One Hit Wondering – Blind Melon

One Hit Wondering is a series of columns where I listen to the album of a one hit wonder, and find three songs, other than the hit, that people should hear. 

In the summer of 1993, Blind Melon, and a girl in a bee costume, would team up to leave an indelible mark on the decade with the video for the band’s single “No Rain.”

Quite possibly the sunniest song anyone has ever made about depression, “No Rain” reached #20 on the Billboard Hot 100, #1 on both the Billboard Album Rock Tracks, and Modern Rock Tracks charts, and the aforementioned video was ever-present on MTV.

Directed by Samuel Bayer, and starring Heather DeLoach as the bee girl, her look was modeled after the cover art of Blind Melon’s eponymous debut album, which was an old photo of the younger sister of the band’s drummer Glen Graham.

If you want to feel ancient, DeLoach is now married with three kids.

For as memorable as the bee girl was, after she initially hooked viewers the real attention grabber was the band’s frontman Shannon Hoon. Looking like a cross between a hippie and a grunge artist, and with a voice that at times sounded like a male Janis Joplin, there was something magnetic about him.

In an unfortunate foreshadowing of things to come, Hoon was apparently high during the shoot for the now iconic video, revealing in an episode of Behind The Music that he was on LSD while filming “No Rain.”

Before “No Rain,” however, and before Blind Melon, Hoon was in a rock band named Styff Kytten that was based in his native Indiana. He joined them in 1985, fresh off graduating from high school, and cut his teeth playing both covers, and original tunes.

It was while he was in Styff Kytten that Hoon wrote the song “Change,” which would go on to change not only his life, but the lives of many others.

In 1990 Hoon left Styff Kytten, and made the move to L.A., where he met Mississippi transplants Rogers Stevens (guitar), and Brad Smith (bass). After performing “Change” for them he was immediately invited to be part of the band they were putting together.

Christopher Thorn (guitar), who came to L.A. via Pennsylvania, was then added, and the foursome then convinced Glen Graham (drums) to leave Mississippi for L.A.

Just like that, Blind Melon was born, and they quickly hit the studio, recording a four-song demo that included “No Rain.”

Capitol Records liked what they heard, and signed them to a $500k recording contract.

The label’s interest may have been influenced by the fact that Hoon was also recording backing vocals for a friend … a guy by the name of Axl Rose.

You can hear Hoon on several Guns N’ Roses songs on the Use Your Illusion I and II albums, including the single “Don't Cry,” which also sees him featured in the music video singing with Axl.

In another odd pairing, fresh off signing their recording contract Blind Melon embarked upon a tour supporting Soundgarden.

Despite having more jam band qualities than grunge band qualities, Blind Melon probably found themselves in these situations by virtue of the fact that anyone wearing a flannel shirt in the early ‘90s was being pitched as grunge, or at least grunge adjacent, because grunge was what was selling. Sometimes, this would turn out to be a good thing for Hoon, and crew.

One of those times was after the band relocated to North Carolina to record their self-titled debut album. The producer of that album? Rick Parashar, who also produced Pearl Jam’s Ten. That’s a pretty good grunge connection, don’t you think?

When Blind Melon’s self-titled debut album was released in September of 1992, however, audiences didn’t exactly rate it a Ten. Experiencing poor initial sales, there was very little interest in the album’s lead single, “Tones of Home,” and even “No Rain” wasn’t gaining traction … until the video was released.

In other words, until the bee girl, there was no buzz.

Once the world saw the tap dancing bee, and heard Shannon Hoon, everyone was enamored with both. After initially being a failure, Blind Melon’s debut album would go on to attain quadruple-platinum status.

The band toured in support of the album, but that’s when Hoon's behavior became a bit erratic, including being arrested for indecent exposure in Vancouver after he undressed onstage, and peed on a concert goer.

The following year, at Woodstock ’94, Hoon, who was allegedly high on LSD at the time, performed while wearing one of his girlfriend’s dresses.

Somehow, Blind Melon continued to tour, including landing a supporting slot on The Rolling Stones’ Voodoo Lounge Tour, but once off the road, Hoon’s drug and alcohol abuse became too much, leading to multiple stints in drug rehabilitation centers.

Despite his drug counselor advising against touring to support the band’s sophomore album, Soup, which was released in 1995, the band – between a rock and a hard place, knowing that not touring the album would tank it, but also wanting to keep their friend safe – hired a counselor to travel with Hoon. The counselor, however, was soon dismissed.

On October 21st, 1995 Shannon Hoon was found dead in the band’s tour bus of a heart attacked caused by a cocaine overdose. He had just turned 28, and his daughter, Nico, was only 13 weeks old.

One of Hoon’s final recordings would turn out to be something his daughter could learn from – a cover of the Schoolhouse Rock! song “Three Is a Magic Number” for the Schoolhouse Rock! Rocks compilation that would be released in 1996. This version of the song has gone on to be featured in the films Never Been Kissed, Slackers, and You, Me and Dupree.

Hoon’s gave at the Dayton Cemetery in Dayton, Indiana, is inscribed with a line from “Change” – “I know we can’t all stay here forever so I want to write my words on the face of today and they’ll paint it.”

After Hoon’s passing the band put together an album of outtakes and demos, naming the project Nico in honor of Hoon’s daughter. Released in 1996, the profits from sales went to a program that helps musicians with drug and alcohol addiction.

In 1999, after four years of being unable to find a suitable replacement for Hoon, Blind Melon disbanded.

The surviving members reunited in 2006, adding Travis Warren (formerly of Rain Fur Rent) as their frontman. Warren left after just one album, 2008’s For My Friends, but returned in 2010. The band is currently marginally active, performing the occasional one-off show.

If they do ever seek out another recording contract, founding member Roger Stevens is now more than adept at negotiating it, as in addition to being in the band he’s now also a practicing attorney in the Philadelphia area.

Then there’s the legacy of Shannon Hoon. Thirty years after his death, Hoon is still a talked about figure in music. Multiple books have been written about him, and there’s even been documentary on him titled All I Can Say.

In the era of grunge, Blind Melon were a jam band, and we can only imagine what could have been if Hoon were alive today. Personally, I think they would’ve been headliners at every jam band festival in the world.

On the flip side of that, their music also could’ve radically changed. We’ll never know, but we can enjoy the small catalog of music they left for us, including their self-titled debut album.

I recently popped in my Blind Melon cassette tape – yes, I said cassette tape! – and found three songs, other than “No Rain,” that you should hear.

“Change”

 

A gorgeous song, “Change” bookends Shannon Hoon’s career as both the first song he ever wrote, and the lyrics that are on his grave. With that in mind, you cannot tell the story of Blind Melon, or Hoon, without “Change.”

Based on the comments on YouTube, a plethora of people also cannot tell their own story without “Change,” as countless fans have revealed it was the song that inspired them to get clean and/or sober.

The fourth single from the album, by the time “Change” came out radio and MTV had moved on from Blind Melon, which is a shame, because the song deserves to be far more well known.

“Tones of Home”

 

The first single from Blind Melon, “Tones of Home” didn’t make an impact when it was released, but after “No Rain” it would’ve been a great candidate for a re-release.

This is the song that could’ve very quickly positioned Blind Melon as jam band royalty. Everything about it – from the vocals, to the music, to the overall vibe – has modern hippie summer festival written all over it, and it’s easy to imagine the band extending the song with more solos, making it something that could go on for twice, or even three times the original run time.

Just thinking about that is pretty awesome.

“Holyman”

 

A song about finding one’s own way, “Holyman” has blues, country, and rock influences, as Hoon sings about his path in life, and shunning traditional religion to find something more personal that works for him.

Much like how “Change” genuinely helped people, “Holyman” is the type of song that likely had a similar effect on listeners.

It’s unlikely it could’ve been released as a single without it stirring controversy from religious types, but finding great album cuts is why we buy albums, and why I write this column!

Until next time, here’s to discovering more great music from one hit wonders!