Various rock crested within the 90s, and Semisonic was a part of the wave. Fashioned in Minneapolis, MN in 1995, the band consists of lead vocalist and guitarist Dan Wilson, bassist John Munson, and drummer Jacob Slichter. Semisonic launched its debut album Nice Divide in 1996, however the band’s mainstream breakthrough occurred with the discharge of 1998’s Feeling Surprisingly High-quality.
Recorded of their hometown, the second album contains singles just like the melodic power-pop “Singing In My Sleep,” “Secret Smile” (which appeared in well-liked teen TV sequence Charmed and Dawson’s Creek), and “Never You Mind,” which was featured within the 1999 movie By no means Been Kissed. But the album’s success is attributed to its lead single, “Closing Time.”
“Closing Time” begins as an not easily seen ballad, with Wilson’s modest vocals pouring over a tinkling guitar riff. Quickly, the drums come crashing down on the singalong-ready refrain: “I know who I want to take me home!”
The tune grew out of a much-needed change to the band’s setlists. “We had always ended with a song called ‘If I Run,’ and I really liked it a lot. John and Jake were always impatient with ending the show with the same song. So I set out to write a new closer for the set, and I just thought, ‘Oh, closing time,’” Wilson instructed American Songwriter in 2019. “As a result of all of the bars that I might frequent in Minneapolis, they might yell out ‘closing time.’ There was one bar the place a man at all times would scream actually loud, ‘You don’t need to go residence, however you may’t keep right here,’ and I assume that at all times caught in my thoughts.
If taken at face worth, “Closing Time” is certainly a “last call” anthem, however Wilson meant for a double which means: “It’s just, ‘Okay, you’ve got to go out into the light, make your way home, or wherever you’re going to be.’ Partway into the writing of the song, I realized it was also about being born. My wife and I were expecting our first kid very soon after I wrote that song. I had birth on the brain, I was struck by what a funny pun it was to be bounced from the womb.”
The catchiness and sincerity of “Closing Time” caught mainstream consideration, topping Billboard’s Various Songs chart and incomes a Grammy nomination for Finest Rock Music. The only additionally turned a pop-culture staple, popping up in every single place from The Workplace to The Simpsons. It was even mockingly lined by Justin Timberlake in 2011’s Associates with Advantages when co-star Mila Kunis requested him to sing a Third Eye Blind tune post-coitus.
Hearken to “Closing Time” on Apple Music or Spotify.
Following the success of “Closing Time” and the Platinum-selling Feeling Surprisingly High-quality, Semisonic launched its third album All About Chemistry in 2001 and re-released Feeling Surprisingly High-quality on vinyl to commemorate its twentieth anniversary in 2018. All through the band’s lengthy hiatus, Wilson labored on his solo profession, collaborating with famed producer Rick Rubin for his 2007 debut Free Life. He adopted up with 2014’s Love With out Concern and 2017’s covers album Re-Lined.
Wilson additionally turned a songwriter and scored Grammy wins within the course of. In 2006, he took residence Music of the Yr for the Chicks’ High 5 single “Not Ready to Make Nice.” He additionally received Album of the Yr as one of many contributors of Adele’s 2011 album 21 (he co-wrote the chart-topping “Someone Like You”). And in 2020, Semisonic reunited for the You’re Not Alone EP, marking their first set of recent music in practically 20 years.
Semisonic’s “Closing Time” appeared on 1999’s Now That’s What I Name Music! 2, alongside different 90s classics like New Radicals’ “You Get What You Give” and Fatboy Slim’s “Praise You.” On the lookout for extra tales behind music’s greatest hits? Try the Now! That’s What I Name Music web page.
