SONG OF THE DAY
“Sex & Candy” by Marcy Playground (Marcy Playground, EMI Records, 1997). Written by John Wozniak.
INTERESTING FACTS (a la wikipedia)
– “Sex and Candy” was the band’s breakthrough single.
– “Sex and Candy” spent a then-record 15 weeks at #1 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart (beating Oasis’ 10-week run at #1 with “Wonderwall in 1995).
– The song was also the band’s only major pop hit, peaking at #8 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
– The song was generally well-received, with AllMusic commenting that “songs like ‘Sex and Candy’ capture the band at their best, turning out hard-edged, melodic pop songs with strong hooks and backbeats.”
– The song was played in the background of Episode 3 of True Blood‘s second season when vampire Jessica first meets Hoyt.
– The song is also played in the background during the high school reunion scene of Zack and Miri Make a Porno.
– It was parodied on the popular television sketch show Saturday Night Live by Jimmy Fallon on Weekend Update featuring lyrics changed to go with a Halloween theme.
– The chorus of the song is also featured in “Weird Al” Yankovic’s “Polka Power!” polka medley.
– A cover of it was also featured on the Strictly Strange Tour 08 compilation by rapper Prozak.
– Marcy Playground is an American alternative rock band consisting of three members: John Wozniak (lead vocals, guitar), Dylan Keefe (bass), and Shlomi Lavie (drums).
– The band is named after the Marcy Open grade school in Minneapolis, which is an alternative school John Wozniak attended. He chose the name because many of his songs were inspired by his childhood.
– Marcy Playground emerged in the late 1990s.
– Influences include David Bowie, Paul Simon, Neil Young, Van Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, Syd Barrett of Pink Floyd, Nirvana and the Beatles.
– After attending the Evergreen State College for two years, Wozniak moved east to New York, in order to work with Multi-Instrumentalist/Producer Jared Kotler who John had known from suburban Philadelphia. Jared believed in John’s songwriting talent and put together money with his cousin Jeff White in order to pay for the duo to record at Sabella Recording Studios, in nearby Roslyn NY.
– After hearing the two records worth of material Jared and John had recorded of John’s songs, Capitol Records became interested in the music. Kurt Rosenwinkel, a mutual friend, introduced bassist Dylan Keefe to John Wozniak and Marcy Playground began performing in NYC.
– The band was signed to Capitol in 1995 and they performed a series of NYC club dates that would be the first incarnation of Marcy Playground as a band.
– Personal problems between John and Jared reached a peak after a year of playing the New York music scene and drummer Dan Rieser was brought in to replace Jared.
– Marcy Playground emerged into the mainstream with the success of the single “Sex and Candy”. The album went platinum and managed to spawn two other singles, “Saint Joe on the School Bus” and “Sherry Fraser”.
– Marcy Playground is quiet and minimalist in tone. Wozniak’s songs run in many different styles: some are modern folk music; many have undertones reminiscent of children’s songs; the blurred sound of psychedelia makes appearances; and then there are the songs with a clear rock sound.
– The band toured in 2009-2010, and has several albums in the past decade, none with such great a success as their debut.