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One Hit Wonders - 4 NON BLONDES (1993) (Edited 01/22/13 10:03AM by Nick__)
.jpg "One Hit Wonders - 4 NON BLONDES (1993) <span style=\"font-size:12px;\">(Edited 01/22/13 10:03AM by Nick__)</span> Photo")
"WHAT'S UP?" by 4 NON BLONDES
MUSIC VIDEO
Despite the title, the song does not contain the phrase "what's up?" Rather, the lyric "what's goin' on?" is prominently included in the chorus. The title was chosen to avoid confusion with the 1971 R&B song and album "What's Going On" by Marvin Gaye. The music video was directed by Morgan Lawley.
This was the first Top-40 hit by an openly lesbian group (somehow the Indigo Girls never got higher than #52). 4 Non Blondes started in San Francisco in 1989 and gained traction at a time when record companies were looking for authentic female rockers who could translate to the Pop realm. Their bass player Christa Hillhouse told us: "We did really well in San Francisco, we got a lot of press and we were selling out all our shows. With the labels, once one of them looks at you, they all jump in line. A&R people are so brainless - if you're getting attention because people are coming to your shows, they'll check you out, but once one of them approaches you, they all approach you. We ended up signing with Interscope in June 1991. We had a shot with a couple of other labels, but we kind of freaked them out because we were kind of weird. At the time, we were all women, we were all gay - that was the time before it was the cool thing to do, I don't even think k.d. lang was out of the closet yet. I think the marketing thing threw a lot of labels off because they're always looking at marketing. Even by the end of the '80s, the record companies had really switched to where they were looking for that band that had that one hit. They wanted one hit, and then who knows after that - they didn't really develop acts anymore. When we got signed, they knew 'What's Up' sounded like a hit."
"What's Up?" ranks number 94 on VH1's 100 Greatest One-Hit Wonders, and ranks 86 on the MuchMore The Top 100 One Hit Wonders. Conversely, it is ranked number 19 on Spinner.com's list of the "Top 20 Worst Songs Ever". Most recently, in September 2010, Matthew Wilkening of AOL Radio ranked the song at number 20 on the list of the 100 Worst Songs Ever, calling it "the sonic equivalent of those 'hang in there' posters with the cat on a tree limb, except much screechier."
The recording received considerable airplay success. It reached number 14 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and went gold, but peaked higher in many other countries, reaching number one in Germany and Ireland, while reaching number two in the United Kingdom and Australia.
01. I Will Always Love You » Whitney Houston
02. Whoomp! (There It Is) » Tag Team
03. Can't Help Falling In Love » UB40
04. That's The Way Love Goes » Janet Jackson
05. Freak Me » Silk
06. Weak » SWV
07. If I Ever Fall In Love » Shai
08. Dreamlover » Mariah Carey
09. Rump Shaker » Wreckx-N-Effect
10. Informer » Snow
50. What's Up » 4 Non Blondes
| Closed on 02/21/13 at 05:00PM FanIQ Pts? No | Locker Room, Music | Multiple Choice Opinion Poll |
| 13 Fans | | | 0% | a. 10 - This song rocked | | 38% | b. 7-9 - This song was pretty good | | 23% | c. 5-6 - This song was ok | | 23% | d. 1-4 (WHO? WHAT? HUH?!?) | | 15% | e. THIS SONG SUCKED! |
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