Album: Gutterflower (2002)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Many of the tracks on Gutterflower, such as "What A Scene," were inspired by lead singer Johnny Rzeznik's culture shock upon moving to Los Angeles. "Smash," however, was inspired by bassist Robby Takac's experience visiting the band's hometown of Buffalo, New York, and encountering a troubled old friend. He recalled to Billboard: "I ran into a friend of mine in Buffalo who had been getting the s--t get kicked out of her for as long as I'd known her. She'd had a baby, and even though her life seemed absolutely f--ked still, the second she talked about that, it was like everything else went away."
  • This also features Takac on lead vocals. Takac gave up his original role as lead singer to Rzeznik early on in the band's career, but a handful of cuts one each album feature him on lead - including Gutterflower's "You Never Know," "Up, Up, Up" and "Tucked Away."
  • Gutterflower is the band's highest-charting album in the US, peaking at #4. But with 700,000 copies sold, it isn't their best-selling release; that honor goes to their previous album, Dizzy Up The Girl, which sold 4 million copies.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Bill Withers

Bill WithersSongwriter Interviews

Soul music legend Bill Withers on how life experience and the company you keep leads to classic songs like "Lean On Me."

Curt Kirkwood of Meat Puppets

Curt Kirkwood of Meat PuppetsSongwriter Interviews

The (Meat)puppetmaster takes us through songs like "Lake Of Fire" and "Backwater," and talks about performing with Kurt Cobain on MTV Unplugged.

Song Cities

Song CitiesMusic Quiz

Nirvana, Billy Joel and Bruce Springsteen are among those who wrote songs with cities that show up in this quiz.

John Lee Hooker

John Lee HookerSongwriter Interviews

Into the vaults for Bruce Pollock's 1984 conversation with the esteemed bluesman. Hooker talks about transforming a Tony Bennett classic and why you don't have to be sad and lonely to write the blues.

Tom Waits Lyrics Quiz

Tom Waits Lyrics QuizMusic Quiz

Pool balls, magpies and thorns without roses - how well do you know your Tom Waits lyrics?

Chris Rea

Chris ReaSongwriter Interviews

It took him seven years to recover from his American hit "Fool (If You Think It's Over)," but Chris Rea became one of the top singer-songwriters in his native UK.