Thursday night at 9 P.M. ETV will air an original documentary titled “The Next Big Hootie.” This is their newest installment in their Carolina Stories series highlighting the rich historical landscape which is South Carolina. This documentary will focus on the rise of Hootie through the bars of 5 Points down the road that led them to selling a record-setting 16 million albums of their debut record “Cracked Rear View.” The documentary also focuses on other bands in South Carolina such as Cravin Melon, Edwin McCain, Danielle Howle, The Root Doctors, Treadmill Trackstar, Jay Clifford, and Jump Little Children. The RockDoc will feature interviews along with live footage from the height of the “Hootie” era.
Let me first off say, I love all of these bands. I grew up with these bands. My first concert was a Cravin Melon concert at Greer Family Festival. I was probably 8 years old. I had a Thumpin, Squeezin, Smellin Tee. I still have a Squeeze Me Tee. I still wear my Fairweather Johnson T-Shirt with cut off sleeves. I used to read the inside of the Treadmill Trackstar CD jacket over and over. I still tell the story about the bird feeding off of the elephant. I looked up to all of the bands growing up and I know them as a fan better than most could imagine. Hey, it’s better than growing up on Backstreet Boys, NYSNC and LFO….
Anyways, I’ve been thinking about why the Hootie phenomenon happened and I’ve settled on my theory.
First off, their songs are flat out good. If you disagree with me you probably like bands that Pitchfork writes about. Not that there is anything wrong with that.
Second, they had mass appeal. Hootie had way more of a national appeal than any of the other bands listed, minus Edwin McCain, who shared their broad appeal. They had just enough Southern Charm to make people smile. They had Darius Rucker who broke Southern stereotypes. Their songs were general and shared a lot of the same qualities as the first Beatles songs. Their marketing reps were well aware of their catchy melodies, charm and general subject matter.
Edwin McCain had this same appeal on some songs, some even crossing genres to become radio hits. Treadmill Trackstar and Jump Little Children are both great bands that couldn’t break into the national scene the way people always wanted them to.  Same goes from Cravin Melon, who was always a little too southern. I always thought “Come Undone” had a chance, but I’m not sure that “Silk Sunflowers” was what America was looking for.
There is a close connection to all of these bands and beer. I’m trying to say this as delicately as I can because I’m not trying to take away from their musical abilities. And well here it is, all of these bands are to beer what Phish and Widespread are to weed. Some more than others obviously, but that’s what happens when you are the darling of college students across the South and America.
The documentary ends by exploring the question “Who will be the next big Hootie?” My guess is no one. I’m not saying that a national music scene won’t blossom out of South Carolina. I truly believe one day it will. But what Hootie and The Blowfish did and helped bring to SC was a one time thing. If you got to experience it, be lucky, you witnessed a big part of modern music history. The sad part is that no one followed up on this scene and Hootie fizzled out. Music-wise it was all down hill after “Cracked Read View.” I love “Fairweather Johnson,” but the excitement was gone. America moved on.
That’s what I am talking about David, somebody who’s not afraid to remember their roots. I grew up on metal; glam, thrash, you name it and I have friends who won’t admit they owned a Toro Toro shirt (I personally never saw their appeal but I digress). I definitely think your musical past shapes your musical future. BTW, I think Hootie’s “Musical Chairs” record has a lot of good tunes on it.
the hootie model is definitely not one that bands should be attempting to resurrect. namely, because it’s not sustainable. hootie had one highly ephemeral album, and they were always considered a gimmicky joke to anyone just a little skeptical of popular radio. sure, i had the album, but i was 13 and was as uncritical as every 13 year old is. you can currently find darius all over CMT, which is clearly where musicians go to die. a better model is obviously one similar to that established by the bands discussed in ‘our band could be your life’. that said, i moved to columbia only a year ago (and will be leaving in three weeks) and i must say that i’ve been surprised by how much hootie gets mentioned. a fucking ballet?!?!
I would say Toro Y Moi will be the next hootie, but that seems like an insult to chaz.
But seriously, he’s getting great reviews on tons of big tastemaking music blogs (pitchfork, stereogum, bear vs. gorilla, etc…), just got a snippet printed in NME about him, and on top of that signed to Carpark records (he’s labelmates with Beach House and Dan Deacon) and is touring in August.
If that’s not the next big hootie then nobody is.
Parallelz,
Hootie definitely experienced some sort of odd resurrection in Columbia this past year. However, it hadn’t been that way until this year. The ballet and this special brought about some renewed interest for sure.
I doubt you’d hear many local bands say “we want to be the next big Hootie.” If I had to choose between never making it and making it playing simple pop college rock then I would rather never get there, I doubt I’m the only one that feels this way.
Oh and Randy, metal > over Hootie every day of the week.
Like David and everyone else posting I also own Cracked Rear View and had fun watching them play when I was younger, but I think calling their songs good is a bit of a stretch. Catchy, yes. Good? Not particularly, and I don’t even read Pitchfork.
-Stephen R.