90's Guilty Pleasures #15: Third Eye Blind "Never Let You Go" (1999)

3EB were never well-behaved puppets: When they played their hit “Graduate” at the American Music Awards in 1998, they changed some of the lyrics to “can I masturbate” instead of “can I graduate.”

In Defense of Third Eye Blind -- Vulture

Due to the genius of "Semi-Charmed Life," Third Eye Blind is forever justified. This is a fact of science, so just deal with it. Their hit songs happened to arrive around the same time as Matchbox 20, but their pop leanings sonically placed them a lot closer to Sugar Ray. This brand of pop is normally imperfect, and sometimes even soulless, but always well organized.

Their most heralded singles were the 5 from their self-titled debut. However, the 2nd album's charting status was thanks to the less-remembered "Never Let You Go," where they decided to brilliantly rip off Lou Reed's "Sweet Jane" riff for about 4 minutes, accompanying a rather carefree atmosphere in comparison to the 1st album. And after it feels like the song is about to end, get ready for it: a semi-charmed kinda rap-coda, one that was far more subdued compared to what Kid Rock was releasing around the same time. It may have been thrown at the end of the song as an afterthought, but it's somehow the key to what makes this song memorable: "I remember the stupid things, the mood rings..." Brilliant or not? You decide.