Mazzy Star – Fade Into You

Earlier this week, I mentioned that Teen Idle was going to get compared to Mazzy Star. Now, depending on your age, you might not be aware of who they were (I love ’90s music and I wasn’t aware of them until the late ’00s!), which is why I thought it fitting to feature Fade Into You as this week’s Throwback Thursday entry. A song that is widely considered one of the best tracks of that decade.

This song was a huge hit for the band in 1994, reaching number 3 on Billboard‘s Modern Rock chart (back when that chart meant something) and peaking at #44 on the Hot 100 chart. No other song from the band appeared on that Hot 100 chart and only two other tracks charted on the Modern Rock Top 40 (Halah and Blue Flower), which in part explains why people who were not active music listeners at the time might not know about this band. That and the fact that the band broke up in 1997 and didn’t regroup until 2012.

Mazzy Star consisted of Hope Sandoval, as lead singer and lyricist; and David Roback, as composer and main producer, who also played most of the instruments. Hope has a reputation for being shy, which made her focus on her singing while on stage instead of interacting with the audience. When you have a voice as angelic and beautiful as hers, I don’t see the problem in that. Sure, having a charismatic singer is nice, but we don’t need every single lead singer to be like that. Anyway, I guess that was another reason preventing the band from achieving super stardom.

Unfortunately, David Roback died earlier this year but he and Hope (who’s still active) left behind a legacy of great music that won’t be forgotten. Isn’t that the ultimate goal for any artist?

Watch a live performance of this iconic song here, or find it in the mixtapes below.

Featured on the following mixtapes: