Hootie & the Blowfish are an American
rock band that enjoyed widespread popularity in
the second half of the 1990s.
They were originally formed in 1986 at the
University of
South Carolina
by Darius Rucker, Dean
Felber, Jim Sonefeld, and Mark Bryan. The band has recorded seven
studio albums to date, and has charted sixteen singles on various
Billboard singles
charts. Their 1994 debut album,
Cracked Rear View, is one of the best
selling albums of all time, going platinum sixteen times.
History
Hootie & the Blowfish formed in 1986.
The quartet met when
they were freshmen at the University of South Carolina in Columbia
. Mark Bryan heard Darius Rucker singing in
the showers of the dorm they shared and was impressed by his vocal
ability. Bryan and Rucker began playing cover tunes as The Wolf
Brothers; eventually Bryan and Rucker collaborated with Felber, a
former high school bandmate of Bryan's, and Jim "Soni" Sonefeld as
Hootie & the Blowfish.
Brantley Smith was the original drummer for the band. He left the
group to pursue music ministry, but he has made scattered guest
appearances with the band (he played cello on their MTV Unplugged
performance in 1996 and sat in on drums with the band at Gruene
Hall in Gruene, TX, on June 27, 2008).
The group independently released two cassette demo
EP in 1991 and 1992. In 1993, they pressed
50,000 copies of a self-released EP,
Kootchypop, which was
named after a reference to female genitalia in a stand-up comedy
act by
What's Happening
co-star
Shirley Hemphill. Their
mainstream debut album was
Cracked
Rear View (1994). It was an instant success, ultimately
going
platinum 16 times in the
U.S. and becoming the best-selling album of 1995. The album was
propelled by four hits, "
Hold My Hand"
(U.S. #10), "
Let Her Cry" (U.S. #9),
"
Only Wanna Be With You"
(U.S. #6), and "Time" (U.S. #14). In 1995, Hootie and the Blowfish
and
Bob Dylan reached an out-of-court
settlement for the group's unauthorized use of Dylan's lyrics in
their song "Only Wanna Be With You."
Miami Dolphins' Hall of Fame quarterback
Dan Marino appeared in the band's video
for the song "Only Wanna Be With You", along with several other
athletes.
The band won the "Best New Artist" award at the 1996
Grammy Awards. Hootie & the Blowfish
appeared on
MTV Unplugged on
the eve of the release of their second album, 1996's
Fairweather Johnson. Though sales
began promisingly, and it contained the hit single "Old Man and Me"
(U.S. #13), the album quickly ran out of steam, having sold four
million copies in the U.S. Hootie & the Blowfish has since
released three more studio albums:
Musical
Chairs,
Hootie & the
Blowfish, and
Looking for
Lucky. They also released a
B-sides
and rarities compilation in 2000 entitled
Scattered, Smothered and
Covered. This album is named in tribute of
Waffle House, a popular Southern chain of
all-night diners. Specifically, the title refers to an order of
hash browns scattered on the grill,
smothered with diced
onions and covered with
melted cheese.
In 1995, Hootie & the Blowfish contributed the song "
Hey Hey What Can I Do" to the
Encomium tribute album to
Led Zeppelin. Their
cover of Canadian group
54-40's "I Go Blind", originally released on the
soundtrack to the TV series
Friends
in 1995, did not appear on
Cracked Rear View or
Fairweather Johnson, but nevertheless became a surprise
hit at radio in 1997 after three singles from
Fairweather
Johnson had been released. Both "Hey Hey What Can I Do" and "I
Go Blind" were later released on the collection
Scattered,
Smothered and Covered.
Hootie and the Blowfish started their own record label, Breaking
Records, in 1996 as a subsidiary of Atlantic. They had planned to
focus on signing local Carolina acts.
Edwin
McCain and
Cravin' Melon were both
associated with the label at one point, but did not release any
material on it.
The Meat Puppets,
Jump, Little Children,
Treadmill Trackstar and
Treehouse released one album each on
Breaking Records. The label folded in 2000.
Hootie covered the 1968 Orpheus hit "Can't Find the Time" in 2001
for the soundtrack of the Jim Carrey movie " Me, Myself and Irene".
It was a crowd favorite after the movie was released. Orpheus
creator and the song's writer Bruce Arnold traded verses with
Darius on several occasions when the band played live on the west
coast.
The band currently has an extensive touring schedule, including an
annual New Year's Eve show at the
Silverton Hotel and Casino in
Las Vegas. In 2008, the
band started releasing their concerts as downloads through
trueAnthem.
In 2009, Hootie and the Blowfish performed live in a ballet which
chronicled their rise and success in the 1990s.
Split
On August 27, 2008, frontman
Darius
Rucker announced in an
AOL Sessions
interview that Hootie and the Blowfish would be splitting so Rucker
could pursue his solo career as a country music performer. Although
the band will no longer be recording or touring, Rucker confirmed
they will still perform their scheduled charity concerts stating,
"We have four charity gigs every year and we will still do them,
but we will not do a record or tour." Rucker also said that the
split will last "for five or six years, or until I record three or
four country albums". He later amended his statement, saying "To be
honest with you, we're not even split up right now, and we're not
really thinking about splitting up." To acknowledge the altered
state of the band, the band will be known as "Hootie and/or the
Blowfish" during live performances.
Rucker has
recorded a solo album, Learn to
Live, for Capitol Records
. It includes the singles "
Don't Think I Don't Think
About It", "
It Won't
Be Like This for Long" and "
Alright", all three of which
have reached Number One on the U.S.
Hot Country Songs charts.
The name
The band's name comes from two of
Darius
Rucker's college choir friends, neither of whom was ever a band
member. One, with a round face and glasses, was nicknamed
Hootie because of his perceived
owl-like appearance.
The Blowfish, also got his
nickname from his facial appearance, in his case chubby cheeks.
Rucker is often mistakenly referred to as Hootie.
Charity work
Hootie & The Blowfish have become known not only for their
music, but also for their charity work. The entire band and crew
traveled to New Orleans for five days of building houses in
Musicians' Village, on October
16-20, 2006. The band's members are avid
golfers, and have sponsored the annual spring Monday
After the Masters Celebrity Pro-Am Golf Tournament, benefiting
local charities, since 1995.
Hootie and the Blowfish reunited to do a special show at Incirlik
Air base in Turkey on 18 October 2008, to show their support for
the troops.
Personnel
- Touring members:
Discography
Studio albums
Compilation albums
Singles
| Year |
Single |
Peak chart positions |
Album |
| US |
US Main |
US
AC |
US Adult |
AUS |
NZ |
| 1994 |
"Hold My Hand" |
10 |
4 |
6 |
— |
— |
37 |
Cracked Rear View |
| 1995 |
"Let Her Cry" |
9 |
9 |
7 |
— |
4 |
19 |
| "Only Wanna Be
with You" |
6 |
2 |
3 |
3 |
40 |
17 |
| "Time" |
14 |
26 |
4 |
1 |
— |
35 |
| "Drowning" |
— |
21 |
— |
— |
— |
— |
| "Hey Hey What Can
I Do" |
— |
15 |
— |
— |
— |
— |
Encomium: a
Tribute to Led Zeppelin |
| 1996 |
"Old Man & Me" |
13 |
6 |
18 |
4 |
— |
41 |
Fairweather Johnson |
| "Tucker's Town" |
38 |
29 |
24 |
12 |
— |
— |
| "Sad Caper" |
_ |
— |
— |
26 |
— |
— |
| 1997 |
"I Go Blind" |
— |
— |
22 |
3 |
— |
— |
Friends
(soundtrack) |
| 1998 |
"I Will Wait" |
__ |
— |
28 |
1 |
— |
— |
Musical Chairs |
| 1999 |
"Only Lonely" |
— |
— |
29 |
25 |
— |
— |
| 2003 |
"Innocence" |
— |
— |
25 |
24 |
— |
— |
Hootie & the Blowfish |
| "Goodbye Girl" |
— |
— |
24 |
— |
— |
— |
The Best of Hootie & the
Blowfish |
| 2005 |
"One Love" |
— |
— |
5 |
20 |
— |
— |
Looking for Lucky |
| 2006 |
"Get Out of My Mind" |
— |
— |
17 |
17 |
— |
— |
| "—" denotes
the single failed to chart or not released |
|
Notes
- http://www.hootie.com/history
- Rock Clock, November 3. VH1.com. Accessed May
25, 2007.
- Hootie and the Blowfish. A Series of Short Trips
(DVD). Atlantic, 1996.
- Hootie & the Blowfish like songs "covered".
Cnn.com Archive, November 3, 2000. Accessed February 5, 2007.
- Hootie & the Blowfish on trueAnthem
- Believe It or Not, Here's the Hootie Ballet.
Free Times (Columbia, SC), March 31, 2009, accessed April 17,
2009
- Darius Rucker - Hootie Leaves the Blowfish
- Hootie and the Blowfish to Return in 2009.
Alternative Addiction, December 20, 2008.
- Hootie Ya Love. Rolling Stone, September 15,
1998. Accessed February 5, 2007.
- Hootie & The Blowfish join Habitat for Humanity
in New Orleans build Feature Story
- Hootie
& The Blowfish Golf Tournament Page
- Hootie & the Blowfish album
certifications.
See also
External links
- Hootie and Blowfish-related websites
- Band member sites
.
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