Top 10 Blind Melon Songs

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Our Top 10 Blind Melon Songs list presents the best Blind Melon Songs including “No Rain,” “Tones of Home” “Galaxie” and many more. In 1990, out of Los Angeles, California, Blind Melon was a five-mand band featuring Rogers Stevens, Brad Smith, Shannon Hoon, Christopher Thorn, and Glen Graham. Stevens, Smith, and Graham are from Mississippi while Hoon was originally from Indiana, and Thorn from Pennsylvania. The inspiration behind the band’s name came from a character Cheech & Chong made famous, Blind Melon Chitlin’. Shortly after Blind Melon grouped together as a band, they released a demo in 1991 titled The Goodfoot Workshop.

A year later, the band was signed to a record deal that saw the release of two albums via Capitol Records. The first, Blind Melon, was released in 1992. The second, Soup, was released in 1995. At first, the group’s debut album was slow to reach commercial success but once it did, it became a certified platinum seller with the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) four times over. Unfortunately for Soup, it failed to earn the same level of success and was technically a commercial disappointment even though it did achieve RIAA gold.

Before and after earning international fame, Blind Melon relocated to different locations, namely Louisiana, North Carolina, and Washington. In 1994, the group performed at the 1994 edition of Woodstock before serving as a supporting act when the Rolling Stones performed their Voodoo Lounge tour. Unfortunately for Blind Melon, the rise to fame and fortune was met with issues that began to take their toll on the band members, medically and legally. When the group went on tour to support the album, Soup, it was advised by Shannon Hoon’s drug counselor not to do so. The decision to ignore this advice, combined with the failure to keep up with his rehabilitation, served as a fatal mistake for the lead singer that would also forever impact his bandmates and loyal fan base of Blind Melon.

On October 21, 1995, lead vocalist Shannon Hoon died from a cocaine drug overdose while Blind Melon was traveling on their tour bus. In 1996, the compilation album, Nico, was released. When the band failed to find a suitable replacement for Hoon, the members disbanded in 1999 before 2006 saw new lead vocalist, Travis Warren, make his valuable contribution to the 2008 album, For My Friends. Shortly after it was released, Warren took a hiatus before returning to perform occasional gigs in 2010. Between 1999 and 2006, there were two additional compilation albums released, Classic Masters in 2002 and The Best of Blind Melon in 2005. There is also a live album that was recorded in 2006, Live at the Palace. There was talk of another studio album due to be released in 2020 but opted to release singles every few months instead, at least until there was enough to officially press out an album to make available to interested fans.

Top 10 Blind Melon Songs

#10 – St. Andrew’s Fall

“St. Andrew’s Fall” was a song that made reference to a suicide jump, which came from the 1995 album, Soup. The inspiration behind this song came after performing at a converted music hall that used to be a church. While there, it was observed a group of people standing on a street corner, causing a commotion. It was later discovered there was a young woman standing on the edge of the twentieth floor of a building, looking to end her life by jumping off.

While witnessing this event, there were people in the group encouraging the girl to jump before she actually took the plunge to her death. For Blind Melon, this was a profound moment in their lives that remains as a scar to this day. When Hoon wrote out the song, it revolved around a woman’s depression becoming so great that she felt she couldn’t live with herself anymore. This tragedy was beautifully performed by Blind Melon as it lodged a solid place in the hearts of the fans as one of the most emotional performances the group has ever recorded.

#9 – Drive

Released in 1992 with Blind Melon’s debut album, “Drive” was a song that was inspired by an actual incident experienced by the band’s guitarist, Christopher Thorn. While he was an employee of a used clothing store in the Los Angeles area, he had a fellow worker who was having trouble with heroin addiction. At the time, Shannon Hoon walked in on an incident where Thron was begged by his fellow employee to drive him to a location so he could score some heroin to feed his desire to get high. The appeal behind “Drive” as a song revolving around the realities of what substance abuse does to a person and their loved ones as the battle to overcome the addiction is too real to be taken lightly.

#7 – Letters from a Porcupine

As the closing track to the 1996 compilation album, Nico, “Letters from a Porcupine” was performed as a recorded message left behind by Shannon Hoon. This heartfelt song deservedly earned its rank as a fan favorite. Hoon’s daughter, whose name is Nico, was only thirteen weeks old when he died from a drug overdose while on tour. What makes this song such a favorite as it served as a last piece of Hoon before his death.

#6 – Change

“Change” was a hit among the nations of Canada and the UK when it peaked as high as number forty-one and number thirty-five, respectively. From Blind Melon’s self-titled debut album, 1993, “Change” was a song Shannon Hoon wrote that reflected upon the innocence of hope. In 1994, “Change” took on a new meaning when it was dedicated to the late Kurt Cobain. The effect Cobain’s death had upon Hoon was profound that it became the inspiration behind the 1995 album, Soup. “I know we can’t all stay here forever so I want to write my words on the face of today and they’ll paint it” are the lyrics from “Change” that was been engraved on Hoon’s tombstone after he passed away the same year Soup was released.

#5 – New Life

“New Life” was a song performed by Shannon Hoon as a lyrical appreciation for the birth of his daughter. The compilation album that followed shortly after his death, Nico, was a title chosen by the surviving Blind Melon bandmates that were named after her. Despite Hoon’s personal struggles and substance abuse addiction, if there was anyone bright light in his life, it was her. This showed magnificently as he lovingly sang about this new child that blessed his life and gave him a reason to seek rehabilitation. Unfortunately, the demons within Hoon caught up to him while he underestimated just how difficult it was to overcome something that had such a crippling effect on him.

#4 – Three Is a Magic Number

Covered by Blind Melon from the Schoolhouse Rock! compilation album, “Three Is a Magic Number” became a favorite song among the fans and was featured in a series of films such as Never Been Kissed and Slackers. According to the reviews, Blind Melon’s version of this classic rock song gave off a nostalgic vibe that earned the right to become a fan favorite even though it never did appear on any music charts as an official hit. Sung as a one, two, three add-up why the number three is so special, Blind Melon’s playful mathematical lesson earned a place as a favorite among fans of all ages.

#3 – Galaxie

“Galaxie” was the only real successful single to come from Blind Melon’s second studio album, Soup. Released in 1995, this single became the final occasion Shannon Hoon’s vocals would make such a solid impression on the music charts before dying from a drug overdose during the same year. On the US Billboard Mainstream Rock chart, “Galaxie” peaked at number twenty-five and was a number eight hit on the US Billboard Alternative Airplay chart. In Canada, it charted as high as number twenty-one and was a number thirty-seven hit in the UK and number fifty in New Zealand. “Galaxie” was a 1964 Ford automobile Shannon Hoon owned and opted to write a song about. For Hoon, the song simply wasn’t about some car but about finding a personal space that seemed to sit in a galaxy of its own. The appeal behind “Galaxie” gave fans the impression the best way to feel at home is to find that special space you can call your own where the rest of the world has no choice but to leave you alone.

#2 – Tones of Home

“Tones of Home” was the debut single Blind Melon released in 1992 and became a number twenty hit on the US Billboard Alternative Airplay chart and a number ten hit on the US Billboard Mainstream Rock chart. This song also earned the group its first taste of international fame as it peaked as high as number forty-seven in Canada, sixty-two in the UK, and eighty-three in Australia. Technically, “Tones of Home” served as a sequel to the hit single, “No Rain” and featured in its music video the same actress, Heather DeLoach, as the infamous “Bee Girl” who tap-danced her way into the hearts of music fans. The music video for this came right after the release of “No Rain,” which served as a trigger to catapult Blind Melon into stardom as a world-class rock band.

#1 – No Rain

At first, 1992’s single, “No Rain” met the same fate as Blind Melon’s self-titled debut album. Thanks to the promotion of a music video that featured Heather DeLoach, “No Rain” and Blind Melon finally earned the international recognition they deserved, officially putting Blind Melon on the map as successful recording artists.

The popularity of “No Rain” became Blind Melon’s signature song, especially among the fans who simply loved the psychedelic approach to alternative rock the group became so famous for. On the US Billboard Mainstream Rock chart, the US Billboard Alternative Airplay chart, and in Canada, “No Rain” was a number one hit. This also served as the one and only hit for Blind Melon to reach the US Billboard Hot 100 as it peaked at number twenty.

On an international level, it was their most successful hit as it appeared within the top thirty among the nations of Australia, Austria, Ireland, Netherlands, New Zealand, and the UK. Rather depressive, “No Rain” was a song that saw the narrator struggle with reasons why he should take any part in the day when it seemed like there wasn’t going to be anything to come out of it. However, when the Bee Girl, visually portrayed by actress Heather DeLoach, in the music video appeared, she gave the reason that there’s always a reason to get out of bed and take part in the dance called life.