Hootie & The Blowfish – Cracked Rear View

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Twenty-two million fans can’t be wrong, right? The 22x-platinum debut from Hootie & The Blowfish is a remarkable achievement of staying true to the band’s roots and being willing to be different from what was dominating the rock scene in the mid-90’s. Grunge rock was everywhere during this time period, so most major labels passed on the thought of signing a pop-rock band from South Carolina. Cracked Rear View opened to a modest charting of #127 on the Billboard 200, but it would quickly build momentum and become the best-selling album of 1995. The record was produced by Don Gehman (R.E.M., John Mellencamp) and would spawn five successful singles that still get radio airplay to this day. While Hootie & The Blowfish would have trouble replicating the magic found on their debut LP on their subsequent releases, these songs still stand the test of time and remain a key example of how writing authentic, heartfelt tracks can lead to success.

The record sets off on the right tone with “Hannah Jane,” a straight forward pop-rock track that quickly showcases the band’s great chemistry between each other, and lead singer Darius Rucker’s captivating vocal performance remains a key part of Hootie & The Blowfish’s success story. “Hold My Hand” was the first single to be released from the set and it’s a steadfast choice of a track to introduce the band to the world and continues to be a staple in the band’s live performances. The lead single is a key example of how the band understood what made their music accessible, catchy, and heartfelt simultaneously in an era when pop-rock wasn’t a major seller.

The single would be followed by the ballad “Let Her Cry,” and the subsequent song in the tracklisting, “Only Wanna Be With You.” The former track features some great guitar tones from Mark Bryan to complement the vocals from Rucker in the best way possible. The band gets back to a comfortable speed on the bouncy “Only Wanna Be With You” that struck a chord with audiences near and far to invite them to sing along with each lyric.

The Bluegrass/Country-esque “Running From An Angel” would foreshadow Rucker’s success as a Country solo artist, while the singer-songwriter vibes of “I’m Goin’ Home” cemented Hootie & The Blowfish as more than a one-trick pony in the music scene. “Drowning” tackled heavy themes like racism as Rucker explained in the second verse, “About some fat racist living in Chicago / Trying to teach his kids to hate everyone / Well tell me why is that something you wanna teach your son? / Why must we hate one another? / When the people in the church, they tell me you’re my brother / You don’t walk like me, you don’t talk like me, saying / Go back to Africa, I just don’t understand,” that showed just how far the world had to go with accepting a black front-man of a rock band.

Other standout songs like “Time” complemented the other material sandwiched around this single and made sure that the band would remain on the tips of everyone’s tongues when they mentioned noteworthy bands from the 90’s. The latter songs in the set like “Look Away,” the somber “Not Even The Trees,” and the piano-laced ballad of “Goodbye” helped to round out the sound that the band would explore on their other records, while album closer “Motherless Child” remained a haunting final track to close out this chapter of the band.

Overall, there was plenty to love and vibe with on Hootie & The Blowfish’s remarkable debut LP Cracked Rear View that still sounds just as refreshing 30 years later. By staying authentic to the music they wanted to make, especially at a time when bands sounded radically different at that time, the band carved the way for other pop-rock bands to get their time on the airwaves. Hootie & The Blowfish can look back fondly upon this record that would drastically change their career paths, allow them to see the world through different lenses, and touch the lives of so many listeners.

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