Everclear - Sunflowers
I’ve been digging out a lot of my old favorites for this week’s SOTW. It was a tough decision between some great 90’s bands, Candlebox and Everclear. The reason I had to go with Everclear is because I have a much more emotional attachment to it. This was one of the those CD’s we played all summer long and just reminds me of some great times I had when I was a kid. It also reminds me of a particularly fun trip to North Carolina, where this CD was put on constant rotation.
Song: Sunflowers
Artist: Everclear
Album: So Much for the Afterglow
Why This Song? This song is one of my favorite songs and one of the songs that I relate to the most. I was reading some people’s reactions to the Nelly song, “Over and Over”. Yah, the collaboration he had with Tim McGraw. This song is the most utter crap I have ever had the displeasure of listening to. It is so generic and bland. It was made for the masses to consume like fat people with junk food. I found myself in disbelief as I was reading people’s reactions to the song. They say because they can relate to the song it automatically makes it good. I call BULL on that one. I agree that if you can relate to the message of a song that you will like it a lot more. However, if the song is so generic, like saying “I miss you” (Sorry Blink-182) over and over again, of course you can relate to it. Everyone in the United States can. Everyone misses someone, but that far from makes the song good. I am making a shower called “I Just Got Out of the Shower”. It will be a reccord-breaking hit because everyone can relate to it. Well, maybe not people in the South. (Sorry for the 3 teeth I offended with that joke.) The logic is twisted and ridiculous.
This song has it all tho. It has a message many can relate to, with creative lyrics, and some sweet music to accompany them. This is what I call good. It seems like lately ever single person I used to know has turned away from what they were about and, at the same time, sacraficed what was good for them. You can’t try to talk sense into these people. Their reaction is, “Whatever, I do what I want. This is my life. You don’t understand.” Hey stupids, of course I understand. I did the same stupid stuff, but without my friends trying to talk some sense into me I probably never would have stopped and, in the process, really screwed my life up.
Its the routine of the world. Make mistakes, learn from them, grow up, and then tell other people they are making the same mistakes. They think you just do it to ruin their life, but they don’t realize how much it effects you, even if you don’t see them everyday. The problem isn’t when they will wise up and snap out of it. The problem is not knowing if they ever will. That is the really frustrating part. Hopefully they snap out of it and if they do, they will most likely have the same thing happen to them in return. Art captures this perfectly. (‘Yes I think you think I’m stupid / You don’t think I understand / Yes I see you / and I see myself when I was a younger man’). The lyrics are simple yet painful. (‘I see you run around in circles / I see you digging your own hole / I see you fight the fights you just can’t win / I see you losing self control / What it does to me deep down inside / I hope you will never know’). It like he stole the words straight from my mouth. Preach it Art.
Most of you have heard of Everclear, but if you haven’t heard a lot of their stuff I would highly recommend their music, especially their older albums. If you have never heard them before, there is no better time to start than the present. Check em out.
Related sites
Recent features
The Format - Give It Up
Coheed and Cambria - The Velorium Camper II: Backend Of Forever
Leah Andreone - Break Your Fall
Song of the week
Sara Bareilles - Between the Lines
Sara Bareilles' "Between the Lines" is the Song of the Week for April 20 to 26.