Songoftheday 3/7/22 - Stop the looting stop the shooting pick pocking on the corner, see as the rich is getting richer the poorer is getting poorer...

 

 

"Maria Maria" - Santana featuring the Product G&B

from the album Supernatural (1999)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #1 (ten weeks)

Weeks in the Top-40: 24

 

Today's song comes from the veteran Latin rock group Santana, whose massive comeback album Supernatural had spun off the biggest hit of 1999, "Smooth" with Rob Thomas of the rock group Matchbox Twenty.  Another track from the album, "Put Your Lights On" with rapper-turned-alternative-rocker Everlast, reached #8 on Billboard magazine's Mainstream Rock radio chart, "bubbled under" the pop Hot 100 at #118, and won a Grammy for Best Rock Duo/Group Performance. 

 

The third "single" from the album was "Maria Maria", a song featuring the R&B duo the Product G&B (for "Ghetto & Blues"). The Product, as David McRae and Marvin-Moore Hough were first called, were under Fugees leader Wyclef Jean's Refugee Camp umbrella, and in 1998 were featured on a trio of singles. Wyclef had them on his single "Cheated (To All The Girls)", which went to #74 on Billboard's Hot 100 and #53 on their R&B Singles list. That same month DJ Funkmaster Flex included the pair on his "Here We Go", which made the R&B top-40 at #34, while getting to #72 on the Hot 100. And lastly, fellow Fugee Pras Michel featured the duo on "Blue Angels", which climbed to #6 on the British Singles chart. "Maria Maria" was written by bandleader Carlos Santana with producers Wyclef Jean and Jerry Duplessis along with Karl Perazzo and Raul Rekow. The song not only references the musical West Side Story, whose lead character Maria is instantly identified with the name, but also manages to name check Carlos Santana himself in the chorus to his own song (much like everyone in the rap world does right now). Transposing the gritty streets of New York for the gritty streets of Los Angeles, the song vaguely paints the picture of life and romance on the poor side of town, though its with a very broad stroke. But that's OK, since the record was more of a mood that even "Smooth" was, spotlighting Santana's guitar work on both the acoustic and electric axes, which soar above the primal groove of the song...

"Maria Maria" proves to be just as huge as "Smooth" was, spending ten weeks at the top of the pop Hot 100 in Billboard starting in April of 2000. The song also spent three weeks at #1 on Billboard's R&B Singles chart, while crossing over to #12 on their older-skewing Adult Top-40 radio format list. Internationally, the single topped the charts in Canada, France, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, and Hungary, and made the top ten in the Netherlands (#2), Belgium (#2W/#6F), Denmark (#2), Austria (#3), Iceland (#3), Greece (#4), Romania (#4), the UK (#6), Portugal (#6), and Norway (#7). At the Grammy Awards in 2000, "Maria Maria" won the trophy for Best Duo/Group Pop Performance. 

Despite, or perhaps because of the massive success of "Smooth" and "Maria Maria", no other song from Supernatural was able to make a dent on any of the radio charts, save for "Love Of My Life" with Dave Matthews, which managed to spend a couple weeks at #39 on the Adult Top-40 format list. 

The exposure from "Maria Maria" led the Product G&B to be signed to their own deal on Jean's vanity label YClef on Clive Davis' J Records, releasing the single "Cluck Cluck" in 2001. However despite featuring Wyclef on the record which appeared in the movie and on the soundtrack to Dr. Doolittle 2, the single stalled down at #59 on Billboard's R&B chart, missing the pop Hot 100 altogether. A second try, "Dirty Dancin'", even featured Carlos Santana, but even with going to #13 on Billboard's Dance Club Play tally, the song also was ignored by radio. A proposed record, Ghetto & Blues, was shelved and they pretty much disappeared from the American music scene, with a Swiss single "Summer Nights In Brazil" showing up in 2014. However Santana will be back to the series.

(8/10)

(Click below to see the rest of the post)

Here's Santana and the Product G&B in concert behind the album together...

Next up, live at the Hard Rock for VH1...

And lastly, Santana (without the Product) live in Montreux in 2011...

Up tomorrow: The serenade to the skimpiest of swimwear.