In New York singer/guitarist Brad Roberts from the band Crash Test Dummies tells the story behind 'Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm'. A short documentary by Top 2000 a gogo from 2021 (Dutch Public Television).
I just reminded a friend of this song last week - he's got a wonderful bass voice and struggles to find songs. I said....remember the Crash Test Dummies...look them up.
When I first moved to New York City I went to a yoga class which started with a Om satsang - I said to myself he sounds like the lead singer of crash test dummies , and I was right ! It was him :) He’s a super nice yogi
@@tregibbs that in itself as apotheosis to this song was indeed maybe even better than the mmm-mm part.. nevertheless it wouldn't be as cool when the estranged mm-mm part would've been left out however.. Wonderful crafted song, thematically in its time, lyrically, as well as by chord structure.
That’s exactly how I felt! I would sometimes close my eyes with my palms up and just look up and feel that part of the music. What a great ending to a great song.
I'm just seeing this interview for the first time. I think the song is brilliant, and the story sung with that vocal range is refreshing to hear. I just like it still to this day. You created a classic! Thank you!
I'd be honored if some 90s fans would take a quick listen to my acoustic low-fi piano & vocal YT performances of "Mmm Mmm Mmm" by the CRASH TEST DUMMIES and "1979" by the SMASHING PUMPKINS in tribute to 2 great standards of the era. Live acoustic with no digital editing. Peace out & stay safe in the '020s.
I was tired of screaming high vocals that are out of the natural male range just shortly after Led Zeppelin became popular. I loved this song immediately partially because of the pitch range.
That entire "God Shuffled His Feet" album is brilliant, not only lyrically, but musically as well. And the production is wonderful. Hands down my favorite album from the '90s. Sorry, "OK Computer" ... you're No. 2.
Actually a lot of 90s stuff really was meh. Except Kid A, which I liked better than OK Computer. But I always associated this band with the 80's for some reason. This is their second album isn't it? But yeah, I can't think of any music from the 90's that I listen to now. I guess those were the Spice GIrls years?
The album was one of my favorites. Lyrically and musically very amazingly done. Not many people listened to it and I felt it was one of my many special little gems. I'm glad I am not the only one.
@@mikearchibald744 Hmm I don’t know. A lot of my favourite albums come from the 90s - stuff by Wilco, Grandaddy, No Doubt, Faith No More, Weezer, Neutral Milk Hotel, blink 182, Cardigans, Third Eye Blind… I think there was a lot of great stuff in the 90s
Always thought the chorus was brilliant. Took it to another level, suggesting it was all beyond words and evoking a sense of the profound. Very beautiful song.
I'd be honored if some 90s fans would take a quick listen to my acoustic low-fi piano & vocal YT performances of "Mmm Mmm Mmm" by the CRASH TEST DUMMIES and "1979" by the SMASHING PUMPKINS in tribute to 2 great standards of the era. Live acoustic with no digital editing. Peace out & stay safe in the '020s.
I can’t tell you how this song impacted my life during my time as a kid who was an outsider. I was that kid in Catholic school whose mother was divorced, one of maybe a handful out of an entire school. It made me happy to hear it because I knew I wasn’t alone. Plus, it’s just a great song as was the whole album.
@ Dpunk 80 I echo your sentiments. I too went to a Catholic School and when people heard that my parents were getting a divorce, all of a sudden they stopped talking to me or didn’t invite me to functions where once I was invited. It felt as if I were a leper. As a kid I didn’t s comprehend the reasons why…..and I guess in some aspects now as a adult I still don’t but I guess everyone has their reasons and it’s none of my business.
@@user-wl6bw3jl4n My friend's parents divorced in the 1960s, when it was rare, and he got mocked at school. Then...his friend who made fun of him's parents also divorced. His friend stopped making fun of him.
I'll never forget the first time I heard this song. I was 13 and it came on the radio as I lay in bed resisting getting up to go to school. I was transfixed by the sounds and the voice. It was so different and fresh and catchy and deep and dark and funny all at the same time. I couldn't wait to hear it again and getting out of bed to go to school wasn't an issue when it was over.
Countless times over the past 30 years I've gotten this song stuck in my head. Of course, here we are again lol. Awesome to hear such a genuine explanation of the lyrics. Many thanks.
The Crash Test Dummies were such a formative band in the days of my youth. I was born in 1979. I remember so well when i first heard supermans song off their first album and i was hooked...the whole cd was just amazing...Then i remember how much i loved their second album as well. Such a great band. And even to this day, their first two albums are my favorite cds of all time. I still listen to them regularly.
Mmmm will live forever as one of the most brilliant, simple and pacifying "lyrics" to accompany what a song like this meant. The real children needed this hum.
Your Top 2000 series is seriously one of the greatest things that’s ever happened to RU-vid. Your love of the music is palpable in every interview you do. And the musical breadth is wonderful too!
I'm 70 years old and my music likes are various from Chopin to novelty songs,and I discovered this group from my sons albums,and fell in love with this man's unique voice.i went out and got their whole repertoire of albums.
I remember my girlfriend doing a crossword puzzle (which totally didn't interest me) mumbling that she probably fucked up the crossword because she already had an impossible number of M's in a row. I asked her what the clue to that part of the puzzle was and she said "A song by the Crash Test Dummies?" First and only time I was ever able to help her with her crossword fetish.
“Growing up, I always thought… that I just couldn’t sing because I couldn’t sing in [other singers’] range… It turns out I was just trying to sing to people who just had a different range to me.” This comment really stood out to me, especially as the song Brad discusses is about feeling like an outsider. I love that he realized he could sing when he stopped trying to be like everyone else. ❤
One of my favorite albums of all time. I still listen to it all the time Such deep lyrics. Great vocal blends. Great instrumentals. Completely unique sound. Thank you Brad. ❤
Great interview. I could have listened to Roberts talking for hours. Crash Test Dummies have given me so much happiness through their wonderful music. Every time I have moved (11 so far), the first album I put on the stereo to test it after having set it up, is "God Shuffled His Feet".
Afternoons and Coffee Spoons was also quite a big hit here in the UK. If my memory serves me well, they also charted with a cover of XTC's The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead.
@@raithrover1976 yes that cover was from the film Dumb and Dumber, and also a homage to one of their influences. They contributed a track to an XTC tribute album.
So hard to believe that this is nearly 30yrs old, as I remember hearing this for the first time like it was last week. So entirely different to everything else on the radio at the time; I would listen in part with incredulity and part curious humour. Love the story, love the song, love this channel... :o)
@@mikearchibald744 It was a substantial hit in the US, tons of play on alternative radio stations. The video was in pretty solid rotation on MTV as well, at least for a while.
@@mikearchibald744 It was big in Australia. I remember it hanging round the charts for many weeks and the words and melody never left me. Also, the Weird Al version helped cement it in there as well. Weird seeing this guy so much older, as, like the OP said, feels like last week it came out.
I made a music video with my buddy at Hampton Beach, NH when this first came out. He showed me it about 10 years later when I was not in a good place in life(like pills, cocaine, alcohol, not good), and it really struck me in that moment how much I missed the innocence of life and how corrupted my souls became.
I saw them live a couple of nights ago. Fantastic gig, the whole audience were singing along. There was a sense of great affection for the them. Ellen was fantastic, she pulls the funniest faces on stage, clearly loving every moment.
The fact that he was more transparent about the song being in part about his own life was insightful and helps to make somewhat of a connection between the overall mood of the music and the lyrics. To MY ears, the words and the music seem mismatched. Like the words did not fit with the music which is beautifully bittersweet, sentimental and melancholic. Definitely one of my favorite songs from the 90s.
The words to this song always intrigued me back then. It seemed they were actual accounts of real events, turns out, they were mostly true events. This song was one of the time that stood out, the chord structure always moved me and the subtle synth work and the bvs of Ellen (I think that's her name, the keyboard player) was always a great contrast to Brad's deep tone.
I've red somewhere he almost died after a car accident and now seeing this interview ,I saw a beautiful person and soul , thank you for your music ,all the best to this guy
Thank you. I loved hearing this song come on the radio when I was in High School!! Great artistic ability and talent. Thank you and the band for sharing your talents with all of us!!
As I got older, the more I heard this on stations like Absolute 90's here in the UK the more it occurred to me the Mmmm Mmmm Mmmm was the singer just reflecting on the story & the events.
A great song, but what made it even greater is that it was accompanied by one of my most favorite videos of all time. I watched MTV every day back then and they played this song a lot luckily.
I saw CTD at an out door show , at Western Kentucky University , just before this song hit big . What a great band to see LIVE . They are pretty good with a frisbee too.
Melodically I think this song is just beautiful. The chord structure is brilliant. When I talk to my fellow musicians...we discuss this tune and I've come to the conclusion that even though they are incredibly talented, they just can"t seem to wrap their heads around the arrangement. I...on the other hand really embraced this tune and listen to it often...two thumbs way the hell up.
When you say "they can't seem to wrap their heads around the arrangement" are you saying that they are in complete awe of it, or that they're not that fond of it, as in it doesn't hit them in the same way it does you?
The CTDs are criminally underrated appreciated. Their lyrics are phenomenal, the musical composure is beautifully amazing, and their willingness to experiment with genre and stylings is unlike any other band I know of. They’re amazing live, too, btw
I dunno about under appreciated. For a band with a baritone singer, and weird introspective lyrics, they got their time at the top of the top. In 1994 they were the biggest band on the planet. They spent a year being on every big show just about every week. Leno, Letterman, Conan, SNL..... I'm surprised a band that eclectic managed to get noticed at all. But I completely agree....absolutely one of the best bands out there hitting on all cylinders....
June 19th, 2024 ... all of a sudden I recalled this one of a kind song that I do indeed love and been and will always be on my favourites list ... timeless indeed. ♥🌞♥🌞♥
Saw them a couple years back at tupelo in New Hampshire,been collecting record albums for 58 years and been to so many concerts thru the years, but it was one of the best concerts I've ever went to,and my wife and I went to the 50th anniversary of Woodstock,great time and the crash test dummies are great
One of my favorite songs from back in the day! And to hear that his own fears about being teased or bullied played a part is kind of amazing. Anyone feeling like an outsider can relate. And I think most kids felt like that at some point in school back in the day when bullying was so bad! Just like the movie The Breakfast Club, I think this was a product of that time and what kids were going through at school. Not that it still doesn't happen now. It always will, because unfortunately kids can be mean, and there will always be "those" kids! Well, thank you for pouring your heart into this song and creating a classic for us!
Much like when I introduced 80s movies to my son when he was old enough, I introduced this album to him. He loves it. His favorite song off the album is " afternoons and coffeespoons".
If I ever had a movie made about my life (so far) Afternoons & Coffeespoons would have to be on the soundtrack.. That line is a direct reference to a TS Eliot poem which is properly credited..
To this day, God Shuffled His Feet is still one of my favorite albums. But I already wrote in my last will that “At My Funeral” will be played during my funeral.
I still have their CD which I won off of a radio competition in Perth W.A. They were very very different to what I was (& still) listen to but they're pretty cool. Nice bloke.
This is one of my favorite 90s songs, I've love it since the first time I heard it. I could never really put my finger on it, just always felt like I could relate to it somehow. But now I get it, it's about outsiders.
I laughed my ass off in the middle of the street walking my dog when he said he couldn't come up with words to the chorus 😂😂😂 love this song and recently learnt how to play it (kinda) on guitar
This is a divine song. Everything about this music is perfect. People in Russia love this song very much. This is a sign of quality. Btw, russian girls from the 90s were in love with Brad and his talent.
