Songoftheday 3/30/20 - And in the end we shall achieve in time the thing they call divine...

"In The Meantime" - Spacehog
from the album Resident Alien (1995)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #32
Weeks in the Top-40: 4

Today's song of the day comes from the post-glam rock band Spacehog, who came together in New York City in the mid-1990s. Brothers Royston and Antony Langdon, who moved from the British city of Leeds to the U.S., met up with drummer Jonny Cragg and lead guitarist Richard Steel. Signed to Sire Records, the group released their debut album Resident Alien in 1995. The lead single from the set, "In The Meantime", written by Royston, was produced by Bryce Goggin, who helmed alt-rock group Pavement's classic album Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain. It became a huge hit on rock radio, which then translated to a crossover to pop stations and gave the band their sole mainstream hit...

"In The Meantime" was Spacehog's first and only single to hit the official American pop Hot 100 chart, reaching the top-40 in April of 1996. The song spent a month (four weeks) at #1 on Billboard magazine's Mainstream Rock radio chart, while taking three weeks at #2 on their Alternative Rock format list. Internationally, the song made the top-40 in Iceland (#26), the UK (#29), Canada (#33), Sweden (#36), and Australia (#40). The second single from the record, "Cruel To Be Kind" (not to be confused with the Nick Lowe classic), got some love from rock radio, ascending to #29 on the Mainstream Rock chart. But third release "Space Is The Place" went nowhere. The In The Meantime album got to the top-40 on the sales chart (#29) and sold over a half million copies.

The band returned in 1998 with the more adventurous sophomore effort The Chinese Album. Lead single "Mungo City" was a moderate success on rock radio, reaching both the Mainstream (#19) and Alternative (#21) rock format charts, while nicking the British singles list at #85. A second single, "Carry On", stiffed in America but did a bit better in the UK, nearly making the top-40 at #43. Dropped by their label, Spacehog went indie and signed with Artemis Records, putting out their third disc The Hogyssey in 2001. The first single, "I Want To Live", reached the Mainstream Rock chart at #23, their last chart appearance to date. The band split afterward, with the Langdon brothers and Cragg forming another band, Arckid, and Royston worked with actor Joaquin Phoenix for a bit. The original members reunited in 2008, and released their most recent album, As It Is On Earth, in 2013.

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Here's the band performing on The Late Show with David Letterman...


and one for the British telly...


And finally, on a reunion show in 2014...


Up tomorrow: A Canadian isn't really feeling it.

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