Description
The Crash Test Dummies are a Canadian folk rock/alternative rock band from Winnipeg, Manitoba, widely known for their 1993 single “Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm”
one of the best songs of the Millennium.
“Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm” is a single by the Canadian folk rock group Crash Test Dummies, featured on their 1993 album God Shuffled His Feet.
CD maxi
“Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm” 3:53
“Here I Stand Before Me” 3:07
“Supermans Song” (live from the U.S. public radio program Mountain Stage)4:27
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Song lyrics :
Each verse describes the isolation and suffering of a child, two of whom have a physical abnormality; a boy whose hair has prematurely whitened from shock and a girl covered in birthmarks. The third child is a boy whose parents take him with them to their church, where they shake and lurch’ on the floor. His situation is said to be worse than the other childrens. During a live performance for Kink FM singer Brad Roberts whispered during the third verse “Pentecostal”, probably to mention that this third verse is based on this religion.[1]
An alternative version sometimes performed at live concerts replaced the third verse with one concerning a boy whose mother disposed of his tonsils after a tonsillectomy, thus depriving him of the possibility of bringing them to show and tell.
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Music video:
The associated music video sets the songs lyrics as the script for a series of one-act plays performed by school children. Throughout, the scenes of the performance are intercut with scenes of the Crash Test Dummies performing the song at stage side.
The first act, set at a city intersection, tells the story of a young boy who was involved in a car crash. His hair turned white due to the force of the crash.
The second act tells the story of a girl that never used to “change with the girls in the change room”, until one day the other girls (portrayed in the act as three inquisitive detectives) force her to change with them, only to discover that her body was covered in birthmarks.
The final act tells of a boy that lives under the strict discipline of his austere parents and how his family attends a church, where church-goers shake and lurch during the services. During the verse, the “boy” nervously looks into the audience at a couple who seem uneasy with the subject, implying that the three are the family being sung about.
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Reception:
Although highly successful when it was released, “Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm” has since been frequently included on lists of bad songs. The song was number 15 on VH1s 50 Most Awesomely Bad Songs Ever, named by Rolling Stone the “15th Most Annoying Song”, and ranked at number 31 both on Blenders list of the “50 Worst Songs Ever”[4] and, most recently, on AOL Radios list of the 100 Worst Songs Ever (Matthew Wilkening called the song “Not only bad but amazingly monotone and depressing,” and “Absolutely the last song to play for your sad friends”). Contrasting, VH1 named “Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm” the 31st greatest one-hit wonder of the 1990s in 2011.
In a 1994 essay in which he makes the case that modern life is better than life in the past, humorist P.J. O’Rourke wrote “Even the bad things are better than they used to be. Bad music, for instance, has gotten much briefer. Wagners Ring Cycle takes four days to perform while “Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm” by the Crash Test Dummies lasts little more than three minutes.”
The track received a nomination for a Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, which it lost to “I Swear” by All-4-One.
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Uses in the media:
“Weird Al” Yankovic parodied the song with “Headline News”, which instead described three popular news events of 19931994.
Chris Morris parodied the song in his 1994 radio series The Chris Morris Music Show.
Appears in the European release of the PlayStation 2 video game SingStar 90s.
Featured in the 1994 film Dumb and Dumber.
Featured in episodes of I Love the 90s, Cold Case, How I Met Your Mother.
Covered by The Rock-afire Explosion.
German band Erdmöbel covered the song with German lyrics, titled “Da war einmal ein Junge”, meaning “Once there was a boy”, released on No. 1 Hits
Amateur Transplants also parodied the song and depicts the story of a man who has a stroke.
In a humoristic Norwegian commercial from 2011 for cooked ham from the company Gilde we learn that the band named this song after tasting and liking Gildes cooked ham.
On episode 28 of season 3 of Tosh.0, Daniel Tosh made a reference to the song when describing a video. He even had the audience respond by singing the chorus, “Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm”.
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Charts and sales:
Outside their home country of Canada, the single became the bands most successful song, reaching number 4 in the U.S. and number 2 in the UK the groups biggest hit in both countries. It also reached number 1 on the Modern Rock Chart in the U.S. and in Australia.
In Canada, the song was a comparative flop. While the Crash Test Dummies had 6 singles reach the Canadian top ten, “Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm” was not one of them. In Canada, the single stalled at number 14.
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Chart (1994) Peak position
Australia (ARIA) 1
Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40) 3
Belgium (VRT Top 30 Flanders) 1
Canada (RPM) 14
Finland (Suomen virallinen lista) 20
France (SNEP) 5
Germany (Media Control Charts) 1
Ireland (IRMA) 3
Netherlands (Dutch Top 40) 4
New Zealand (RIANZ) 4
Norway (VG-lista)1
Sweden (Sverigetopplistan) 1
Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade) 7
United Kingdom (The Official Charts Company) 2
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 4
U.S. Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks 25
U.S. Billboard Hot Modern Rock Tracks 1
U.S. Billboard Top 40 Mainstream 6
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Chart (1994) Position
Australian Singles Chart 14
Austrian Singles Chart 11
Dutch Top 40 29
French Singles Chart 32
Swiss Singles Chart 19
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 35
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Country Certification Date Sales certified
Germany[24] Gold 1994 250,000
Norway[25] Platinum 1994 10,000
UK[26] Silver May 1, 1994 200,000
U.S.[27] Gold July 4, 1994 500,000
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