The Untold Truth Of Harvey Danger

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ltR1mQFM2w The Untold Truth Of Harvey Danger Grunge 2.42M subscribers Subscribe 354 Share Download Thanks Clip 13,243 views Aug 8, 2022 #Rock #Musician #HarveyDanger A chart-topping hit, a sophomore slump, and the maw of obscurity — this band has seen them all. If you loved “Flagpole Sitta” but have no idea what happened to Harvey Danger after that, let’s find out the truth together. #HarveyDanger #Musician #Rock The big hit — "Flagpole Sitta" | 0:00 Creating a monster | 1:21 An origin story | 2:28 The debut album | 3:44 A sophomore slump | 4:28 The Christmas EP | 5:21 "Little By Little…" | 6:01 The farewell tour | 7:19 "The Show Must Not Go On" | 8:27 The band’s legacy | 9:13 "Make Good Choices" | 10:09 Read full article: https://www.grunge.com/598227/the-unt... Chapters View all Transcript Follow along using the transcript. Show transcript Transcript The big hit — "Flagpole Sitta" 0:00 An irritatingly popular hit, a sophomore slump, 0:03 and near total obscurity — this band has seen them all. If you loved "Flagpole Sitta" but 0:09 have no idea what happened to Harvey Danger after that, let’s find out the truth together. 0:14 "Flagpole Sitta" is an ironic, hook-laden single that absolutely blew up in 1998. 0:19 It played almost nonstop on late-90s rock radio. While the song itself is 0:25 a skeptical take on the interplay between 90’s mainstream and alternative cultures, 0:29 the hit has been cemented as one of the best songs of the decade. 0:33 "Please welcome Harvey Danger." 0:36 Singer, keyboardist, and co-songwriter Sean Nelson has been compared to The Smiths' Morissey, 0:41 because of his tendency to write sardonic lyrics with complex double meanings. "Flagpole Sitta," 0:47 could sound like typical 90s alt rock on first listen, but Todd noted that the 0:51 lyrics are "jokes," almost parodying the genre and mocking the day’s alternative music scene. 0:57 In 2006, Sean Nelson described the hit song as being: 1:00 "conscious of the fact that it is a piece of garbage in the 1:03 same way that everything in pop culture is a piece of garbage." 1:06 Drummer Evan Sult described the song to The A.V. Club as being acutely aware of the 1:12 irony that counter culture musicians were being turned into products by the mainstream culture, 1:17 and that the members of the culture were actively taking part in this process. Creating a monster 1:21 A classic of the era, "Flagpole Sitta" has a habit of showing up in unexpected places, from being the 1:27 theme song for beloved British comedy "Peep Show" to infamously playing in the background 1:32 of a TMZ clip of Edward Snowden in Russia. NPR noted that the song has also been frequently 1:38 included on compilations of jock jams, despite its complex and intellectually challenging lyrics. 1:44 As Nelson mentioned in an interview with Alternative Press, the song was on the radio 1:49 so often that people felt "completely bombarded by it." Members of the band frequently appeared 1:54 embarrassed by the attention they got. Harvey Danger's first album went gold, 1:58 but Nelson told AP that the physical gold record stayed wrapped up in home storage for years. 2:04 When the Globecat blog asked if he felt haunted by the success of the song, Nelson quipped: 2:10 "Once every fortnight or so, someone [...] sings part of it to me, or tells me how much 2:14 they love it, or tells me how much they hate it, or asks me if it made me rich, 2:18 or assumes it's the reason I'm such a success [or failure] in the music business. [...] I 2:24 don't necessarily run screaming from a room when it comes on. I do walk though." An origin story 2:28 Before the fame, the band started as a joke. Jeff Lin and Aaron Huffman became 2:33 fascinated by the burgeoning music scene in Seattle. According to Sean Nelson in 2:38 an interview with Album Divers, the two had never played guitar or bass before, 2:42 eventually learning the instruments as they wrote and recorded. 2:45 After about a year, they recruited Evan Sult to play the drums (which he learned how to do for 2:50 the band). Sult was friends with Nelson, who had always wanted to be a lead singer. Eventually, 2:55 the four became roommates, all living in the same house and playing together. 2:59 The group recorded an album in only a few days with the assistance of 3:03 producer John Goodmanson. The record was released on an indie label, but only had 3:08 marginal success after 6 months. The band briefly considered breaking up. However, 3:13 the coincidental popularity of "Flagpole Sitta" gave the band a new lease on life. 3:17 According to AV Club, Nelson was working across the street from KNDD, a local Seattle 3:23 rock station. Nelson met one of their DJs, Marco Collins, and gave him a copy of their first album, 3:29 "Where Have All the Merrymakers Gone?" Collins played "Flagpole Sitta" on the air and the song 3:34 quickly caught on. Soon after that, it could be heard on radio stations around the country. 3:39 "I think you’ve made one leap of success just even getting out on the road, 3:42 playing your music for people, and now it seems like it’ll go to another level." The debut album 3:45 The album that Nelson gave Marco Collins was one of only a thousand 3:49 copies that the band had made at the time. The covers were screen-printed 3:53 on cardboard, and the whole run was self-financed for about $3,000. 3:57 As noted by John B. Moore for Blurt, the other songs on the album don't have much in common 4:02 with "Flagpole Sitta," at least at first blush. Of the nine other songs on the album, the band wanted 4:07 their follow-up single to be the record’s opener, "Carlotta Valdez". The lyrics of that song are a 4:13 retelling of the plot of Alfred Hitchcock's film "Vertigo," and the sound is significantly more 4:18 punk rock than "Flagpole Sitta". Their new label, however, selected "Private 4:22 Helicopter," a quasi-love song about still having feelings for an ex. The song failed to chart. A sophomore slump 4:28 "We still have much more to talk about with the guys from Harvey Danger; 4:30 a new record is being recorded as we speak." 4:32 Harvey Danger released their second album, "King James Version," in 2001. Like the 4:37 preceding album, the lyrics are full of clever wordplay and literary references, 4:42 set to earworm tunes with punk-rock rhythms, but the band's sound was 4:46 also progressing and expanding. The album includes the stripped-down fan favorite 4:51 "Pike Street/Park Slope" and slow-burning album closer, "The Same As Being In Love." 4:55 As noted by Alex Young of Consequence, record label dysfunction hurt the album's 5:00 chances at widespread success. The band was all set to tour with The Pretenders, 5:04 but without the much-needed assistance of their label, the tour unfortunately fell 5:09 through. Though the album was well reviewed, it went largely unnoticed by mainstream audiences. 5:14 Sean Nelson stated that it was almost as if the album didn’t 5:17 exist. The band went on hiatus, but in Nelson’s mind they were finished. The Christmas EP 5:21 In the stretch of time between "King James Version" and the band's next album, 5:26 Sean Nelson continued working in the music industry, writing album reviews 5:30 for The Stranger. A coworker wrote that Nelson could often be heard singing inside his office. 5:35 In December 2004, the band released a new EP containing five songs. Two were 5:40 previously unreleased recordings of old songs, while one was a demo of a new song. Two were 5:46 fully-realized new songs: the biblical reference-filled "Plague of Locusts" and 5:51 a Christmas song called "Sometimes You Have to Work on Christmas (Sometimes)." 5:55 Though enjoyed by hardcore fans, the EP did little to revive Harvey Danger’s commercial success. Little By Little… 6:01 The band's third album, 2005’s "Little By Little...," arrived after a long hiatus 6:06 that none of the band expected to end. However, Nelson told Album Divers that, 6:11 during the hiatus, he felt the band's career had been left unresolved. As such, 6:16 he and Lin began meeting and talking about music again. This time, with Lin on the piano, 6:20 they developed some new songs with Huffman's help, who came in a bit later in the process. 6:25 Sult had moved on, so they brought in drummer Michael Welke, among others. 6:29 The album has a different sound when compared to their earlier work. One reason for this is 6:34 that the songs were not quite group efforts like on previous records, 6:37 but were instead chiefly written by Nelson and Lin. 6:40 The opening track, "Wine, Women and Song," deals with questions that Nelson was mulling over, 6:45 like feeling old at thirty-two. The fourth track, 6:48 "Little Round Mirrors," is one of the most beloved Harvey Danger songs, and Nelson 6:53 referred to it in the Album Divers interview as being "as close to perfect as we ever got." 6:58 The promotional side of things was different this time, as well. Huffman was suffering 7:02 from cystic fibrosis, and wasn't up for the grueling tour schedule that was required by 7:07 labels at that time. Lin determined that they should put "Little by Little" on the 7:11 band's website for free — something that was very rarely done in 2005. They agreed that, 7:16 quote, "people hearing it was more important than people buying it." The farewell tour 7:19 In 2009, Harvey Danger performed one final farewell tour for their fans. During the tour, 7:25 the band sold an album called "Dead Sea Scrolls." Though initially only 7:30 available at the live shows on Harvey Danger's farewell tour, 7:33 the band's website would eventually host the MP3s of the album for free. 7:37 The album contains original songs like "Cold Snap" and "The Ballad of 7:42 the Tragic Hero (Pity and Fear)," but, as referenced by Todd in the Shadows, 7:46 the most popular song on the album may be the English Beat cover "Save it for Later." 7:52 "You guys have a little hit on your hands — a little English Beat song." 7:55 "Yes, we wrote that English Beat song." 7:58 “Yeah” 7:58 According to Entropy, this cover song was a decent-sized hit for the band. It 8:03 isn't the only cover song on the album, however, 8:05 as "Dead Sea Scrolls" also includes a take on Hall & Oates' "Maneater." 8:09 In an interview with Treble, Sean Nelson expressed his frustration 8:13 that the band’s story was characterized by suddenly appearing in the mainstream, 8:17 only to vanish just as quickly. As he put it: 8:20 "Harvey Danger [...] happened and then was just over. I was like, 8:24 'Wait — I didn't ask for it, but I don't even get it anymore?'" The Show Must Not Go On 8:27 Harvey Danger's final song opens with the line: 8:30 "You can bash your head against the wall for years/The wall is not impressed/Or 8:34 you can take a giant step away only to discover/The wound's already dressed." 8:38 The song is appropriately titled "The Show Must Not Go On." 8:42 Producer John Goodmanson had returned for the sessions, 8:45 but lightning couldn’t be recaptured. The band's website, yet again, 8:49 hosted the MP3 of this track for their fans to enjoy for free. Harvey Danger's site referred 8:54 to the song as a "posthumous final single," as the band had already stopped performing. 8:59 In 2011, NPR's Stephen Thompson called "The Show Must Not Go On," "a perfect 9:04 breakup anthem" for the band, but also noted that the song shows that there is 9:09 "wisdom in knowing when to pack it in and pursue happiness in other ways." The band’s legacy 9:13 The band is often labeled a "one hit wonder" due to the mainstream success of 9:17 "Flagpole Sitta." However, Harvey Danger has always had two kinds of fans: those who only 9:22 know "Flagpole Sitta" and the "devoted cult following" that adores their entire catalog. 9:27 While the forums once hosted on the band's website are no more, the band's biggest fans 9:32 have relocated to private groups on social media, where they continue to follow the careers of 9:36 the band members, often trading unreleased demos and recordings of live performances. 9:40 As for those band members, they're staying busy. Evan Sult became the drummer for the 9:45 band Sleepy Kitty Music. According to an interview with International Examiner, 9:48 where Jeff Lin was once an editor, Lin has since co-founded a startup. 9:52 Sean Nelson went on to teach in the University of Washington 9:55 songwriting program, make appearances for organizations like the Hugo House, 9:59 and write extensively about music. His published works include a 2004 book on 10:04 Joni Mitchell's "Court and Spark." He has also continued to release new music on his own. Make Good Choices 10:09 In 2013, Sean Nelson released a solo album 10:13 called "Make Good Choices," which was described by Really Records as, 10:16 "smart, funny, sad, and true pop-rock songs that peer into the dark corners of 10:22 the culture, the psyche, and the singer himself." 10:24 The album features guest appearances from 10:27 Chris Walla of Death Cab for Cutie and Peter Buck of R.E.M. 10:30 As noted by NPR, the album's title track acts as a kind of sequel to 10:35 "The Show Must Not Go On," as the lyrics mull over a relationship that is over. 10:39 Nelson, who never seemed particularly comfortable with the massive attention 10:43 that came from "Flagpole Sitta," has moved on to making albums for his own, 10:47 niche audience — and found himself enjoying it. He told Treble: 10:50 "The little taste I had of being quite popular for a very brief moment with one song – it sucks. 10:56 I can't really complain about it, because there are good things that have come from 11:00 it. But generally speaking, if you want to say anything complex, it's the wrong racket. The 11:05 mass audience, the wide readership, is the wrong venue for complicated ideas." $775 S Grunge 2.42M subscribers Videos About Facebook Instagram 3:50 This Is How Much Trump's Campaign Made From His MAGA Hats by Grunge 11:19 The Untold Truth Of Avenged Sevenfold by Grunge 34 Comments rongmaw lin Add a comment... Pinned by Grunge @GrungeHQ 2 years ago What are your thoughts on Harvey Danger? 5 Reply 3 replies @cartmanrlsusall 1 year ago Underrated and true artists. The songs were deep and meaningful with a very well educated punk undertone 6 Reply @ymctjmt 2 years ago Save It For Later is a masterpiece. Flagpole sitta is a rallying cry. This band matters 🤘🏼 13 Reply @chris_troiano 2 years ago “They’re staying busy,” except for the guy who died in 2016… I remember the original Grunge article, which was clearly the work of a fan who’d done extensive research and had a lot of starting knowledge. It’s refreshing, a lot of videos on Harvey Danger don’t show that depth. I can tell some of that was sacrificed in editing this for a short video. This was an ambitious, commendable task, to cover so much so quickly. 13 Reply @joseftrujillo2732 2 years ago Problems and Bigger Ones...great song. 7 Reply 2 replies @butterbagboy 1 year ago Great catalog, I wish I could find some rarities 3 Reply @robmoore423 1 year ago Little by Little is an absolute masterpiece. It's my favorite album to this day. 1 Reply @firstname__lastname 2 years ago (edited) Ahhh!! My dudes! I'm from Seattle so I was so stoked when they blew up!! Also that picture with them and David Bazan of Pedro The Lion fame!! 3 Reply @menwithven8114 2 years ago I can't recommend peep show enough! I'm American and hate sit coms and don't watch any British shows but I found peep show a few years back on HULU and it's hilarious. One of the best shows I've ever watched 6 Reply @albertdehn8381 2 years ago Thanks for sharing 👍😀 1 Reply @vinniep9562 6 months ago Sort of rediscovering Harvey Danger. I have the first album and absolute love so many things about it. Ofc, Flagpole was the song that got me in. It was hard to follow the band from Australia though, as apart from Flapole, we never really got any news of them, and i was doing other things at the time, which in respect to HD and my relationship to their music was a pity, (for me). However, I've got a lot more Harvey to get through, and I'm looking forward to it, as most of it will be new to me. Reply @UnwrittenSpade 3 months ago Band is AMAZING! that album and you know the one opens with Carlotta valdez which is amazing and private helicopter is maybe my alltime fav song! Reply @nivanea592 6 months ago Fun Song🎶✨🎈🥂🎵🐠 Reply @briandoyle3507 2 years ago Just curious.Are the original members together and still talking to each other? 2 Reply @skylineXpert 2 years ago Most probably only know them for flagpole sitta 3 Reply @genericallyaccepted 3 months ago Cold Snap was on Little by Little Reply @cartmanrlsusall 1 year ago Private helicopter is on my highway driving list it will perk you up and help make the long miles pass a little faster 2 Reply @Mth-r3n 6 months ago (edited) As my father loves to tell me: “You brought that shit on yourself”. - wish they would’ve just stuck to telling it through lyrics and backed up what they produced without the off putting irony of ease. Those lyrics didn’t resonate as “a joke” to me. I just discovered them today and played it until I memorized it. Hit home. Wish I didn’t look this video up. Reply 1 reply @brucebengtson847 4 months ago I thought (for a while) it was a Blink 182 song. The versions seem so similar I'm still confused. Reply @Brokenkingpins 8 months ago I love Sleepy Kitty. Reply @Mth-r3n 6 months ago They tried to be too ironic, a little too ironic. I really do think. Reply @mr.jamster8414 2 years ago helo 2 Reply @HeathSuttles-yc6nm 1 year ago They ripped off green day Reply 1 reply @thatguy566 2 years ago try all you like but just a one hit wonder. not even a good hit really Reply 2 replies @Anomaly-uz9pr 1 month ago My favorite song by Harvey danger is called pity and fear Reply