Collective Soul, You've Heard Them, You Just Don't Know It.

I love talking music.  One of my favorite bands is Collective Soul.  Inevitably after I bring them up in the conversation, the other person says, "Who?"  Then I say, "You know their songs, you just don't realize it."  Want proof? 

 

Now tell me you haven't heard that song before?  It was a huge hit in 1994. 

Now before you jump the gun, they weren't one hit wonders.  Try this on for size:

That one was played during the credits of Varsity Blues.  Odds are you have heard both of those songs, but just in case, here are two more examples: here and here. 

This is a great band, which for some reason is well-known, but not well-known.  Does that even make sense?  They've been around since 1993, and are still kickin' today, yet only a select few people would recognize them by name-only.  It's crazy, but maybe they like it that way? 

I saw them live in the summer of '09 and they didn't disappoint.  There was an equipment malfunction towards the end, so instead of leaving the people pissed off, lead singer Ed Roland just played "Shine" solo, acoustic, and everyone went home happy. 

Now I will be the first to tell you that they haven't had any monster singles, or albums in the last ten years, but that doesn't detract from their quality of music.  Their '09 release entitled "Rabbit," in my opinion, is their second best album to date, behind their masterpiece "Collective Soul" released in 1995. 

I encourage anyone and everyone to look into this band.  You are more than likely to find even more songs that you already knew and some new ones too.  My favorite Collective Soul song is "Where the River Flows," which for my money is the greatest guitar riff of all-time.  Check it out. The good part starts at 24 seconds.