Did these guys ever have another hit besides this song? Apparently not, I just noticed they broke up in 1999 after only one album. It makes you wonder where they’d be right now if they had stayed together…after all, today’s track was an international hit. I wonder where they are now…
You Get What You Give was released as a single in November of 1998 from the band’s debut album, Maybe You’ve Been Brainwashed Too. It went to #30 on Billboard’s Hot 100 and to #8 on the modern rock chart. It was also #5 in the UK and #1 in Canada and New Zealand.
The song had some well-known verses that caused a little controversy:
“Health insurance, rip-off lying
FDA, big bankers buying
Fake computer crashes dining
Cloning while they’re multiplying
Fashion shoots with Beck and Hanson,
Courtney Love and Marilyn Manson
You’re all fakes, run to your mansions
Come around, we’ll kick your ass in.”
Front man Gregg Alexander wrote these closing lyrics as a test to see whether politics or name-dropping would cause the most issue. As suspected, more people paid attention to the celebrities mentioned rather than political issues.
In 2002, VH1 voted the song #64 on the Greatest One Hit Wonders of all-time and #11 in 40 Greatest One Hit Wonders of the 90′s. It’s been used in several movies including Big Daddy, The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas, The Muppets, and Bubble Boy.
Above is a live performance on Jay Leno.
