Songoftheday 5/10/20 - When you sent me off to see the world, were you scared that I might get hurt?
from the album The Burdens Of Being Upright (1996)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: ineligible to chart
Billboard Hot 100 Airplay peak: #32 (two weeks)
Weeks in the Hot 100 Airplay Top-40: 8
Today's song of the day comes from singer/songwriter Tracy Bonham, who was not related to the Led Zeppelin drummer John, nor his bandleader son Jason, but grew up in Oregon. Moving back to her birthplace of Boston, Tracy went to the Berklee College of Music. After an independently released EP, she was signed to Island Records, where she recorded her debut full-length album The Burdens Of Being Upright. The lead track promoted to radio, "Mother Mother", because a huge hit at rock stations, and eventually crossed over to mainstream audiences. Written by Bonham and produced by Paul Kolderie (Pixies) and Sean Slade, the sardonic look at familial relations can be shared by a lot of people. This is Tracy's real mom in the video...
Since "Mother Mother" wasn't released commercially as a physical "single", it was unable to place on Billboard magazine's official Hot 100 pop chart. However, the song got enough mainstream radio love to climb into the top-40 of the airplay component of that tally. It spent three weeks at #1 on the Alternative Rock radio chart, while peaking at #18 on the Mainstream Rock format list. Internationally, the single reached the top ten in Australia (#5) and Norway (#6), and hit the top-40 in New Zealand (#13). Belgium (#16), and the Netherlands (#32). At the Grammy Awards in 1997, "Mother Mother" was nominated for Best Female Rock Vocal, which went to Sheryl Crow for "If It Makes You Happy", while the Burdens Of Being Upright album was up for Best Alternative Rock Album, which Beck won for Odelay. The album, which I assume the record company was trying to promote sales by holding back a single release, only got to #54 on the sales chart. A second cut from the set promoted to radio, "The One", managed to go to #23 on the Alternative Rock chart, but missed the pop list altogether (it was a minor hit in the Netherlands at #92). A third single, "Sharks Can't Sleep", was ignored here but managed to slip on to the British chart as her sole success at #93.
As Tracy was ready to release her sophomore effort, Down Here, Island Records changed hands, and she was one of the casualties. Originally meant for 1998, the set finally arrived in 2000 when her momentum cooled, and it made no impression in the States. She has since released EPs and four studio albums on various labels. Her most recent, Modern Burdens, came out in 2017.
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There was an alternative version of the video that went to adult pop outlets...
Here she is appearing on Conan O'Brien in 1996...
And again on Dutch TV that same year...
And finally, from the Paste magazine studios in 2018...
Up tomorrow: New jack swing singer gets a bit tied up.
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