Hootie & the Blowfish, Great American Rock Band (Yes, Really)
June 06, 2019Hootie & the Blowfish spoke to The New York Times about the 25th anniversary of “Cracked Rear View.”
Hootie & the Blowfish remember all the slights.
Trent Reznor saying “Death to Hootie & the Blowfish” in a Rolling Stone interview. An executive at the band’s record label calling “Cracked Rear View” — the album that would go on to sell millions and cement the group’s place in pop history — “unreleaseable.” Garth Brooks declining the artist of the year trophy at the 1996 American Music Awards because he knew Hootie had a better year than he did but wasn’t being properly recognized.
Even in the years before Hootie, an earnest and deceptively easygoing roots-rock band, became a global pop phenomenon, there were indignities. The South by Southwest festival turned them down, year after year. Record labels sent stiff rejection letters.
Still, Hootie persevered, thriving in the face of indifference. “If you played Hootie you were uncool,” Darius Rucker, the band’s frontman, said. “You know, I understood. It got so big.”
Read the full article here.