Songoftheday 11/23/21 - Man it's a hot one Like seven inches from the midday sun, well I hear you whisper and the words melt everyone...

"Smooth" - Santana featuring Rob Thomas

from the album Supernatural (1999)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #1 (twelve weeks)

Weeks in the Top-40: 50

Today's song of the day comes from the rock fusion band Santana, led by guitarist Carlos Santana. The group's self-titled debut album came out in 1969, and they were a steady fixture on the rock radio scene throughout the 1970's. However after they reached the top-20 on Billboard magazine's pop Hot 100 in the fall of 1982 with "Hold On", they had found a "dry" period in the rest of the decade. Their next studio album, Beyond Appearances in 1985, saw its lead single "Say It Again" stalled right under the pop top-40, although it did make it to #15 on the Mainstream Rock radio chart and #19 on the Dance Club Play chart. The album was their first to miss the top-40 on the Billboard 200 sales chart at #50. Two more albums for their label Columbia Records, Freedom in 1987 and Spirits Dancing In the Flesh in 1990, both did worse sales-wise, peaking at #95 and #85 respectively. Freedom spun off a minor rock radio hit with "Veracruz" at #21, while Spirits Dancing got "Peace On Earth...Mother Earth...Third Stone From The Sun" to #14, and also took their cover of Curtis Mayfield's "Gypsy Woman" to #31 on the Adult Contemporary (or "easy listening" radio list.

Leaving the label, Santana moved to Polydor Records, and recorded one record for the company, Milagro in 1992. While the record ended up being their lowest-charting studio album to date, stopping in the bottom half of the Billboard 200 at #102, and didn't chart any songs on either the pop or rock lists in Billboard, it did grab a Grammy nomination for "Gypsy/Grajonica", losing to the late Stevie Ray Vaughan for his version of Jimi Hendrix's "Little Wing". The band was also nominated for the same award in 1996 for the blues exercise "Every Now and Then" with Living Colour's Vernon Reid, from their box set retrospective Dance Of The Rainbow Serpent, which went to the Allman Brothers for their live remake of their own "Jessica" that year. But besides that, Carlos would put the studio output of the band on ice for seven years.

In 1998, Santana was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and their Best Of Santana, a collection of their best-known work on Columbia, made the top half of the Billboard 200 at #82, going on to sell over a million copies. With that added exposure, Carlos reunited with the man who had signed him to Columbia, Clive Davis, who had since become the kingpin of Arista Records, and was convinced to take on the new reincarnation of the band that had a few holdovers from the 1990s including singer Tony Lindsay, keyboardist Chester Thompson, bass player Benny Rietveld, and percussionists Raul Rebow (who had been there from the 1970s) and Karl Perazzo. But while Lindsay was the singer in the band in name, the majority of the album brought in "ringers" from the current pop world to sing lead. This included Dave Matthews, Everlast, Eagle-Eye Cherry, and Lauryn Hill, but the biggest "get" at the time was Rob Thomas in his first big gig away from his band Matchbox Twenty, who had scored a trio of big pop hits on their debut album with "Push", "3AM", and "Real World". The result, "Smooth" was written by Thomas with Itaal Shur, and produced by Matchbox 20's guy Matt Serletic. Distilling down Carlos' sound to a 4 minute and so snack that had enough Latin rhythm to catch a ride on the Latin Explosion wave that Ricky Martin, Jennifer Lopez, Christina Aguilera, and Enrique Iglesias came in on, with the concise grasp of hooks that Thomas and Serletic provided, and it was a recipe for success at just the right time. Between the distorted fuzzy vocals at the beginning of each verse, to the horns blaring in at the perfect moment, to the "key change fakeout" at the apex, and one of the best chorus tags ever with "Give me your heart, make it real, or else forget about it", and you've got an earworm that just won't let go of your brain. The music video as well makes it like a local party you'd be afraid of missing. And Carlos' guitar isn't shoved in the back, but seamlessly interplays with the melody...

"Smooth" brought Santana and his band the biggest pop hit of their career, spending twelve weeks at #1 (the first in Carlos' career) starting in October of 1999. The song was massive on the older radio formats, topping Billboard's Adult Top-40 chart for a record-breaking twenty-five weeks, and staying on the list for 72 weeks, while just missing the top-ten on the stodgy Adult Contemporary format chart. At rock radio, "Smooth" got to #10 on the Mainstream Rock chart and #24 on the Alternative Rock list. Internationally, the single was a big hit, topping the Canadian singles chart, and reaching the top ten in Greece (#2), the UK (#3), Ireland (#3), Australia (#4), Portugal (#5), Austria (#9), It also went to #15 in France and #21 in Germany. The Supernatural album, released in June of that year, went on to become the band's third and biggest #1 hit on the Billboard 200, staying there for twelve weeks and going on to sell over eleven million copies. At the Grammy Awards in 2000, Santana dominated the awards, winning nine awards total. "Smooth" took the trophies for Song of the Year, Record Of the Year, and Pop Collaboration with Vocals, while the Supernatural album won for Album of the Year and Best Rock Album. Also from the album "Maria Maria" (a future SOTD) won for best Pop Duo/Group Vocal, "Put Your Lights On" with Everlast got the nod for Best Rock Duo/Group Performance, "El Farol" won for Best Pop Instrumental Performance, and "The Calling" with Eric Clapton took the Best Rock Instrumental prize. Santana's cut with Dave Matthews from the album, "Love Of My Life", was even nominated beside "Smooth" in the Pop Collaboration category. Both Santana and Rob Thomas will be back to the series.

(10/10)

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Here's Santana and Thomas on the Supernatural Live TV broadcast concert in 1999...