Five songs from the 1990s that have no business being as fantastic as they are
By Lee Vowell
Faith No More - "Epic" (1990)
Let's be real, "Epic" is a ridiculous song. There are far too many different genres involved and if a piece of music could ever be called schizophrenic, this would be it. The track should not have even been made, let alone turned out to be so great. The song jumps from rap to metal to funk, many times all at the same time. In fact, the band surely stumbled onto this piece of mishmash by pure accident because they would never come close to making another song like it.
The track was only released as a single because the first tune from the album in which the song appears - "From Out of Nowhere" and The Real Thing, respectively - was a bomb. Faith No More suggested releasing "Epic" to record execs while the band thought of a more proper single to release. "Epic" became the band's highest charting track, reached number nine on the Billboard charts in the U.S., and hit number one in Australia.
The video for the song is just as weird, especially the flopping fish near the end. Still, you will find yourself singing along to the track whether you want to or not. "What is it?" indeed.
Gin Blossoms - "Hey Jealousy" (1992)
The Gin Blossoms are the same group that gave us the drivel that is "Found Out About You." They also released the decent "Alison Road." I point these tracks out simply to remind you that the Gin Blossoms were an actual band, though not a very good one. Oh, sure. They could play their instruments well enough, but they were greatly limited creatively.
That is except for "Hey Jealousy" which has just enough melancholy and wry humor to go along with music that is faster than most would have played. No, it's not speed metal, but the words and the theme should imply this song should be a somber drama played like a dirge. Thankfully, it wasn't.
One might have wanted to be a fly on the wall while the group created this tune that includes lyrics such as, "And you can trust me not to think/And not to sleep around/And if you don't expect too much from me/You might not be let down." A good bet would be they had a That Thing You Do!-type accident when the drummer started playing faster than the singer intended.