Released October 1, 1993 Length 3:55 | Format CD single Label BMG/Arista | |
Recorded 1993 (Music Head Recording in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin) Genre Alternative rock, folk rock | ||
“Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm” is a song by the Canadian folk rock group Crash Test Dummies, It was released in October 1993 as the first single from their second album God Shuffled His Feet. It was very successful all around the world, peaking at number one in Germany, Australia and on the U.S. Modern Rock Tracks chart. It also became a top five hit in both the UK Singles Chart and the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.
Contents
Background and writing
As the VH1 program Pop-Up Video pointed out, Roberts decided to hum the "refrain" rather than to sing it because humming "sounded more resigned" . He never wrote lyrics for the refrain. Roberts himself became one of the few bass-baritones to be featured in popular music in "the rock era."
Content
Each verse describes the isolation and suffering of a child, two of whom have a physical abnormality. In the first verse, a boy is injured in a car accident and misses school for an extended period; when he returns to class, his hair has changed color from black to white. In the second verse, a girl refuses to change clothes in the presence of other girls due to the birthmarks that cover her body. The third child is a boy whose parents make him come directly home after school; during services at their church, they "shake and lurch" across the floor. During a 2010 live performance for the Dutch radio station Kink FM, Brad Roberts whispered "Pentecostal" during the third verse, suggesting this is the denomination of the church.
An alternative version sometimes performed at live concerts replaced the third verse with one concerning a boy whose mother disposed of his tonsils after a tonsillectomy, thus depriving him of the possibility of bringing them to show and tell.
Music video
The associated music video sets the song's lyrics as the script for a series of one-act plays performed by school children. Throughout, the scenes of the performance are intercut with scenes of the Crash Test Dummies performing the song at stage side. The video director had nicknames for each of the key characters, as revealed when the selection was featured on Pop-Up Video; these are cited after the respective acts.
The first act, set at a city intersection, tells the story of a young boy who was involved in a car crash. His hair turned white due to the force of the crash.
The second act tells the story of a girl who refused to "change with the girls in the change room," until one day the other girls (portrayed in the act as three inquisitive detectives) force her to change with them, only to discover that her body was covered in birthmarks.
The final act tells of a boy that lives under the strict discipline of his austere parents and how his family attends a church where church-goers shake and lurch during the services. During the verse, the "boy" nervously looks into the audience at a couple who seem uneasy with the subject, implying that the three are the family being sung about.
Reception
Although highly successful when it was released, "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm" has since been frequently included on lists of bad songs. The song was number 15 on VH1's 50 Most Awesomely Bad Songs Ever, named by Rolling Stone as the "15th Most Annoying Song", and ranked at number 31 both on Blender's list of the "50 Worst Songs Ever." Contrasting, VH1 named "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm" as the 31st greatest one-hit wonder of the 1990s in 2011.
In a 1994 essay in which he makes the case that modern life is better than life in the past, humorist P.J. O'Rourke writes, "Even the bad things are better than they used to be. Bad music, for instance, has gotten much briefer. Wagner's Ring Cycle takes four days to perform while 'Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm' by the Crash Test Dummies lasts little more than three minutes."
The track received a nomination for a Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, which it lost to "I Swear" by All-4-One.
Uses in the media
CD maxi
- "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm" – 3:53
- "Here I Stand Before Me" – 3:07
- "Superman's Song" (live from the U.S. public radio program Mountain Stage)
7" single
- "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm" – 3:53
- "Here I Stand Before Me" – 3:07
U.S. single
- "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm" – 3:53
- "Superman's Song" (album version) – 4:31
- "How Does a Duck Know?" – 3:42
Cassette single
Features cardboard picture liner
- "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm"
- "Here I Stand Before Me"
Charts and sales
Outside their home country of Canada, the single became the band's most successful song, reaching number 4 in the U.S. and number 2 in the UK – the group's biggest hit in both countries. It also reached number 1 on the Modern Rock Chart in the U.S. and in Australia.
In Canada, the song was a comparative flop. While the Crash Test Dummies had 6 singles reach the Canadian top ten, "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm" was not one of them. In Canada, the single stalled at number 14.