Like ‘Semi-Charmed Life’, ‘Jumper’ is upbeat, somewhat opposite to what the lyrics would suggest, giving it longevity on the airwaves. Now the song holds up 20 years later as a point of inspiration, encouraging people who are hurting to “break the past away.” Jenkins said in an interview that “When I wrote it, I wrote it as a lament, and now I sing it as a sense of arrival and more exalted, so that one’s definitely changed.” Stephan Jenkins has talked about the evolution of ‘Jumper’, how the inspiration for it was really two-fold: partly about a gay friend wanting to jump off a bridge and partly a desire exorcise the demons of his own tough childhood. I don’t think the song should be so blatant that I have to come out and say ‘couples who take speed tend to break up, so don’t do it.”
‘Semi-Charmed Life’ refers to a life that’s all propped up…People hear ‘Semi-Charmed Life’ as a happy summertime jam, and that’s fine with me. In an interview with Billboard in 1997, Jenkins said “it really is funny that people play it on the radio. If anything, it’s a testament to the lack of acknowledgment so many listeners give to lyrical content. It’s unapologetically poppy in its sound. Not everyone loves ‘Semi-Charmed Life’, though. The chorus is catchy: “I need something else to get me through this semi-charmed kind of life.” But the lyrics were largely ignored by radio listeners in favour of the upbeat chorus that made the song a summer anthem of 1997, much like Foster the People’s ‘Pumped Up Kids’ back in 2011. Radio stations typically played an edited version of the song, distorting the words “crystal meth” and cutting out the entire bridge that refers to being high. While it has all the sound and feel of a happy-go-lucky jam, it’s really a sobering song about drug use in a similar vein to Lou Reed’s ‘Walk On the Wild Side’. It might have taken an entire year, but Jenkins decided he was done with the girl who was never really into him.įor many people who grew up in the ’90s, this is the 3EB song they know. The video ends with two cars crashing, symbolic of a relationship gone bad. The song’s video is simple: the band playing the song in front of three laughing women, who are almost oblivious to the music being played right in front of them. This song was one of five singles released from the album, peaking on the Billboard Alternative Music Chart at #13 in 1998. Numerous fan theories believe ‘Losing a Whole Year’ correlates strongly to the The Great Gatsby, a story rich in the American dream and lost romances. Jenkins himself was an English major at UC-Berkley, and his knowledge classic literature is not lost in his lyrics. It slowly builds up to a heavy guitar intro, then Jenkins scream-sings about “spending the whole day in bed” with this rich girl in the chorus.Īs with all Jenkins-written 3EB songs, there are layers of meaning in play. That in mind, let’s take a look at the five best tracks on the album.Īccording to frontman Stephan Jenkins, the intro song for the album details the life of a rich girl from Bernal Heights, a neighborhood on the south side of San Francisco. There’s a good chance you only know one (or two, maybe three) songs from this album, or God forbid, you’re one of those people who hears the name Third Eye Blind and says “I loooooove ‘Closing Time’!” (Sorry, that was Semisonic). This month marks 20 years since that album was released. The initial album from Third Eye Blind hit #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and songs from it could be heard in big 90’s movies such as American Pie and Can’t Hardly Wait.
That’s over a million more than Radiohead’s OK Computer, which still holds curious appeal among rock fans. Despite this, they still managed to sell over six million copies of their self-titled debut album.
Whether it was the poppy, post-grunge sound of the song or the fact that radio stations decided to play it seemingly on repeat for months and months after the album released, Third Eye Blind were subsequently dismissed as a one-trick pony, with their lyrical and musical depth largely ignored. Such is the case for Third Eye Blind, who despite having been around for two decades known, are still largely known for just one song – ‘Semi-Charmed Life’. There has to be a sense of frustration for any successful band who are only remembered for one track.
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