Me, Her, the Boy and a Dog

A Facebook friend posted a video of the lovely Joan Osborne singing the Motown classic “What Becomes of the Broken Hearted” by Jimmy Ruffin. That got me reminiscing about the first time I heard of Joan Osborne way back in 1995 as an intern at Richmond’s top rock station, WRXL, 102.1.

During my sophomore year at Virginia Tech I applied for one of 12 Virginia Association of Broadcasting internships throughout the state and was fortunate enough to earn one of them. The closest station to where I lived (Newport News) was in Richmond, about 75 miles away. So, I made the 150 mile round trip every day that summer, but it was definitely worth it.

During my time at XL102, I played many roles. My least favorite was the sales department … cold calling sucks! My favorite gig was being the oft abused intern for Jeff and Jeff in the Morning, which at the time, was the top rated morning show in the state. Those guys were a blast to work with and I actually didn’t mind getting picked on because it was all part of the act. Off the air, the guys were as nice as could be to me.

Anyhow, my second favorite job was getting to listen to unknown bands and trying to identify the next big hits. The programming director handed me a box of 200+ CD singles and told me to pick out which ones I thought would be well received on the rock station. Are you kidding? I got paid to sit in a studio and listen to music - after I was done with pre- and post-production stuff for the morning show, of course.

It was late spring/early summer 1995 when I sat down with this big old box of CD singles. Most of them were crap, but I remember pulling about 15-20 that I thought had real potential and while I don’t remember the entire list - c’mon, it was 14 years ago - I do remember six songs that went on to hit the charts. What can I say, I had a good ear for music back then.

1. Joan Osborne - “One of Us”
2. Better Than Ezra - “Good”
3. Deep Blue Something - “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”
4. 311 - “Don’t Stay Home”
5. Edna Swap - “Torn”
6. Dishwalla - “Counting Blue Cars”

Let’s do a little recap and follow-up, shall we? Of the six on this list, three of the artists went on to have more than just a one-hit-wonder career; Joan Osborne, Better Than Ezra and 311.

Joan Osborne is clearly remembered by most for her 1995 hit “One of Us.” The single was off of her Relish album that earned six Grammy nominations. And though she never duplicated the commercial success of Relish, she has gone on to become a critically acclaimed singer and songwriter and has solidified herself as one of the best soul singers in the industry today.

Better Than Ezra followed up “Good” with “In the Blood” and “Rosealia.” Like Osborne, BTE has not been able to follow up their debut album’s success, but continue to record new songs. In fact, they are due to release their seventh studio album in May 2009.

I think it is safe to say that commercially speaking, 311 has been the most successful of the six artists I remember picking out of the heap 14 years ago. Their debut album in 1993 didn’t meet with commercial success, but their 1995 self-titled album launched them into super stardom. The first single, Don’t Stay Home, was a big hit and was followed up with “Down” and then “All Mixed Up.” The album eventually went triple platinum. The band followed up “311” two years later with Transitor which featured another trio of hits,  “Beautiful Disaster,” “Transistor” and “Prisoner.” Naturally, I have both of those CDs in my car and on iTunes.

Dishwalla and Deep Blue Something were classic one-hit-wonders in every sense of the word and while they continued making music after their 15 minutes, not many people heard it.

Edna Swap was no different, except that most people have probably never heard of Edna Swap. They were only together for a few years and never garnered any commercial success, but I found their CD single in that box … the single was called Torn and I loved it. Sadly, it never caught on, but you know the song because the Australian model-turned-soap-opera-starlette-turned-pop-singer re-recorded the song in 1997 and it was a No. 1 hit smash.

Take my word for it when I tell you that Edna Swap’s version was so much better. The link above will take you to a YouTube video that features the vocals from Edna Swap’s version, but the video from Natalie’s hit version. Sadly, you can’t buy the original Edna Swap version on iTunes.

Random knowledge: 311’s name comes from a police citation for public indecency in Omaha - code 3.11 … Joan Osborne turns 47 this year.