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Why CLOSING TIME By SEMISONIC Is So MISUNDERSTOOD (One Hit Wonder)
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- čas přidán 14. 08. 2024
- Why Semisonic's Song Closing Time is So Misunderstood.
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#SEMISONIC #CLOSINGTIME
I cite my sources and they may differ than other people's accounts, so I don't guarantee the actual accuracy of my videos.
Largely thought of as a one-hit wonder the band Semisonic, would be best known for the song ‘Closing Time.’ To be fair, they would have some international success with several other songs. While Closing Time was arguably one of the biggest hits of the late 90’s and appeared numerous times in media and film, the song’s lyrics lead one to believe that it’s a song about a last-call or late night song. It has been somewhat misunderstood for a very long time. While the song’s lyrics would lead one to think the track is written about being asked to leave a bar, it actually has a double meaning. You guys maybe shocked to learn that the song almost never made it onto radio. Let’s discuss all of that in today’s video.
Semisonic would be formed in Minneapolis in 1995 and be made up of guitarist and vocalist Dan Wilson, bassist and multi-instrumentalist John Munson and drummer Jacob Slicther. Munson and Wilson had previously played together in a group Trip Shakespear which would break up Semisonic would spend their early years playing gigs on the midwestern club circuit and put out an EP before getting a major label deal with MCA, who would put out their debut LP in 1996 titled “The Great Divide.: The release won the band much critical praise, but it was a commercial failure.
As the band hit the studio to write what would be their breakout and second album Feeling Strangely Fine, it proved to be a good creative time for the band while the members dealt with professional and personal challenges. MCA wanted a hit record this time around and it was during the making of the album Wilson’s wife who was pregnant with their first daughter dealt with complications during her pregnancy and went into labor two months early. She would be in the hospital for several months and while his bandmembers and producer offered to postpone recording sessions, Wilson continued working in the studio in between hospital visits to see his wife and new child. It would be the birth of his new child and the band’s live shows that served as the inspiration for the song Closing Time. Up until this point the band always ended their concerts with the same tune ‘If I Run’, something that didn’t sit well with the group’s drummer and bassist.
So Wilson took on a challenge to write a new set closer revealing to American Songwriter I set out to write a new closer for the set, and I just thought, “Oh, closing time.” Because all the bars that I would frequent in Minneapolis, they would yell out “closing time.” There was one bar where a guy always would scream really loud, “You don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here,” and I guess that always stuck in my mind. So I started writing this song and it’s just, “Okay, you’ve got to go out into the light, make your way home, or wherever you’re going to be.” Part way into the writing of the song, I realized it was also about being born. My wife and I were expecting our first kid very soon after I wrote that song. I He would add to mojo magazine It's all about being born and coming into the world, seeing the bright lights, cutting the cord, opening up into something deeper and more universal.
Upon completing their second album and turning it into their label, MCA were disappointed with what they heard because they didn’t hear a hit song. However the band’s A&R man at the label Hans Haedelt would reveal to recoup.com When they handed in Feeling Strangely Fine, it blew me away. I just knew we had a massive, successful record on our hands, with a majority of the songs worthy of being radio singles. ‘Closing Time’ would be a hit. ‘...Jay Boberg, the label president, didn’t have a discerning ear when it came to recognizing hits; he’d misjudged The Great Divide, so we really weren’t surprised to hear the label say that they didn’t hear any hits, and that we needed to go back into the studio to record some more songs. Jim Grant, their manager, held firm. I held firm. We weren’t going to do that. The band’s luck would change when MCA brought in a woman named Nancy Levin who was the new head of radio promotion. She would go to the label’s president and would be quoted as saying “What the fuck are you talking about? There’s a hit here! “Closing Time” w
In retrospect Closing Time feels like the song that perfectly captures the end of a magical decade.. it's like the song was a last call for the 90s even though it was still 1998..
Closing TIme will always be a classic to me…it was on the radio all the time but I was never sick of it.
I like "Closing Time".
I like that you know not to end a sentence with a quotation mark. It's refreshing, seriously.
@@drewknoles3258 I'm a writer by trade, it's ingrained :)
@@drewknoles3258”seriously?”
You seem like the type.
@@drewknoles3258this is confusing. I do it the other way because…
”In American English, a quote that comes at the end of a sentence will contain a period inside the final quotation marks.”
“UK English does put the closing punctuation inside the quote marks if the quote is, or ends with, a complete sentence.”
Confusing.
...you don't have to go home, but you can't stay here.....is the only way to clear a room
yup
Facts
I wanna live in _Closing Time_ video, an alternate reality where the late 90s never ended.
The album "Feeling Strangely Fine" is one of my favorites from that time period. I loved Secret Smile and Closing Time. I never knew there was a secret meaning though to that song. Great choice on this story!
My signature on my email used to be "Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end" I love that line!
Rolling Stone magazine hasn't been relevant since the 1970s
90's till the end of 2007
I agree. Rolling Stone is run by political hacks. Idk why they’re still around.
The drummer Jake wrote a GREAT book about the band & the rock industry from the time... it's funny too. Called "So you want to be a rock n roll star" I highly recommend it
Do Lifehouse! I recently got into them, they were pretty big in the 2000s love to hear extra stories if you can find about their precursor Blyss!
I love how record execs get to decide what is a hit. People can’t like something they’ve never heard. And a hit can’t be a hit before it’s ever been played.
I agree! Check out Jake's book - So You Want to be a Rock and Roll Star. He speaks to this and more.
were you a fan of semisonic? Also, does the song deserve to be on Rolling Stone's most annoying list?
I used to work at a record store that was open till midnight. Needless to say, by the time it was midnight I was ready to go home but some customers just didn't get the message. Until I played Closing Time as a joke one night. It soon became a thing to get customers to buy their shit or get out.
haha that's great.
I went to a coffee shop in the late 90s / early 2000s that used to do the same thing 🤣
Yuppers ! - You cant stay here ( best line ever ) lol
Try playing Yoko Ono - that will get them heading for the exits. 🤣
along with every single basic run of the mill american bar from 2000-2012 at least
I used to work at a bar and this song is like nails in my ears. I had to hear it *every* *single* *night* for 4 years straight.
Yeahh.... like karaoke and black velvet.....
Yeah, that’d be pretty bad
@@DoomSlayersNephew7270 yep. It is.... seeing a gal have too much black velvet thinking the sounds like alana....but reality is more of Yoko ono screeching...
@@billchief397 hey! it’s art, ok!? 🤣
@DoomSlayersNephew7270 oh not totally knocking yoko down she had some awesome dance mixes out there ha
A song like Smells like Teen Spirit, Live Forever and such were at the very top in the 90's, and Closing Time is just below that tier, it's that damnn good!
You have no taste. Sorry. Get a clue.
Lol, no dude, it isn't. Closing Time is a cute little throwaway lullabye song with trite lyrics and hummable melodies, and record execs crammed it up radio's ass until we couldn't forget it no matter how hard we try.
@@jamescarter3196 bingo. Almost like brainwashing, but there's no such thing as brainwashing. That does not exist. That's just something crazy people talk about. Crazy. People.
This song is one of my favorites to sing along to. Never gets old imo
Great Divide is great a great album! Dan Wilson also co-wrote "Someone Like You" with Adele. He should get more credit for his songwriting. "Free Life" by Dan Wilson...damn that one gets me every time.
I think it's a great song and many of us have nostalgia for it bc we grew up hearing it. It's really sad that label execs can be so hostile to their own working bands like that
I think a lot of record company executives resent musicians because they want them to just be performing monkeys for them to make money off of.
@@matthewatwood8641 Interesting how bosses so often resent the workers that earn them their money under capitalism
I think it’s a great song. 25 years ago our kids were 5, 8 and 10. They had a wonderful childhood growing up in the 90s. I loved being a mom. Now even our kids have gray hair. We didn’t feel time rushing by but it was. My daughter was dressing like Scary Spice. Now she’s 35. I remember rollerblading in the cul de sac with all the neighborhood kids. Chokes me up remembering. 😢
One of the MOST BEAUTIFUL songs ever (Secret Smile very close too)! Very underrated band, on my opinion! This song was my companion when I move on from my mother home to a new city in college. It has a special place in my heart. Thanks for the Vid, man, you rocks! ;)
Time to go to Chili's with my fuckin boys
Due Date!
"All About Chemistry" is a great song.
Ahh, a timeless classic. The singer for Semisonic has wrote some great songs for other artists. Definitely has done quite well for himself. Thanks for the insight 🍻
Semisonic is a great band, I own both those albums and there are no duffers on either of them. I introduced my wife to 'Secret Smile', and I put it on our wedding reception playlist, but the DJ skipped it because he was just trying to play the dance songs.
LOL nice DJ - You hire him and he decides your opinion is not so important. Oh BTW Semisonic is NOT a great band. Most people have never heard of them. Great bands are well known. I think you mean to say you think they are underrated and you like their material a lot!! They are not a great band lmao
@@jamesbarrick3403 The DJ was a friend, I didn't hire him.
Define "great" however you please. I define "great" as the Oxford Dictionary does: "of ability, quality, or eminence considerably above the normal or average." Notice the word "or" is used before "eminence". As in, ability, quality OR eminence are needed for something to be great. I don't wait around for others to tell me what bands I think are great, I can choose for myself. Semisonic is also underrated. I think you might give to much weight to public opinion, but you do you.
@@jasonbungard7484then yr friends kinda a dick
Closing time is a great song but the real MVP on that album is Secret Smile.
"Closing Time" is the perfect song to use when the store or fancy restaurant is about to close.
LMAO, "fancy restaurant"? No, this is pizza-parlor music. This is 'time to load the kids in the car' music.
Closing time had a deeper meaning. But it definitely resonated with anyone who's felt desperate to make a connection AT closing time. The world can be a lonely place... and maybe for what's left of an evening, two people aren't so lonely that day.
There was a cute little blonde that would walk around the library and play/sing closing time to shoo us out
Loved her
I love this tune. We play our own cover of it every week, and it's always a fave!
The video omitted that Dan Wilson has also worked with Adele, writing the song, Someone like You. I was 15 when Closing Time was big, I walked to the K-Mart to buy Feeling Strangely Fine, an interesting fact about that is, I had to walk past the point in Soquel where the acid tests of Ken Kesey and Ken Babbs in the 60s were (there is now a bus stop to commemorate it as the birth place of the counter-culture). To me, the song was about wanting to graduate from high school - open all the doors and let you out into the world. It was also an ironic slam for politicians to get voted out of office. Because of Feeling Strangely Fine, I also downloaded songs from The Great Divide, such as The Prize, and Down in Flames. It ranks as an annoying song because it could be construed as a torch song, when I never thought of it as a torch song. It was like a S happens song but being able to move to what's next.
This is not an annoying song. I never bother with those lists.
Closing time was a pretty big hit over here in Australia I remember when it came out it still gets played on the radio and everywhere I have worked 90% of people are singing along out loud
Yeah, in Canada it was a huge hit. Then the Office included it in one of their cold opens, and it ended up in that Justin Timberlake movie and Rock Band as DLC and Rocksmith I believe too.
@@rnrtruestories yeah sic it's a mad song I love always a good song along to make the work day pass by faster
Good song, and I don't mind hearing it. Provided I don't hear it too much.😂
Feeling Strangely Fine is a stacked album and a prime example of why we should not stop at the hit and instead deep dive to find the hidden gems. This can be said for countless albums beyond Semi Sonic. I suggest that you do the same for Trip Shakespeare. Just one music lover's opinion.
I think it's a nice song. It's very nostalgic with that late '90s production. I always imagined it as the song that plays in a store right before it closes and the lights switch off.
Rolling Stone has some seriously bad taste calling this song one of the most annoying. When was the last time they were worth reading? The 1970s?
It’s a great late 90’s song regardless of double meaning. Songs are meant to be interpreted different ways depending upon the listeners emotion and perspective of how they interpret the lyrics and music anyway. 👍🏻
Singing in my Sleep is their best song, imo
"You don't have to go home... but you can't stay here!!!"
I'm really surprised you haven't done anything by Death from Above 1979 as they have really quite a great story to tell
For example their lawsuit with DFA records or the time we broke up and the reunions
🤔💭
I've heard this double meaning explanation bf, but I still don't get the "being born" aspect of the song, but I definitely hear the "get out of my bar" meaning 😆. No I don't agree that it's an annoying song. It's a pretty good tune 🤘🏻😍
I choose to believe that in the second meaning, the "bar" that you're being encouraged to vacate, is your mother's vageen.
It is about going out into the world (leaving the womb and then going home with your parents). Some of the lyrics are literal in the proper context, some aren't
It kind of stings to hear Semisonic referred to as a one-hit wonder. Feeling Strangely Fine is a great album, and I think there are some really good songs on All About Chemistry, too. I was glad to hear their latest album. I don't like it as much as FSF, but they're still putting out good stuff.
I was a bouncer at a bar that played live music 7 nights a week during this time in Minneapolis. Needless to say, just about every bouncer claimed they were the one that came up with the "You don't have to go home, but you can't stay here."
No matter the genre or generation, we’ve heard of the songs that were nearly undiscovered. Now imagine, how many great songs went undiscovered, and are now completely forgotten?
A good example is "Name" by the Goo Dolls. A B-side song that was almost overlooked. Not that this was the case here, but a great argument for the value of college radio where the DJs are free to explore.
"Never You Mind" is really good, too.
Great song to perform around the campfire.
I love that album! I gifted it to all my girlfriends at that time 😊
Ayo
Hearing that a classic like ‘Closing Time’ was almost snuffed from radio, I wonder just how many other Bands and Songs with bangers we never got to hear due to bad decisions. Would love to find those lost tunes.
Multitudes.
Played in a band for years, we ALWAYS closed with closing time.
Never really been a fan of Semisonic but the song ain't that ignoring. I could probably think of 50 others song that would make me want to smash the radio . In a way it's kinda of makes me remember of a time where I was forced to hear it all the time. And there is someone wants to sing when it's time to lock up shop. Always gets a giggle everytime.
"Closing Time" always seemed like a cursed song for me. I went out of my way to ignore it for ten years. It always seemed to pop-up on the radio or as in-store music or as part of a playlist just before I was about to be fired, laid-off, or broken up by a girlfriend. It became such a frequent occurrence, the second I heard the opening piano keys, I would change the channel or skip it because it taint the right of the day or night it was playing.
Saw these guys in Auckland 2000 where they supported a host of kiwi acts including Tim and Neil Finn The Exponents The Feelers che fu Dave Dobbyn was a quick get together after the collapse of the latest Sweetwaters festival
They were fantastic ending with Closing time
I always liked "Secret Smile". I also miss being told to take care at the end of videos.
My late husband would always stay til closing time. That's how we met. He had to take someone home....so I went.
I like Steven Crowder's version.
"Time to close"
(something something something)
"I Know that it's time for things to close"
Bad take Rolling Stone. Closing Time is a great song.
yeah rolling stone has some horrible takes.
Love this band. They deserve more than being known as the "Closing Time" band
they had critical acclaim with their albums, but I guess their weird relationship with their label didn't help.
One of their new songs came through my streaming service and is a great song!
There is no Top 90s Classics if this Epic Riff is left off the list. 🍻🇺🇸🙏🏼🇺🇸🍻
Bars in his town said closing time? That's crazy Mine too!!
Like a fine wine...It grows better w time.
Can't call them ''The Dixie Chicks'' anymore. Someone's gonna cry.😢
Boo-frickety-hoo!
I loved Great Divide at the time. I need to give it another listen.
I forget it. I want to. MCA is what lynyrd skynyrd yells at. I was like twelve so I kinda appreciate it now because when I was 13-14 I started doin three hour shows in the bars. That phrase and sweet home Alabama or stairway just wanted to go beat them.
I loved All About Chemistry and Closing Time never gets old for me.
"Closing time" will always transport you in your memories of being at a club at 1:30 am at last call. If you close your eyes and think you can see it clearly in your head. The song is a hit because it's full of vivid happy memories.
LMAO, no, the song will always transport YOU to the happy little club at 1:30 a.m., not everybody. Close your eyes and you'll see me in the pizza place where I worked in 1998 when I heard this song five times a day, because everybody has the same thoughts about everything. The song was a hit because record execs put it on the radio when there was no other 'lullabye' song available to sell.
Singing in my sleep is a good song.
The entire album was amazing. 👌
Man I remember this song it came out when I was in high school
Dan voiced himself of an episode of Anerican dad playing closing time.
I didn't listen to much music after 1973, by 1975 cocaine took over completely, nothing but mindless disco, but this song is great. It actually tells a story.
“Closing Time,” annoying? Actually, I found the song “catchy” enough to buy it after hearing it once. Thank you for reminding me why I stopped buying/reading “Rolling Stone” decades ago…
It's OK, nothing groundbreaking but, certainly listenable.
If I Run was their best song by far !
I don't think it was an annoying song. But it was just over played at the time. I watched MTV a lot back then an it was in heavy rotation for sure.
I am the DJ at scores Tampa, and I play this as the last song of the night every night
I checked out Trip Shakespeare and definitely 90s all the way and cheesy, but in a way you can hear Semisonics roots
Great video.
Not annoying at all, overplayed yes but inky because it was a great song
Dude's 100% right, "Closing Time" is the best jam to end the night.
Hell no, "It's All Over Now" is the greatest closing song of all time
@jamescarter3196 Ahh, no. "It's All Over Now" is the jam you play after you leave the bar with the girl and then finish up kicking it with her. That's when you break out the Stones....
The video for the song really leads to misunderstanding the lyrics. It’s literally them playing over a closing bar.
I miss the 90s
It ain't More Than A Feeling, but it is a great song.
I've liked that song ever since it's release. I was 17 when it came out. I never would have guessed back then, that 20 something years later it would be considered to a classic! So cool!
As far as being "one of the most annoying songs of all time". I definitely don't agree with that, but I've noticed that people either love it, or hate it. I think one of the reasons some people hate it, is because it gets played so much. I can relate to that. I hate a lot of rock from the 70's because it's sooooo over played.
Closing Time is a fantastic and much underrated record, it will be reborn a massive hit again I'm sure as quality always shines thru.
Secret smile is mine and parters “song” it’s underrated.
Isn't it funny how there are stories like this where an executive at a record company has a tin ear....and no ability to hear a hit before the market proves it....!
Why in the thumbnail did you censor baby?
As a bartender, I love this song. As a person, it sucks
i don't really get his meaning for the lyrics, and reading them doesn't really make sense to be about babies except for maybe the first few opening lines..
The whole CD is great…so is All About Chemistry
Semisonic is not a one hit wonder. I hear Chemistry often played in retail stores and I swear I've also heard Singing In My Sleep played on the radio before.
Yeah, no, its about getting told the pub is closing 😀
Sirius xm broke it down in detail recently
So how is it “so misunderstood”?
Closing Time is a timeless rock classic and a productive of the heartland of America with it’s sincere heartfelt lyrics that did not reflect a jaded LA or NYC. Minnesota rock at its best!
It was in the Simpsons,.
Nuff said,
You completely lost me by beginning with 'one hit wonder'. Semisonic are a terrific band, one of my faves.
Dan went on to write songs for Adele
I love that song.
Their "FamilyGuy" Appearance was Hilarious!