Sixpence On The Richer- Kiss Me

There are very few bands that I can say I heard them before everyone else and the one that I started listening to from the beginning was Sixpence None The Richer. To be honest, the above song Kiss Me is one of my least favorite songs by SNtR. Instead of doing a post on this one song I'm going to do it on how Sixpence and I followed a similar path for four years.

My senior year in high school I was at an event called Summer In The Son at a small Christian college in Grayson, Ky. You have to realize something, Christian music at that time was pretty bad. When Amy Grant's El Shaddai is big then you have an issue, but there was a hope and some better music was starting to come out. While at Summer in the Son I saw a magazine that was devoted to music but unlike most Christian print they actually reviewed "secular" music as well. I bought the magazine and saw an ad for a band named Sixpence None The Richer. It mentioned that billboard called them one of the best new bands of 1993.

A month or so later I was the the "big mall" in Huntington, WVa when I was bored and walked into the christian book store. There I see Sixpence None The Richer's Fatherless and the Widow. I was still skeptical and instead of spending the christian book store CD price of $21 (never could figure out why they always charged more for CDs) I bought the $11 cassette. What I heard was a surprising sound, it was actually interesting. Very light, up beat guitar with a ethereal voiced singer. The difference between the rest of the christian music I heard was the actual lyrics. They were darker and sounded like my problems in life. I didn't want to hear all is good in the world, I was a teenager and feeling that typical mid 90s teen angst. I had that cassette for years and I played it so much that it began to warp from usage. Yet, they had that one song that did not fit, on Fatherless and the Widow it was Trust. It was that christian formula that was pounded out since the 70s. Almost every album I bought of theirs had that one song that did not fit.

A few years later they release a more edgy album full of harder guitar riffs and a full band sound, but the voice and the hurt was still withing each song. This album followed my personal path again, I was in college and listening to more college radio rock. I still felt the same way inside and the band continued to keep my spirits up with a true to life message. Then there was a long break in music, Sixpence started fighting with record labels and went quite for a while. I continued playing both CDs till in 1997 they finally released a self titled album.

Sixpence started experimenting with instruments and sound but still the message was still there. The band was growing up and so was I, my time in college was drawing closer to the end. But something on the album was a little off and that something was Kiss Me. It didn't fit anywhere on the album. Looking back I can see they wanted this to be their start into the big time. They promoted Kiss Me for over a year and released multiple music videos for it. Finally She's All That picked Kiss Me up as the lead song and Kiss Me was everywhere. I continued to support the band but this is where our paths started to part.

It appeared Sixpence did not know what to do next. They fought their record label and wanted to re-release the record with a cover song and release that as a new single. The Internet was young and email lists were the best way to keep in touch with other people who had the same interest. The Sixpence fans wanted a song called I can't Catch to be released next. It was my favorite song on the album along with many other fans on these emails. But record label people did not like it released the new album and the song did not do so well.

Sixpence released another covered Don't Dream It's Over and that went nowhere. Multiple people left the band and after another label change released a new album. By this time we had parted paths. I no longer was interested. They tried to go full main stream but they lost their heart. I don't mind bands crossing over boundaries set in sand but when you change what you are to do it that's the issue. Sixpence changed themselves away from what brought them to the table.

With the last year in a half of my life in chaos, I turned back to the old albums and they helped me through this time of economic strife and unemployment. I can always say when Kiss Me comes on the radio t I heard them before anyone else and remember the music that I enjoyed.