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.