Music Retrospective: Sixpence None the Richer

Young and ready to take on the world. Look at that hair on Nash!

Image by Tequil4BoomBoom via Last.FM

Happy Saturday! I hope everyone is staying safe and sane out there in the world. We're going to start expanding the blog today like I said I wanted to and talk about a musical act.

We’re going to start it off with what is, in my opinion, the band who produced one of the most iconic songs of the decade. To me, there are three songs that, if you were going to make a movie set in the 90s, you absolutely have to include. Nothing by Nirvana or Tupac or Biggie or Garth Brooks. Not Milli Vanilli or the Macarena or Spice Girls. I’m talking about “Song 2” by Blur, “Bittersweet Symphony” by The Verve, and “Kiss Me” by Sixpence None the Richer. While I know this isn’t true, but in my mind, those songs were in every movie trailer and all over the radio stations that I didn’t listen to. They didn’t have the cultural relevance of Ice Cube or change society like “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” or have the sticking power of Oasis’ “Wonderwall” which right now is being played on some beach somewhere by a drunken guy on his guitar. But those three songs are the most 90s songs of all 90s songs, for me. So let’s talk about Sixpence None the Richer.

The band is mostly made up of Leigh Nash and Matt Slocum, with other members coming and going over the years. They met in church in New Braunfels, Texas, in the early 90s and decided to form a band. Yes, that’s right, they’re a Christian rock group. Something I didn’t know when I started to listen to them for this post. The band name comes from a line from the C.S. Lewis book Mere Christianity. You can watch this interview that Nash gives with David Letterman on June 7, 1999, explaining the origins of the band name.

  

I was going to make a joke here, but I couldn't think of any, and honestly... I think CS Lewis would have liked Sixpence None the Richer

Image by Flickr

Sixpence None the Richer released a couple of albums, then signed with Squint Entertainment and put out a self-titled album. That album included the single “Kiss Me” which blew up in 1998/99 and became an international smash single. This was followed up in 1999 by a cover of “There She Goes” originally by The La’s. The song is traditionally supposed to be about heroin, but according to the original band, it isn’t. Apparently, the writer didn’t even try heroin for years after he wrote the song. And I can’t imagine such a clean-cut Christian group like Sixpence doing a song about drug addiction. They were literally doing songs about Jesus. After those two hits, they kind of fizzled out? I don’t want to say that though, that’s mean. They are still around today, doing what they love, making music, and talking about God. They disbanded from 2004-2007, but that was their only real hiatus. They still tour to this day. They have other albums. I haven’t listened to yet, but I can imagine they sound about like their earlier material.

I listened to their three albums: The Fatherless and the Widow (1994), This Beautiful Mess (1995), and Sixpence None the Richer (1997). They also have an EP called Tickets for a Prayer Wheel (1995). And here are a slew of non-album singles in addition to some solo cuts by Leigh Nash throughout the decade. The music isn’t bad, by any means, even their earlier albums. The first two albums don’t have any big hits on them, so you could skip them if you’re in a hurry, but I enjoyed my time with them. Their best album though is their self-titled from 1997. It was nominated for a Grammy for “Best Rock Gospel Album” in 1999. (they lost to someone named Ashley Cleveland). But their whole catalog at this time is great. The melodies are lovely and crafted. Lyrically, they can be a little on the fluffy or religious side, but Nash is a wonderful singer. A great fusion of music and singing, and it’s all non-offensive stuff. I gotta say, I liked it.

 

The band was absolutely not a "One Hit Wonder." They had two hits!

Image via Wikipedia

I’m only really going to nitpick some of their covers. They do a bunch of covers of other Christian artists, which is fine. But they have some non-album covers of “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch” and “Dancing Queen,” the later which was recorded for the 1999 movie Dick. Both of these versions do nothing to make me want to hear their version over the original. But that’s the highest negative I can say to their output at this time.

So, how about those videos. They have five videos for three songs in the 90s.

Angeltread - 1995

An interesting little video. The song starts off with a soft melody, before getting into a pretty strong harder bit for the chorus, and then back to soft. The softer parts have a lot of black and white images of the band, sitting, and a little girl walking around the city. I think it’s set in Paris? The video has French text blobs. The louder bits show the band destroying the art they made. Like throwing paint around and riding bikes over it. Smashing cardboard scriptures they created. It's about as destructive as you can get when you’re good Christian kids. The videos ends with a “Fin” text against a black screen, just so in case you didn’t know how pretentious the director is. But the song is nice and the video is a nice visual to the music. This is also the only video with several of the original band members, including Tess Wiley. Tess is pretty cute. If you see this, Tess, drop me a line.

Sorry about the poor quality of the video, it was the best version I could find online.

Kiss Me (Paris version) - 1998

This is it. This is why we’re all here today, reading this. This song spent 33 weeks on Billboard’s Hot 100 charts and 16 weeks in the top ten, peaking at #2 on April 30, 1999. I was shocked to see it wasn’t #1, but I guess even “Kiss Me” couldn’t stop the juggernaut that was TLC’s “No Scrubs.” But it was still the 6th best selling single of 1999.  It was also nominated for a Grammy in 2000 for “Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals” losing to the amazing “Maria Maria” by Santana. Damn, now I gotta listen to that. Hold on.

Okay, I’m back. Sorry. I heart Santana. There are three different music video versions of this song. Or well… 2.5 more like it. I’ll get to the others in a moment.

This original version is known today as the “Paris Version.” It was directed by the single’s producer, fellow Christian music star Steve Taylor. The video is a tribute to legendary French filmmaker François Truffaut, specifically his 1962 film Jules et Jim. The video is in black and white and shows Nash, Slocom, and band member Dale Baker in Paris, recreating scenes from the film and having a good time. There is an incredible amount of playfulness with the trio and it really comes across like they’re enjoying themselves and having the time of their lives. Youth and fun. Which fits the vibe of the song extremely well. The video ends with Nash leaving flower pedals on Truffaut’s gravestone. I loved it, this is my favorite version of the videos for this song, and my favorite video of the band overall from the decade.

Kiss Me (She’s All That version) - 1999

“Kiss Me” really blew up after it was used prominently in the movie She’s All That, which was released in January of 1999. So they reshot the video to have the band all sitting on a bench together, watching clips from the movie on a small portable TV and on a projection screen. Honestly, this version is probably more famous, but I didn’t like it nearly as much. There’s a sense of youthful, teenage/young adult comradery with them all sitting on the bench together. Who didn’t do that when you were that age? You squeeze way more people onto the bench or couch or truck bed than it was designed to hold. Guys and girls, all mushed together. Throw in a few flying hormones. Most of us have done that at least once in our teenage or young adult lives. And that also fits the vibe of the song, which is lovely.

The problem is, except for Nash, the rest of the band seems kinda bored. Like, why are they there, sitting, when they could be playing music? Or running around Paris. Even Slocum seems just, blah. I mean, he smiles. But I don’t believe he’s having a good time. Nash is the only one who seems really into what’s going on. And maybe that’s on purpose, to highlight her and her performance, she stands out more since she’s the only one smiling and really doing anything.

The bigger issue is a huge pet peeve of mine in this video. I love music being used in movies. I can enjoy the music video taking inspiration from the movie. But this video is literally just the band sitting and watching clips from the movie their song is used it. It exists as a clip show to get you interested in watching the movie. The movie stars, Freddie Prinze Jr. and Rachael Leigh Cook, appear briefly in the video. But it’s a blink-and-you-missed-it cameo. I just think it’s average, at best.

Kiss Me (Dawson’s Creek version) - 1999

The song was also used to great success in the hit TV show, Dawson’s Creek, which only helped the run at the top of the charts. Now here’s the reason why I said there are 2.5 different video versions of this song. The Dawson’s Creek version is identical to the She’s All That version. Only they’re watching Dawson’s Creek instead of She’s All That. And also they cut out the Prinze and Cook cameo. They instead edit in an additional shot of them watching the show on the projection screen. The only positive I’ll say about this version is that it spent all of May 1999 as the #1 video on VH1. So there’s that.

Sorry again about the low quality of the YouTube clip, there’s no quality version of this version that I could find online.

The last thing to say, before we move on to the next song and video, is that in addition to being used in She’s All That and Dawson’s Creek, “Kiss Me” was also used in June 1999 as the closing theme to the BBC broadcast of the wedding between Prince Edward and Sophie Rhys-Jones.

 There She Goes - 1999

“There She Goes” was originally recorded in 1988 by British band The La’s, and is considered today to be one of the founding bricks for the huge Britpop movement of the 90s. It wasn’t a giant hit at the time and, in fact, the Sixpence version charted higher on the Billboard charts, peaking at #32 as opposed to The La’s version at #49. It spent 20 weeks on the charts, with its peak date as November 5, 1999. Unfortunately for Sixpence, this would be their second and last Top 40 single.

The video features the band playing in some underground art gallery. Some locations seem more traditional art gallery while others are more visually inspired by more of an “artist space” aesthetic. The video features actor Adam Goldberg wandering around this art party at the gallery, clearly looking for someone. The band performance parts are great, it’s nice to see the band play, for once. And Nash is glowing, she loves singing and being happy, you can tell. The video ends with them getting crushed under an earthquake.

And again, this song is supposed to be about heroin, but… I just don’t see it. I’m gonna have to disagree with WatchMojo on this one, sorry guys. This is a pretty song, a cute song, and Nash is wonderful singing it and in this video.

I encourage you to check out this band. You can visit their YouTube and stream them on Spotify, Google Play Music, and Last.FM. Also here,s a couple of live videos. You can watch them on Late Night with Conan O'Brien on February 9, 1999, performing "Kiss Me." I also found a clip of them on that Letterman appearance on June 7, 1999, where they perform "There She Goes." The live clip isn’t amazing, but they look like they’re having fun. Their official website is here (not updated since 2000) and Tess Wiley's is here.

I don’t know what I expected going back to revisit this band and talk about these videos. I guess I expected more of the Lilith Fair type of teen pop like “Kiss Me." But what I got was a band that loves God, loves life, loves the world, and puts that into their music. The songs are not dark and brooding, they’re full of life and happiness. And it doesn’t come off as being fake, I genuinely believe they are as happy as the music they produce. And that’s wonderful. I’m all for dark and brooding. But you can’t live in that world all the time. Sixpence None the Richer, thank you for opening me up to your world. And Tess, call me.

She's still pretty today, I would totally grab a coffee with her in downtown Portland

Image via Wikipedia

Next time, we’re going to take a look at a band that was a cornerstone of the 90s alternative rock movement, one of the biggest and most successful and popular acts of the era, The Smashing Pumpkins! Until next time, I’ll be out by the bearded barley, beneath the milky twilight, lifting up my open hand and striking up the band.