Everything You Want (song)
Encyclopedia
"Everything You Want" is a song by American alternative rock
band Vertical Horizon
and the eponymous second single
from their third studio album
Everything You Want. Released in 1999, the single reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100
after a 21-week climb on July 15, 2000. "Everything You Want" is arguably Vertical Horizon's best-known single.
, which Scannell in a 2010 interview:
Appropriately, the pop
-friendly, tightly produced
track features a particularly sullen and moody atmosphere with an airy song structure. The acoustic guitar
rhythm lies under a melody of delayed
electronic
notes, and its chorus
swells with an anxious vocal harmony
over rumbling guitar. An aggressive bridge
suddenly ignites the mood with angst wailing before returning to a more placid verse.
for the single was directed by Clark Eddy and gained significant airplay. It features dreary, grey tones and cloudy skies corresponding with the song's gloomy nature. Band members, principally Matt Scannell, are seen walking down streets and in a restaurant. Scannell frequently stops to read a business card which contains different text at each glimpse. Throughout the video, a split screen
effect depicts two versions of Scannell acting differently in mirror environments. Lyrics flash across the screen as the band performs the song in a bright, illuminated room with black, vertical pinstripes. Couples are shown arguing with various messages appearing across the screen such as "every six seconds you think about sex" and "there are two sides to every story." Finally, the view blurs with a message reading "everything you want is not everything you need" as the video comes to a close.
In January 2000, the video was chosen as "Inside Track" of the month by VH1
.
which features both Matt Scannell and pop rock
singer/songwriter
Richard Marx
.
As a major radio hit, "Everything You Want" was included on various compilation album
s such as Buzz Balads, Vol. 2, Totally Hits, Vol. 3, and Now That's What I Call the 1990s
.
Fictional music group Alvin and the Chipmunks
covered this song as a playable track for the 2007 video game Alvin and the Chipmunks
.
. During the trip, he visited numerous villages and came across a small hut where an old man was inside knitting sweaters. To his surprise, the old man was listening to a tiny radio playing Vertical Horizon's hit song.
talk show
. They played on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
in April 2000 before performing for The Late Late Show With Craig Kilborn the following month. In April, "Everything You Want" was performed on both Late Show with David Letterman
and Late Night with Conan O'Brien
, both of which were filmed in New York.
Alternative rock
Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...
band Vertical Horizon
Vertical Horizon
Vertical Horizon is an American alternative rock band formed at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. in 1991. The band is best known for a string of hits in 1999 and early 2000s, including "You're a God", "Everything You Want", and "Best I Ever Had ". Their most recent album, Burning the...
and the eponymous second single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
from their third studio album
Studio album
A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...
Everything You Want. Released in 1999, the single reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
after a 21-week climb on July 15, 2000. "Everything You Want" is arguably Vertical Horizon's best-known single.
Composition
Lead vocalist Matt Scannell has cited "Everything You Want" as a great example of honest songwriting and added, "I still experience joy singing it because I know it came from a true place." The song's main theme deals with unrequited loveUnrequited love
Unrequited love is love that is not openly reciprocated or understood as such, even though reciprocation is usually deeply desired. The beloved may or may not be aware of the admirer's deep affections...
, which Scannell in a 2010 interview:
- "...I was in love with this girl, and she was just a broken person. She kept turning to everyone except me for love and acceptance, and I wanted so much to help her. I wanted to be the one to give her everything she wanted, but I couldn't. She just couldn't accept it from me, and it was that pain, that led me to creating the song."
Appropriately, the pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
-friendly, tightly produced
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
track features a particularly sullen and moody atmosphere with an airy song structure. The acoustic guitar
Acoustic guitar
An acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only an acoustic sound board. The air in this cavity resonates with the vibrational modes of the string and at low frequencies, which depend on the size of the box, the chamber acts like a Helmholtz resonator, increasing or decreasing the volume of the sound...
rhythm lies under a melody of delayed
Delay (audio effect)
Delay is an audio effect which records an input signal to an audio storage medium, and then plays it back after a period of time. The delayed signal may either be played back multiple times, or played back into the recording again, to create the sound of a repeating, decaying echo.-Early delay...
electronic
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
notes, and its chorus
Chorus
-Musical:* Choir, a vocal ensemble* Chorus effect, the perception of similar sounds from multiple sources as a single, richer sound; signal processors design to simulate the effect* Refrain or chorus of a song, pre-chorus may refer to bridge...
swells with an anxious vocal harmony
Vocal harmony
Vocal harmony is a style of vocal music in which a consonant note or notes are sung at the same time as a main melody in a predominantly homophonic texture. Vocal harmonies are used in many subgenres of European art music, including Classical choral music and opera and in the popular styles from...
over rumbling guitar. An aggressive bridge
Bridge (music)
In music, especially western popular music, a bridge is a contrasting section which also prepares for the return of the original material section...
suddenly ignites the mood with angst wailing before returning to a more placid verse.
Music video
A music videoMusic video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
for the single was directed by Clark Eddy and gained significant airplay. It features dreary, grey tones and cloudy skies corresponding with the song's gloomy nature. Band members, principally Matt Scannell, are seen walking down streets and in a restaurant. Scannell frequently stops to read a business card which contains different text at each glimpse. Throughout the video, a split screen
Split screen
Split screen can refer to:*a motion picture technique; see split screen *a computer graphics and video game technique; see split screen...
effect depicts two versions of Scannell acting differently in mirror environments. Lyrics flash across the screen as the band performs the song in a bright, illuminated room with black, vertical pinstripes. Couples are shown arguing with various messages appearing across the screen such as "every six seconds you think about sex" and "there are two sides to every story." Finally, the view blurs with a message reading "everything you want is not everything you need" as the video comes to a close.
In January 2000, the video was chosen as "Inside Track" of the month by VH1
VH1
VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly...
.
Appearances
The song is featured acoustically on the 2008 album DuoDuo (Richard Marx and Matt Scannell album)
Duo is a compilation album by Richard Marx and, Vertical Horizon vocalist, Matt Scannell. The disc debuted on May 12, 2008, exclusively through RichardMarx.com and is now available for sale at their concerts together as well. Marx and Scannell exhibit both of their acclaimed works. Marx remade...
which features both Matt Scannell and pop rock
Pop rock
Pop rock is a music genre which mixes a catchy pop style and light lyrics in its guitar-based rock songs. There are varying definitions of the term, ranging from a slower and mellower form of rock music to a subgenre of pop music...
singer/songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
Richard Marx
Richard Marx
Richard Noel Marx is an American adult contemporary and pop/rock singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. He had a string of hit singles in the late 1980s and 1990s, including "Endless Summer Nights", "Right Here Waiting", "Now and Forever", and "Hazard"...
.
As a major radio hit, "Everything You Want" was included on various compilation album
Compilation album
A compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...
s such as Buzz Balads, Vol. 2, Totally Hits, Vol. 3, and Now That's What I Call the 1990s
Now That's What I Call the 1990s
-Reception:According to Andrew Leahey of Allmusic, Now That's What I Call the 1990s is a "narrow-minded compilation" with a mix of pop songs and alternative music which focuses on the second half of the decade and ignores "grunge, Euro-dance, and teen pop"....
.
Fictional music group Alvin and the Chipmunks
Alvin and the Chipmunks
Alvin and the Chipmunks is an American animated music group created by Ross Bagdasarian, Sr. in 1958. The group consists of three singing animated anthropomorphic chipmunks: Alvin, the mischievous troublemaker, who quickly became the star of the group; Simon, the tall, bespectacled intellectual;...
covered this song as a playable track for the 2007 video game Alvin and the Chipmunks
Alvin and the Chipmunks (video game)
Alvin and the Chipmunks is a video game based on the film of the same name. The game was released on December 4, 2007 and was the first release by short-lived video game company Brash Entertainment. It follows The Chipmunks as they play their way from small venues to massive crowds at Burning Munk...
.
Success
"Everything You Want" would be one of the most played singles of 2000 and become a staple of many pop-oriented stations. Its success was further manifested when Lead vocalist Matt Scannell's brother went backpacking in NepalNepal
Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...
. During the trip, he visited numerous villages and came across a small hut where an old man was inside knitting sweaters. To his surprise, the old man was listening to a tiny radio playing Vertical Horizon's hit song.
Performances
Vertical Horizon performed the song live on nearly every major American late-nightLate night television
Late night television in the United States is the block of television programming airing after 11:00 pm and usually through 2:00 am. Traditionally, this type of programming airs after the late local news and is most notable for being the daypart used for a particular genre of programming that falls...
talk show
Talk show
A talk show or chat show is a television program or radio program where one person discuss various topics put forth by a talk show host....
. They played on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno is an American late-night talk show hosted by Jay Leno that initially aired from May 25, 1992 to May 29, 2009, and resumed production on March 1, 2010. The fourth incarnation of the Tonight Show franchise made its debut on May 25, 1992, three days following Johnny...
in April 2000 before performing for The Late Late Show With Craig Kilborn the following month. In April, "Everything You Want" was performed on both Late Show with David Letterman
Late Show with David Letterman
Late Show with David Letterman is a U.S. late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on CBS. The show debuted on August 30, 1993, and is produced by Letterman's production company, Worldwide Pants Incorporated. The show's music director and band-leader of the house band, the CBS Orchestra, is...
and Late Night with Conan O'Brien
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
Late Night with Conan O'Brien is an American late-night talk show hosted by Conan O'Brien that aired 2,725 episodes on NBC between 1993 and 2009. The show featured varied comedic material, celebrity interviews, and musical and comedy performances. Late Night aired weeknights at 12:37 am...
, both of which were filmed in New York.
Peak positions
| Chart (2000) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 1 |
| U.S. Hot 100 Airplay Hot 100 Airplay The Hot 100 Airplay chart is a chart released weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States. It measures radio airplay, and is one of the three component charts, along with the Hot Singles Sales and the Hot Digital Songs charts, that determine the chart positions of singles on the Billboard... |
2 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot Modern Rock Tracks | 5 |
| U.S. Billboard Adult Top 40 Tracks | 1 |
| Canadian RPM Singles Chart | 6 |
| Canadian RPM Rock Report Canadian rock/alternative chart The Canadian rock/alternative chart was first published on June 11, 1995 by RPM magazine under the name Alternative 30. The song which held the number-one spot on this first chart was "More Human than Human" by White Zombie... |
1 |
| UK Singles Chart | 42 |
End of year charts
| End of year chart (2000) | Position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 5 |