A Look Back into Cracked Rear View
"...'Cause tomorrow's just another day, and I don't believe in time."
It’s my mother’s birthday, and after spending a nice time with her on Mother’s Day this past Sunday, I’m reminded once again of how she’s always been there for me. So, Happy Birthday, Mom! You share a birthday with one of the most successful musical artists of my lifetime: Darius Rucker.
As the lead singer, one of the songwriters, and rhythm guitarist for Hootie & The Blowfish, Rucker rocketed to fame in the mid-1990s with the band’s release of its album Cracked Rear View (1994). The record literally changed my music listening habits in the middle of my childhood.
For a kid who was raised on a steady diet of ‘80s and early-90s country music, Hootie & The Blowfish provided an ideal bridge into the world of alternative rock. In an ironic twist, Rucker, years later as a solo artist, would get me back into listening to country music a bit — for the most part, the genre post-1995ish is simply not for me.
Historic Debut
Originally hitting retail shelves on July 5, 1994, Cracked Rear View not only garnered historic sales numbers for a debut album but for any album in general. It wasn’t an immediate success, but by the time Grunge’s grip on the rock scene was beginning to loosen in 1995, Hootie was there to take over the top spot.
Cracked Rear View became the best-selling album of 1995. Rucker and his crew topped the weekly Billboard 200 chart five times over the course of that year, eventually going 21x Platinum in the U.S since the record’s original release. Four singles off the album still regularly rotate through my speakers, as my fondness for the South Carolina-based group has not waned over the past three decades.
“Time”-less Tunes
I’ve often said “Time” (1995) is not just my favorite Hootie song, but it’s possibly my favorite song of the ‘90s period. It may actually be less popular today than “Hold My Hand,” “Let Her Cry,” and “Only Wanna Be with You,” but in its day, the track hit the top spot on the Adult Pop Airplay chart in the States and the RPM chart in Canada.
I had the privilege of seeing Hootie & The Blowfish in concert with my wife and friends last year. Their performance of “Time” that evening is one I’ll never forget. Of course, the band played their other greatest hits. This was just “my” moment.
Lasting Legacy
Cracked Rear View is one of the best-selling albums ever in the U.S. It served as the soundtrack for many a college student in the second half of the 1990s. Hootie & The Blowfish were also accessible to adolescents coming of age during the era. The group worked its way to the top back then and will live on in the annals of recorded music history.
Hootie & The Blowfish delivered their most recent album Imperfect Circle back in November 2019 following a 14-year hiatus from recording together. The offering reached No. 26 on the Billboard 200 — the band’s best ranking on that chart in more than 20 years. The album also put the American Trad rockers back on the road as a unit before and years after (post-Covid pandemic) its release.
The renewed touring did not only bring new music from Hootie & The Blowfish but also helped bring the classic tunes of Cracked Rear View to a fresh audience as well as fans of old. If you’ve missed out on Imperfect Circle to this point, find the vinyl here and give it a spin.
Let me know your thoughts on Cracked Rear View or Imperfect Circle.
Are you a fan of Hootie & The Blowfish or Darius Rucker’s solo work?
What’s your favorite song from either?
Please keep the conversation going in the comments. I’ll be standing by.
Too samey for me. Hannah Jane is a brilliant song IMO, just turns into background noise thereafter.