SONG OF THE DAY
“Criminal” by Fiona Apple (Tidal, Epic Records, 1996). Written by Fiona Apple.
INTERESTING FACTS (a la wikipedia)
– “Criminal” is a 1997 piano rock song by Fiona Apple.
– Apple described the song as a description of “feeling bad for getting something so easily by using your sexuality.”
– It was released as the third single from the album Tidal, and is Apple’s biggest hit, peaking at #21 on the Billboard Hot 100, as well as #4 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart.
– The song won the Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance at the 40th Grammy Awards and was nominated for Best Rock Song.
– The song was listed at #71 on Blender magazine’s 2005 list of “The 500 Greatest Songs Since You Were Born”.
– The song’s music video was directed by Mark Romanek and cinematographed by Harris Savides. The video features Apple sulking in various states of undress, and The New Yorker described her as “looking like an underfed Calvin Klein model.” It explores themes of voyeurism and adolescence.
– In 1998, the video won an MTV Video Music Award for Best Cinematography.
– Tidal is the first album by American singer-songwriter Fiona Apple.
– It peaked at #15 on the U.S. Billboard 200 and up to October 2005 had sold 2.7 million copies in the U.S. according to Nielsen SoundScan.
– It was certified gold by the RIAA in December 1996, platinum in July 1997, two times platinum the following October and three times platinum in April 1999.
– Tidal produced six singles: “Shadowboxer”, “Slow Like Honey”, “Sleep to Dream”, “The First Taste”, “Criminal” and “Never Is a Promise”.
– “Criminal” was named the single of 1997 in a poll of Rolling Stone readers.
– In 2008, Entertainment Weekly named Tidal the 20th Best Album of the last 25 years (1983–2008). In 2010, Rolling Stone placed it among the greatest albums of the 1990s, at #83.
– On the album, Jon Brion plays guitar, piano, harp, marimba, vibraphone, chamberlin, dulcitone, optigan, and tack piano.