Sugar Ray

I had hoped my next post after the dust settled in my life (from the sixteen-page history paper, the five-page Greek paper and final, the incessant work, etc.) would be a follow-up on heritage. That will be the next post after this one. But Sugar Ray is an easy post. Sorry if you had higher hopes for this blog.

Sugar Ray had three extremely popular songs back in the day: "Falls Apart," "Every Morning," and "Someday," all from their "14:59" album. All three had the same characteristic syrupy sweet sound. One could think that was just their sound. I'm listening to the rest of the album for the first time right now, and apart from those three tracks, I hear a metal track, an alternative track, a ska track, and at this moment a strange fusion of funk/hip hop/reggae. (A later edit: now I've heard a Jimmy Buffet/country track, a disco track, and a fun closing calliope track. Yikes. How do they do it?)

I think Sugar Ray was victimized by Top 40. The Top 40 stations snagged the three songs that would get them airplay (making Sugar Ray wealthy in the process), and left the rest of the songs to rot on the album. I feel bad for people who thought they were buying a Top 40 album and were disappointed by diversity. And believe it or not, I feel bad for the people who didn't buy the album, because they aren't Top 40 people.

I actually like some syrup occasionally. Now that I know that I can get some of that along with some impressive diversity all in one album, I might actually listen. 14:59 shows that Sugar Ray can play about any genre, and they can do it well. I think I'm about ten years late getting on this bandwagon, but oh well. I do hear they're going to be releasing an album this summer, if anyone is curious about that.

Wikipedia was my friend in explaining several things. "Fly" was a hit song from their second album, which I had forgotten. Their third album, 14:59, was titled in answer to critics that their fifteen minutes of fame wasn't quite up. Brilliant.