Songoftheday 1/8/21 - Said I don't know if I've ever been good enough, I'm a little bit rusty and I think my head is cavin' in...

 

 

"Push" - Matchbox 20

from the album Yourself or Someone Like You (1997)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: ineligible to chart

Billboard Hot 100 Airplay peak: #5 (three weeks)

Weeks in the Airplay Top-40: 46

 

Today's song of the day comes from the rock band Matchbox 20, who came together in Orlando, Florida in the mid-1990s with some former members of the group Tabitha's Secret. Led by singer Rob Thomas, they signed with Atlantic Records in 1995 and released their debut album a year later. The first song from the record promoted to radio, "Long Day", was a decent rock radio hit, going as high at #8 on Billboard magazine's Mainstream Rock radio chart in the late fall of 1996. It had the jangle-pop vibe of acts like the Gin Blossoms or more recently Third Eye Blind, but pop radio didn't take the bait. That changed with the second song served to radio, "Push". Written by Thomas with producer Matt Serletic, the song gives winding lyrics about an abusive relationship, though the aggressor is vaguely placed, though Thomas insists it was the other (female) person in the song. But singing it in the first person on the chorus doesn't help that misunderstanding. This is all over a backdrop that sounds like a harder version of Shawn Colvin's "Sunny Came Home" mixed with Live's "Lightning Crashes"...

Since "Push" wasn't released as a commercial single, it wasn't able to place on Billboard's official pop Hot 100 chart. However the song got enough mainstream radio love to rise to the top five on the aiplay component of that tally in October of 1997, going on to spend a full year on the whole radio chart. The song was again a big rock radio success, landing their first (and only) #1 on the Alternative Rock chart, as well as #4 on their Mainstream Rock radio list. The song also got them their first hit on the Adult Top-40 format, peaking at #6. Internationally, the single reached the top ten in Canada (#6) and Australia (#8), while hitting the top-40 in the UK at #38 (it would be their sole British Top-40 hit). Their debut album Yourself  Or Someone Like You, released in October, peaked at #5 on the Billboard 200 sales chart, going on to move over twelve million copies ("Diamond" status). At the Grammy Awards in 1998, "Push" was nominated for Best Duo/Group Rock Performance, losing out to the Wallflowers' "One Headlight".

 

( 6.5/10)

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Here's the band appearing on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno in 1997...

Next up, live in concert in 1997...

Rob gives some background on the band and the song while converting it to a country jam on VH1's Storytellers in 2002...

And lastly, from their concert album/DVD Show: A Night In The Life from 2004...

Up tomorrow: A pop icon mourns a princess.