(s): Thelonious Monk, Cootie Williams, Bernie Hanighen (see lyrics here) Recorded: November 21, 1947 First Charted: -- Peak: -- (Click for codes to singles charts.) Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 2.5 video, -- streaming

Awards: (Click on award for more details).

About the Song: “Jazz is often romanticized as the sound of the city at night when the bustle has died down…but few of its composers ever managed to capture that last call feeling, and none did it quite like Thelonious Monk.” NPR “Round Midnight” is, according to JazzStandards.com, “the most-recorded jazz standard written by any jazz musician.” JS Jazz legend Herbie Hancock called it “a cornerstone in the whole evolution of jazz.” NPR It has even been called the “National Anthem of Jazz.” JS Pianist Thelonious Monk wrote the “darkly beautiful ballad with an after-hours feel” JS around 1940 or 1941. Monk’s producer, Harry Colomby, claims an early version may have been written as far back as 1936 when Monk was 19. WK In the book Thelonious Monk: His Life and Music, Thomas Fitterling says he wrote it even earlier when he was 18. JS Regardless of when he wrote it, Monk didn’t copyright it until September 24, 1943 under the title “I Need You So” with lyrics he wrote. WK He didn’t record it himself until November 21, 1947, WK by which time it was already well known NPR Trumpeter Cootie Williams recorded the song on August 22, 1944, after being persuaded by pianist Bud Powell. WK There are different accounts as to whether or not Williams modified the song, but he ended up with a writing credit. JS New lyrics were added by Bernie Hanighen, a songwriter and producer, and published on November 27, 1944, under the title “Grand Finale.” WK Jackie Paris introduced this new vocal version in 1949. JS In 1946, trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie embellished the song JS with a new intro that was originally the end of his arrangement of “I Can’t Get Started.” WK It became a standard part of the song. JS Miles Davis recorded the song several times in the ‘50s and it became one of his signature songs. WK His “show-stopping performance of the song at the 1955 Newport Jazz Festival” JS was considered a major turning point for the song, Davis, and the world of jazz in general because it introduced the song to the jazz public at large. JS By the end of the ‘50s, the song “was firmly entrenched as a jazz standard” NPR thanks to Davis and versions by Dexter Gordon and Sarah Vaughan. NPR Resources and Related Links: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Thelonious Monk DMDB page for parent album Genius of Modern Music, Vol. 1 (recorded 1947, released 1951) NPR (11/20/2000). “NPR 100: Round Midnight” JS JazzStandards.com WK Wikipedia First posted 4/21/2021.

 

Natalie Imbruglia “Torn” charted

Torn Natalie Imbruglia

Writer(s): Scott Cutler, Anne Preven, Phil Thornalley (see lyrics here) Released: October 27, 1997 First Charted: November 8, 1997 Peak: 42 US, 111 BA, 112 GR, 111 RR, 4 AC, 114 A40, 3 AA, 12 MR, 2 UK, 112 CN, 2 AU, 18 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): -- US, 1.8 UK, 4.0 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 0.9 radio, 369.27 video, 592.09 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Record company greed was never more blatantly obvious than in the ‘90s. It became a regular practice to delay or withhold altogether the release of a single in an effort to drive sales for the album instead. This made for some interesting chart disparities. Because the Billboard Hot 100 required songs to be released as singles, there were songs like the Goo Goo Dolls’ “Iris” and No Doubt’s “Don’t Speak” that topped the airplay chart for 18 and 16 weeks respectively but were cheated out of the chance to potentially rank amongst the biggest #1 songs of all time. While those were both well-known acts, new artists fell victim to the practice as well – perhaps none more so than Natalie Imbruglia. The singer/songwriter and actress was born in Australia in 1975. She gained fame in her native country through the soap opera Neighbours before moving to London to launch a music career. Her debut album, Left of the Middle, was released in 1997 and sold seven million copies worldwide. The lead single, “Torn,” was a top-5 hit in multiple countries but only reached #42 in the United States on the Billboard Hot 100. However, it spent eleven weeks atop the airplay chart and was a major #1 hit on competitors’ charts like the Gavin Report and Radio & Records that didn’t hamper songs with the same rules as the Billboard Hot 100. The “lyrics immaculately captured the contradictory dilemmas of everyday life.” TB The song is a “tale of a romantic breakup, from the disappointed but clear-eyed perspective of a woman who’s come to realize that the magic she thought was there isn’t.” SS It was written in 1991 by Scott Cutler and Anne Preven with producer Phil Thornalley. It was intended as a solo release for Preven. Her American rock band Ednaswap performed it live but didn’t initially release it. It was then recorded in 1993 in Danish by singer Lis Sørensen and became a hit in Demark. Ednaswap then recorded the song in 1995 and, a year later, it was recorded by American-Norwegian singer Trinie Rein and became a top-ten hit on the Norwegian charts. In 1997, Imbruglia released her version of the song with Thornalley on bass and rhythm guitars. Her version earned worldwide attention and was nominated for a Grammy for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. Billboard’s Larry Flick said it “has an infectious melody that will warm the hearts of anyone with a hankering for a slice of pure pop.” WK Music historian Steve Sullivan called it “the most pleasantly inescapable song on pop radio in 1998.” SS Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Natalie Imbruglia SF Songfacts SS Steve Sullivan (2013). Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings (Volumes I & II). Scarecrow Press: Lanham, Maryland. Page 877. TB Thunder Bay Press (2006). Singles: Six Decades of Hot Hits & Classic Cuts. Outline Press Ltd.: San Diego, CA. Page Page 277. WK Wikipedia First posted 8/9/2023.