A Polite Response to Our Angriest 2024 Reader E-Mail

We acquired an e-mail this 12 months that is stayed in my head for a number of months now, and I am hoping some good may come from sharing it and posting a public response.

As you may see, the inclusion of Blind Melon and their 1993 hit “No Rain” on our checklist of 40 Greatest One-Hit Wonders didn’t sit properly with one explicit reader.

You may learn their response for your self, unedited besides to take away the sender’s identify:

Pricey, Mr. Final Traditional Rock
Are you on medicine? Like a really one-hit good sort the place you overlook that music exists? You known as BLIND MELON a one hit surprise, so I hope you will have hangnails for the remainder of your life. You should be crucified for this and survive, with no meals for 2 weeks on the cross; both that or the Chinese language water drop methodology are the one applicable types of apology for this. BLIND MELON A ONE-HIT WONDER? EXCUSE YOU? DID YOU SNEEZE? DID YOUR FATHER BEAT YOU WITH A CD OF SOUP? You significantly deserve the very best authorized type of torture on the planet for this opinion, straight to North Sentinel Island. I apologize if my former feedback appear a tad outlandish, and for those who did have an abusive dad or mum then it is sensible why you known as Blind Melon a one-hit surprise. You need to’ve received mind injury. That’s the solely affordable resolution to this capital error. I apologize for my former statements and they’ll even be retracted for those who change this text and take Blind Melon off of it, in any other case, you will need to stay the remainder of your life because the precise IDIOT who known as Blind Melon a one-hit-wonder.
My deepest condolences for the lack of your mind,
(NAME REDACTED)
(P.S., please lick the underside of the dirtiest boot for even having this opinion.)

First, the “one hit surprise” info: Between 1992 and 1996 Blind Melon launched 9 singles, and “No Rain” was the one one to achieve the U.S. Billboard charts, peaking at No. 20. Their profession was clearly and tragically lower quick by the 1995 dying of singer Shannon Hoon. (The surviving members have reunited twice within the final twenty years, with none additional charting singles.)

Extra importantly, precisely what’s fallacious with being a one-hit surprise? There are hundreds of thousands of people that know (and we would presume principally love) “No Rain,” and who know precisely who you are speaking about whenever you say “the bee lady.” (In the event you someway do not, watch the video beneath.) That is an enormous cultural accomplishment, and one which numerous artists attempt to fail to copy each single day.

You may additionally discover that nowhere in our checklist does it say, “Blind Melon sucked and did not need to have any extra hits” or “They solely had one hit as a result of it was their solely good music.” And even when we did say that – which we would not – who cares? It is only one opinion; why get so mad about what someone else thinks? (And once more, we did not supply our opinion on Blind Melon’s music at any level. My major reminiscence of them outdoors of “No Rain” is as a part of an incredible triple invoice that was someway solely made higher by a raging rainstorm, at Jones Seaside in 1993.)

That is similar sort of wasted vitality as worrying about which artists are or aren’t within the Rock and Roll Corridor of Fame. You already know which music you like and which songs made your life higher and no person’s else’s tackle them ought to matter a lot that you simply name on them to be crucified or tortured, even in jest. Your file assortment and your ticket stubs are your individual private Corridor of Fame, and the one one that actually issues. It is nice that you simply love Blind Melon sufficient to defend them this passionately, however jeez buddy, take the detrimental a part of it down a notch. What say we begin 2025 contemporary?