Whatever happened to...Hootie & The Blowfish?

Remember the one episode of Friends? The one where Monica, Ross and Chandler go to a Hootie concert but leave the other three behind. You know, the one where Phoebe joined them for the after-party and got a hickey from a Blowfish? Good times. Icky, but good.

For those of you who can recall that far back, 1990 to 1995 was a simple period that lacked the conscious self-referentiality of today–there was a post-Cold War high, U2 weren’t wankers, Clinton played saxophone on TV (and by sax, we mean an actual sax), and Hootie and the bloody Blowfish were the biggest hit-makers around. They encapsulated the summery feelgood-ness of the era, in their “Hey dude, take a chill pill and have some pizza”, lumpy suburban slacker chic in a way that was the complete opposite of Blind Melon. And they sold millions of records with the monster hits ‘Hold My Hand’ (watch the Sesame Street version!), ‘Let Her Cry’ and ‘Only Wanna Be With You’.

But their absolute lack of any depth or irony (Darius Rucker’s Carolina-bred good ol’ boy vibes notwithstanding) saw them being dropped like a steaming turd when the tide of public consciousness meandered and wavered into post-grunge territory (Kurt Cobain’s spectre still loomed over all that was sunshiney and happy, remember). After Breaking Records, the label they founded, bit the dust, Darius Rucker, in a desperate attempt to get back to his “roots”, recorded an R&B album that received lacklustre fanfare. He then starred as a morose-but-comical looking cowboy in a Burger King ad for their TenderCrisp Bacon Cheddar Ranch Sandwich. For real.

Hootie got back together in 2008 to play the Vegas circuit. Alas, they recently broke up again so Rucker could focus on his country music (he’s got balls, we’ll give him that), a career that has so far eclipsed the virtually non-existent solo careers of drummer Jim Sonefeld and guitarist Mark Bryan. In the end, the irony that they so lacked before came back to bite them in the ass. Pity, them seemed like a nice bunch of dudes.

WORDS FIL  
www.hootie.com

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