What Even Happens to Something Happens?

For the past few weeks I’ve been listening, looking up and writing about modern rock bands that got a lot of airplay on a few stations and disappeared. From the airplay on those few stations I thought these bands were bigger than they were. 

Something Happens got a lot of airplay on the Providence Rhode Island station, WBRU in the early 1990s. The song “Hello hello hello (petrol)” got everyday play in 1990. Despite the parenthetical in the title. Petrol? 

Something Happens were an Irish band that had a big following in Ireland. Their “Hello Hello” got airplay here because it had a loud crashing guitar opening, a pop melody, and they repeat “hello” so often, it stays with you. It was easy to sing along with. 

On that same album, “Stuck Together With Gods Glue,” there was the song, “Parachute.” This is very different. It open with a piano, actually the piano is the main instrument. The bass comes in, vocals, back up vocals, more piano. Imagine “Holland” era Beach Boys. It’s catchy, it’s easy to sing along and bouncy. Perhaps it was a slow down between big songs in shows. It got college radio play and I remembered it thirty years later. 

They followed that with “Daisy Head.” This song is slow and dreamy and has an odd title. I looked up the lyrics (thank you lyric.com). This is a sad song. He is standing over someone’s grave, possibly a suicide. He asks what about all your dreams, all your thoughts, all your times? Now you’re covered in daisies and dirt. It’s sad and angry and just emotional. 

Wow. It’s heavy, too heavy for a typical pop song. 

They should use it in movies or a tv show like an emotional death scene.

Then we never heard another song from this band. Something Happens stayed popular in Ireland, but broke up in the mid90s. 

That happens to bands. No sad reason we don’t hear from them, just they weren’t for American audiences and broke up. I still like the songs.