Top 5 Everclear Songs

Celebrating 30 years as a band, the alternative rock group Everclear have embarked on an anniversary tour in commemoration of their longevity. Support for the Oregon-based icons comes from fellow alt-rockers The Nixons and Fastball on the tour, a 29-date trek spanning the United States, starting on June 9 in Emmett, ID and ending September 3 in Henderson, NV. I’ll be at the show in Jacksonville, NC this weekend (July 2), and while I’ve been listening to Everclear since my early high school years, this will be my first time seeing the band live. The hype is real, to say the least, and I’ve decided to spotlight some of my favorite Everclear songs as a result of that excitement.

Everclear have had their fair share of success over the years, with just a couple of their mega-hits including ‘Santa Monica,’ ‘Father of Mine,’ ‘I Will Buy You a New Life,’ and ‘Wonderful.’ However, as is the case with most bands, I’ve found that some of my favorite songs were a little lesser-known, and I felt like they never got the recognition they deserved, for whatever reason. Granted, rankings of favorites always change for me depending on the day, but I always recommend at least the top 3 of these songs to people when introducing them to Everclear.

If you’re unfamiliar with Everclear or only know their hits, here are five songs most worth checking out:

5. ‘Fire Maple Song’ (World of Noise, 1993)

Shortly following their formation in 1992, Everclear and recorded and released their debut full-length album, World of Noise, in 1993. Originally, the album was meant to be a demo to send to record labels, but it was eventually released under the independent label Tim/Kerr after a few additional recording sessions. Once the band was signed to Capitol Records the following year, the album was remastered and re-released on November 1, 1994. In fact, another reissue was just released earlier this summer, releasing digitally on June 10 as a way to celebrate the band’s 30th anniversary, featuring bonus tracks of B-sides and previously unreleased songs.

‘Fire Maple Song’ is a hardcore fan-favorite, and it perfectly encapsulates the very early stages of Everclear. It’s an interesting conglomeration of the band’s influences, with frontman Art Alexakis’s voice and storytelling lyricism reflecting an inspiration from country music, along with the musicality and production indicating the impact of grunge and hard rock on the band’s songwriting. Though it was their first album, ‘Fire Maple Song’ showed what the band was capable of and what they would eventually become from a technical perspective.

Fun fact, Everclear re-recorded and re-released the song on their stripped down/unplugged album In a Different Light in 2009. I almost prefer this rendition over the original, but good luck finding it online because it’s become unavailable on YouTube and streaming sites.

4. ‘Normal Like You’ (So Much for the Afterglow, 1997)

Everclear’s third album, 1997’s So Much for the Afterglow, was an important one in the band’s career. After the success of their previous record, 1995’s Sparkle and Fade, critics were quick to write them off as one-hit wonders. The band responded with So Much for the Afterglow, featuring the songs ‘I Will Buy You a New Life,’ ‘Father of Mine,’ and lead single ‘Everything to Everyone’ – not one, but three hits. There’s also a song that calls out the critics at the midpoint of the album, fittingly titled ‘One Hit Wonder.’

25 years later, ‘Normal Like You’ still carries as much lyrical relevance now, if not more than when it was first written. Though the chorus has a bit of a punk-rock rebellious attitude to it, the song is about more than just going against the grain. The “normal” person being mentioned struggles with mental health issues but hides behind a mask and pretends that there is nothing wrong. The people around them are aware of the façade, but even they don’t understand the severity of the person’s affliction, therefore spreading rumors and misrepresentation. It’s seen all the time, especially in the social media age we live in – everyone only shows the good sides of themselves and their lives, selecting what they want people to see out of fear of being judged. The message of the song is about finding internal acceptance and choosing to embrace the good and the bad instead of hiding behind a disguise of normalcy, which is something more people should learn to do.

3. ‘American Monster’ (Black is the New Black, 2015)

Black is the New Black, Everclear’s most recent album, took a darker musical approach than their previous releases. They’ve always had heavy lyrics in a good amount of their songs throughout their career, but it was as if the music caught up with the darkness of the lyrics on this album, with songs like ‘You’ and ‘Anything is Better Than This’ being standout examples.

The cinematically sinister ‘American Monster’ is one that explores the concept of monsters hiding in plain sight – more specifically, people that appear harmless but, in fact, have dark secrets behind closed doors. It’s best described as a first-person cautionary tale, explaining that life isn’t always bright and happy – there bad people at every turn as well as dark and scary times in life, but that’s just real life.

2. ‘Falling in a Good Way’ (Invisible Stars, 2012)

Honestly, this list can easily be made of songs from Invisible Stars because it might as well be a greatest hits album. For a band that saw a large amount of their success early on in their career, it’s pretty crazy that their two most recent albums turned out to be their best. It makes me wish they would record and release music more consistently now, but I digress. Invisible Stars has everything an Everclear fan could want, from the high energy of ‘Aces’ to the reflective buildup of ‘Santa Ana Wind’ to the anecdotal lyricism of ‘Jackie Robinson’ (other highlights include the laid-back ‘Volcano’ and the heartbroken ‘Wishing,’ because it’s so hard to narrow things down when there are so many great songs on one album).

As the second track, ‘Falling in a Good Way’ feels like the real kick-off to the album, with the opener ‘Tiger in a Burning Tree’ being such a brief introduction. Lyrically, ‘Falling in a Good Way’ is about people that peaked in high school and seeing what they’ve done with their lives in the years since their glory days, which is a curiosity that everyone has felt at one point or another. Musically, it’s surprisingly upbeat despite the lyrics outlining the less-than-stellar circumstances the subjects of the song find themselves in – it’s fast-paced, lively, and wicked catchy.

1.‘The Swing’ (Scream 2 Soundtrack, 1997)

The Scream series has always had stellar soundtracks, with just a couple examples being Birdbrain’s ‘Youth of America’ in the first film, Creed’s ‘What If’ in the third, and Salem’s ‘Fall Out of Love’ in the fifth. Everclear made their appearance around halfway through the second installment in the franchise, after Cici Cooper (played by Sarah Michelle Gellar) is stabbed and thrown off the balcony of a sorority house – their song ‘The Swing’ plays as Ghostface wipes the blood off the knife and leaves the premises.

‘The Swing’ was written in 1996 during the sessions for an album called Pure White Evil, which would eventually turn into So Much for the Afterglow. Unfortunately, the song didn’t make it onto the album, and it wasn’t released until it was featured on the Scream 2 soundtrack. An unplugged version of the song eventually did appear on an Everclear release – first on the 2004 Closure EP, then as an iTunes bonus track for In a Different Light.

While I probably shouldn’t have to explain my bias because the song is great enough to earn the top spot without it, this was the song that got me into Everclear – I’ve probably heard one or two of their hits before seeing Scream 2, but I never made the connection or heard of the band’s name until I searched for ‘The Swing’ after hearing it in the movie. Not only do I associate the song with one of my favorite horror series, but it’s the first song I think of when I hear Everclear’s name and it’s my go-to recommendation for someone trying to get into the band’s music. This is my ‘Santa Monica,’ this is my ‘Father of Mine,’ and this is my Everclear.

If you like what you heard from this list, you can check out even more of the band's music wherever you listen (Spotify, Apple, Amazon Music, YouTube, physical copies, etc.). You can also buy their merch and keep up with their tour dates by visiting their website here.

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