Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular Music

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

HOOTIE and the BLOWFISH

Pop quartet with a folk-rock sound formed at U of South Carolina: Darius Rucker, vocals; Mark Bryan, guitar; Dean Felber, bass; Jim 'Soni' Sonefeld, drums. They named themselves after the nicknames of two of their friends, played the frat-party circuit all over the East, released albums on obscure independent labels '90 and '92 and an EP '93. Their music is simple and familiar (about love which is not quite perfect), they are reassuringly integrated (Rucker, with a nice big baritone voice, is black, the others white); Felber (a finance major) organized the band as a corporation; their image is that of regular guys who hang out together and have women trouble. Signed to Atlantic and prod. by Don Gehman (who prod. John Mellencamp), their first major-label album, Cracked Rear View, was no. 1 for eight weeks '94 with three top ten singles ('Hold My Hand', 'Let Her Cry', 'Only Wanna Be With You'); second album Fairweather Johnson '96 was no. 1 for two weeks. Somebody must like them, but the critics complain about them because they're too normal. What do people expect from pop music? There's plenty of androgyny, intellectual pretension, anti-social attitude and funny haircuts in the charts for those who think that's what makes high art.