Saturday, November 29, 1997

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:


First posted 11/1/2022.

Tuesday, November 25, 1997

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.

  1. New State of Mind [6:00] (single, --)
  2. Open Your Eyes [5:14] (9/22/97, 33 AR)
  3. Universal Garden [6:16]
  4. No Way We Can Lose [4:56]
  5. Fortune Seller [5:00]
  6. Man in the Moon [4:41]
  7. Wonderlove [6:06]
  8. From the Balcony [2:43]
  9. Love Shine [4:37]
  10. Somehow, Someday [4:47]
  11. The Solution [5:25]
  12. 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:

First posted 7/25/2021.

Friday, November 21, 1997

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:

First posted 4/21/2021.

Saturday, November 8, 1997

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:


First posted 8/9/2023.

Tuesday, November 4, 1997

Shania Twain released Come on Over

First posted 3/27/2008; updated 12/3/2020.

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)


Genre: country


Tracks: (Click for codes to singles charts.)

  1. Man! I Feel Like a Woman! [3:53] (11/15/97, #18a US, 3 UK, 4 CW, 16 AC, gold single)
  2. I’m Holdin’ on to Love to Save My Life [3:30] (7/8/00, #17 CW)
  3. Love Gets Me Every Time [3:33] (10/4/97, #25 US, 1 CW, gold single)
  4. Don’t Be Stupid (You Know I Love You) [3:35] (11/15/97, #40 US, 5 UK, 6 CW)
  5. From This Moment On (with Bryan White) [4:43] (11/15/97, #4 US, 9 UK, 58 CW)
  6. Come on Over [2:55] (11/15/97, #43a US, 6 CW)
  7. When [3:39] (6/13/98, #18 UK)
  8. Whatever You Do, Don’t! [3:49]
  9. If You Wanna Touch Her, Ask! [4:04]
  10. You’re Still the One [3:34] (1/24/98, #2 US, 10 UK, 1 CW, 1 AC, platinum single)
  11. Honey, I’m Home [3:39] (11/15/97, #1 CW)
  12. That Don’t Impress Me Much [3:38] (12/12/98, #5a US, 3 UK, 8 CW, 8 AC)
  13. Black Eyes, Blue Tears [3:39]
  14. I Won’t Leave You Lonely [4:13]
  15. Rock This Country [4:23] (1/15/00, #30 CW)
  16. You’ve Got a Way [3:24] (6/19/99, #42a US, 13 CW, 6 AC)

All tracks written by Shania Twain and Robert John “Mutt” Lange.


Total Running Time: 60:06

Rating:

4.051 out of 5.00 (average of 19 ratings)


Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album:

“The come-from-nowhere success of Shania Twain’s previous album, The Woman in Me, proved that the world was ready for a combination of traditional instruments, girl-power themes, and dance-pop dynamics. Whether Twain is a modern-day Dolly Parton or a country music Spice Girl is a matter of perspective. But with her third album, she accentuates the sing-along choruses and simple dance rhythms while downplaying the country elements.” MM

The album became the best-selling country album of all-time, as well as the best-seller by a woman and by a Canadian. WK Powered by eight country top-ten hits, including three #1’s, Come on Over spent a whopping 50 weeks atop the country chart. The album received Grammy nominations for Album of the Year and Best Country Album. The song You’re Still the One landed four nominations, including Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Country Song, and Best Female Country Vocal Performance, winning the latter two. The album’s power was still kicking a year later when she won each of those two awards again – but this time for Come on Over and Man! I Feel Like a Woman! respectively.

“The emphasis is on fun rather than depth, of course.” MM Like The Woman in Me, this album was powered by “quite radio-friendly” songs MM produced and co-written by “Mutt” Lange. The man who Twain married in 1993 brought the same sensibility for catchy hits as he’d done producing iconic rock albums for Bryan Adams, AC/DC, the Cars, Def Leppard, and Foreigner. Entertainment Weekly “praised the album for successfully incorporating a substantial rock influence without losing its country sensibilities.” WK


Notes:

An international version of the CD was released in 1999 that contained some remixes of the original tracks and a different track listing.

Review Sources:


Related DMDB Page(s):