Songoftheday 6/24/24 - She got out of town on a railway, New York bound, took all except my name Another alien on Broadway

 

 

"Bright Lights" - Matchbox Twenty

from the album More Than You Think You Are (2002)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #23 (five weeks)

Weeks in the Top-40: 11

 

Today's song comes from the pop/rock band Matchbox Twenty, whose third album More Than You Think You Are had already spun off two top-40 hits on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 chart with "Disease" and "Unwell", with the latter reaching the top five in the summer of 2002. The third single from the record is "Bright Lights", written by lead singer Rob Thomas and produced by Matt Serletic. In the song Rob sings to a woman who is leaving for the big city to pursue fame, saying if it doesn't work out she can return home (and to him presumably). But it seems he is the one needing her more, as the unsureness pervades throughout his words. The production starts out sweet and organically, and even when everything kicks in you can actually discern the different instruments and it feels like an actual band recording than a pop production. Of course, it had to be sold on MTV, so a live concert version was offered as the music video...

"Bright Lights" became the third top-40 hit from the album in November of 2003. On the radio, the song peaked at #15 on Billboard's Mainstream Top-40 chart, while spending eight weeks at #2 on the older-skewing Adult Top-40 format. Internationally, the single reached the top-40 in Australia at #26.

A fourth single from the record, "Downfall", rose to #27 on the Adult Top-40 radio chart. Meanwhile Down Under, the song "All I Need" was offered as the follow-up, where it got to #32 in Australia. 

After this album, the band took a break, with Thomas having a fruitful solo side career. But the band (minus one member) will be back to the series.

(7/10)

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Here's the studio version of the song...

and lastly, from their VH1 Storytellers live gig at the Hard Rock...

Up tomorrow: A collaboration between two eras of pop queens results in the kiss heard around the world.