What set Third Eye Blind apart from contemporaries such as Gin Blossoms, Collective Soul, Goo Goo Dolls and, say, Tonic or Better Than Ezra, is that Third Eye Blind had two aces in the hole. For a band who wound up producing three bonafide, lifelong, multi-generational mega-hit singles – “ Jumper,” “ How’s It Gonna Be” & the aforementioned “Semi-Charmed Life” (not to mention songs like “ Motorcycle Drive By,” “ Graduate” and “ Losing A Whole Year,” which have taken on lives of their own) – this kind of skyrocketing success was indeed possible. The music industry practically printed money, and Third Eye Blind ran a decent printing press in the form of their stone-cold-classic self-titled debut album, which wound up selling over six million copies in the States alone. But, frankly, when you think about it, this was the nineties. Oh yeah, and another small band called The Rolling Stones. With very little clout, Third Eye Blind, led by frontman/taskmaster-general Stephan Jenkins, strong-armed their way into a huge record deal with Elektra Records and, in their first few years alone, opened up for both Oasis and U2.
In 1997-1998, they were everywhere, and came out of the gate stronger on their debut than any band in recent memory. So how could Third Eye Blind even be allowed to make an album like Blue while in the strict confines of the pop-driven, major label system? Here’s how: Third Eye Blind were huge. When done wrong (Panic At The Disco’s Pretty.Odd – another I’ve touched on), it comes off as self-indulgent and overcompensating. So why do I love a good weird album? Because when done right ( Blue), it can completely buck preconceptions and introduce listeners to a depth and ability for organic growth that was not previously apparent. I have also expressed genuine love and admiration for Smashing Pumpkins’ Machina: The Machines of God. The first entry in this website’s “Memory Lapsed” section – the corner of JiveWrites where I write about overlooked and forgotten gems in artists discographies – is U2’s Pop, an album I will forever defend. Nevertheless, I am utterly fascinated by it.ĭon’t get me wrong, I love a good weird album from a mainstream artist. But it is very much a Third Eye Blind album. But if it had come from any other band, it would be dismissed as hedonistic garbage. Over the course of Blue‘s 13 tracks (I am counting “Slow Motion” – more on that later), three are over five minutes and three more come close it goes all over the place in tone and pace and feel and yet, somehow feels uniquely Third Eye Blind and oddly cohesive. And despite the 3EB album I come back to the least, I still find it better than most artists’ best work. However, Blue contains a bizarre, inherent polarity in that what I perceive to be its weaknesses, are actually, in fact, its strengths, and the reasons why I think so highly of it in the pantheon of sophomore albums. It is incredibly front-loaded – an argument that could also be made for their debut – it is long, and is almost – with one major exception – completely devoid of typical pop structure, giving it a total air of inaccessibility.
The one I come back to far-and-away the least. Blue is also my least favorite Third Eye Blind album. Now here’s the thing about me saying this. But it is precisely because of this that I make the grand statement that graces this article’s header: I think Blue is the most interesting sophomore album from a mainstream band in the last 25 years. On November 23, 1999, Third Eye Blind released their sophomore album Blue, a rollicking, sling-shotting, shredding, bubblegum tour-de-force that is just downright weird, yet wound up setting the tone for the rest of their career.
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