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My Happiness (song)
Encyclopedia
"My Happiness" is a song by Australia
n rock band Powderfinger
. It was released on record label
Universal Music Australia on 21 August 2000 as the first single
from the band's fourth album, Odyssey Number Five
. The single is Powderfinger's most successful to date; it peaked at number four on the Australian ARIA Singles Chart, and charted in the United States on the Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart—the first Powderfinger song to do so.
Powderfinger frontman Bernard Fanning
wrote "My Happiness" as a reflection on the time the band spent touring to promote their work, and the loneliness that came as a result. It was inspired by his love of gospel
and soul music
. Despite its melancholy mood, "My Happiness" is considered by many to be a love song
, a suggestion Fanning regards as mystifying.
"My Happiness" was released as a single with "My Kind of Scene
" as a B-side. It was instantly successful, charting highly in Australia and New Zealand. It won an ARIA Award and an APRA Award and topped the Triple J Hottest 100
in 2000
as well as coming 27th in the 2009 Hottest 100 of all Time. "My Happiness" was highly praised by critics, with even negative reviews of Odyssey Number Five noting it as a highlight, especially for its catchy chorus. "My Kind of Scene" was equally popular. One of the highlights of Powderfinger's United States tour with Coldplay
was a performance of "My Happiness" on Late Show with David Letterman
; they were only the fourth Australian act to appear on the show.
"My Happiness" was written by Bernard Fanning
, Powderfinger's lead singer and songwriter
. The song describes feelings of love and separation; Sains Pennie Dennison said it described "the pining feeling you experience when you spend time away from the one you love". Fanning called it "a sad story of touring and the absence loneliness that comes with it". The extensive time spent touring took its toll on the band, and it was on the back of this that Fanning wrote "My Happiness". Thus, he expressed confusion at its being considered a romantic song.
"My Happiness" was attacked by some fans as being "like Lauryn Hill
, bland and boring Top 40 bullshit"; guitarist Ian Haug
rebutted by pointing out that the song was an example of the new emotional level on which Powderfinger made music, while Fanning was more aggressive in his defence of the song. In response to being dubbed "Mr Miserable" by The Sun-Herald
s Peter Holmes for the lyrics of "My Happiness" and "These Days
", Fanning pointed out that the songs could be construed either as melancholy, or as part of "the most hopeful record ... in a long time".
Much of Fanning's writing is inspired by non-rock music, and "My Happiness" is no exception. Gospel
and soul music
that is "unashamedly about love and how good it makes you feel" was common during the Odyssey Number Five recording sessions. Powderfinger worked hard in those sessions to ensure a more polished work than Internationalist; guitarist Darren Middleton
concluded that "My Happiness", "The Metre", and "Up & Down & Back Again" were more "complete" because of the band's efforts. The lighter elements of "My Happiness" in comparison to some of the band's earlier work saw Fanning reveal his passion for several other musicians, such as James Taylor
—something that "five years ago ... would have been an embarrassing thing to say".
radio station
KROQ-FM
two months prior to its United States release, and Powderfinger signed a contract with United States label Republic
as a result of the song's early success. Beat journalist Jayson Argall joked the song had received "a bit" of airplay. Although "My Happiness" was subsequently dropped from KROQ-FM's roster, other radio stations continued to give the song high priority.
"My Happiness" peaked at number 23 on the Hot Modern Rock Tracks, making it the first Powderfinger song to appear on a Billboard
chart. According to Susan Groves of WHRL, part of the song's success came about because very few people knew of Powderfinger, but were drawn towards "My Happiness" because it was "melodic, [and] pretty"—a change from what she described as "middle of the road rock" popular in the United States. Meanwhile, Australians were "starting to get sick of My Happiness"—Cameron Adams argued in The Hobart Mercury that this was one of the reasons Powderfinger decided to focus on the offshore market.
Powderfinger performed "My Happiness" live on talk show
Late Show with David Letterman
while touring North America with British rock group Coldplay
,. They were the fourth Australian act (after The Living End
, Silverchair
, and Nick Cave
) to play on the show. The band also did free promotional shows leading up to the release of the single. In Europe, "My Happiness" received approximately four weeks of airplay on German music video program Viva II, and the band sold out for three nights in a row in London
, partly due to the success of the single.
The music video
for "My Happiness" starts at a train station (Roma Street railway station
in Brisbane
) with a boy and girl stepping off a train. As the pair leave the train, the boy turns and tries to reach for something, but the girl pulls him back. It is shown that he was reaching for a sentient slinky
. The slinky leaves the train, and passes Middleton busking
in the train station. The slinky ventures to find the boy, facing a range of challenges along the way; these include avoiding fruit falling on it and riding a skateboard. In the middle of the music clip, the slinky is shown making its way through a music room in which Powderfinger are performing "My Happiness". It rests on the bar and the band finishes playing, while the background music continues. As Powderfinger leaves, the slinky is picked up by Haug. He gets into a car and places the slinky on the car's dashboard, but it falls out the window as the car turns a tight corner. It lands outside the gate of a house and is picked up and brought inside to the boy.
The video was created by Fifty Fifty Films, who created numerous other Powderfinger music videos. It was directed by Chris Applebaum and produced by Keeley Gould of A Band Apart, with editing by Jeff Selis. Cameron Adams of The Courier Mail reported that following the music video's release, slinky
sales increased dramatically.
in Australia on 21 August 2000. When asked how they chose the release date, Fanning jokingly said "the release date is timed to coincide with the Olympics
, when all the visitors are here ... they can go into HMV
and pick it up." At the time of the single's release, the band's previous album, Internationalist
, was still in the top 50 on the ARIA Albums Chart, 95 weeks after entering. The single featured B-side "My Kind of Scene
", which had already received strong airplay due to its appearance on the Mission: Impossible II soundtrack. "My Happiness" appeared on a Triple M
compilation
entitled Triple M's New Stuff, and on a Kerrang!
compilation, Kerrang!2 The Album.
"My Happiness" entered the ARIA singles chart
at number four—making it Powderfinger's highest-charting single in Australia—and spent 24 weeks on the chart. It reached number two on the Queensland
singles chart, and peaked at number seven on the New Zealand singles chart, on which it spent 23 weeks. "My Happiness" was Powderfinger's first single to chart in the USA, reaching number 23 on the Modern Rock Tracks
chart.
The song won the "Single of the Year" award at the ARIA Awards of 2001
, and the 2001 "Song of the Year" APRA Award. Furthermore, "My Happiness" topped the Triple J Hottest 100
chart in 2000
, and appeared on that year's CD release. Rolling Stone Australia
named "My Happiness" "Song of the Year" in a reader poll. "My Happiness" was the eighth most-played song on Australian radio in 2001.
" and "The Day You Come
" as examples. He praised the song's structure, stating that "the verses almost crash into the chorus". Adams also expressed surprise that "My Kind of Scene" was only released as a B-side. The Newcastle Herald
s Chad Watson described a mixture of acoustic
and electric guitar
and "a restrained yet warmly infectious chorus". Despite praising it as a "Big Rock AnthemTM", Richard Jinman of The Sydney Morning Herald
complained that "My Happiness" was not as "hummable" as past singles "Passenger
" or "These Days
". Devon Powers of PopMatters
described it, and "Waiting for the Sun", as sounding bored. The Evening Mail
agreed; it argued the "rock-lite" song, while sounding lush, failed to "make you really sit up and take notice".
In his highly negative review of Odyssey Number Five, Allmusic's Dean Carlson labelled it one of the best songs, for the riff
Powderfinger executed "better than most bands of their stature". Adams also enjoyed the song's "wobbly guitar", and Sains Christie Eliszer approved of the "acoustic strumalong", but The Advertisers Michael Duffy said the song was "a familiar piece of yearning guitar indie that is polished but pedestrian"; he reserved his praise for "My Kind of Scene", which he described as akin to the best of Internationalist. Darren Bunting wrote in the Hull Daily Mail
that "My Happiness" was the best song on Odyssey Number Five, praising "soaring vocals, heartfelt lyrics and chiming guitar". Entertainment Weekly
s Marc Weingarten said that on "My Happiness", "Fanning's heavy heart is tattered by scratching and clawing guitars".
Production
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n rock band Powderfinger
Powderfinger
Powderfinger was an Australian rock band that formed in Brisbane in 1989. From 1992 until their breakup the band lineup consisted of vocalist Bernard Fanning, guitarists Darren Middleton and Ian Haug, bassist John Collins, and drummer Jon Coghill....
. It was released on record label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
Universal Music Australia on 21 August 2000 as the first single
Lead single
A lead single is usually the first single released by a musician or a band before the release of its home album.During the era of the grammophone record, all music arrived in the marketplace as what is now termed a single, one potential hit song backed by an additional song of generally less...
from the band's fourth album, Odyssey Number Five
Odyssey Number Five
Odyssey Number Five is the fourth studio album by Australian rock band Powderfinger, produced by Nick DiDia and released on 4 September 2000. The album was the band's shortest yet, focusing on social, political, and emotional issues that had appeared in prior works, especially Internationalist.The...
. The single is Powderfinger's most successful to date; it peaked at number four on the Australian ARIA Singles Chart, and charted in the United States on the Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart—the first Powderfinger song to do so.
Powderfinger frontman Bernard Fanning
Bernard Fanning
Bernard Joseph Fanning is a musician and singer-songwriter. He is best known as the lead singer and frontman of Australian alternative rock band Powderfinger from its formation in 1989 to its dissolution in 2010....
wrote "My Happiness" as a reflection on the time the band spent touring to promote their work, and the loneliness that came as a result. It was inspired by his love of gospel
Gospel music
Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....
and soul music
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
. Despite its melancholy mood, "My Happiness" is considered by many to be a love song
Love song
A love song is about falling in love and the feelings it brings. Anthologies of love songs often contain a mixture of both of these types of song. A bawdy song is both humorous and saucy, emphasizing the physical pleasure of love rather than the emotional joy...
, a suggestion Fanning regards as mystifying.
"My Happiness" was released as a single with "My Kind of Scene
My Kind of Scene
"My Kind of Scene" is a song by Australian rock band Powderfinger. the song was initially written for their fourth studio album Odyssey Number Five however the band was requested to contribute a song to the soundtrack for the 2000 film Mission: Impossible 2...
" as a B-side. It was instantly successful, charting highly in Australia and New Zealand. It won an ARIA Award and an APRA Award and topped the Triple J Hottest 100
Triple J Hottest 100
The Triple J Hottest 100 is an annual music poll, based on the votes of national Australian radio station Triple J listeners, in order to determine their favourite song of the year. Voting is conducted by the internet and begins roughly two weeks prior to the new year for the previous year's songs...
in 2000
Triple J Hottest 100, 2000
The 2000 Triple J Hottest 100, announced in January 2001, was the eighth such countdown of the most popular songs of the year, according to listeners of the Australian radio station Triple J. As in previous years, a CD featuring 37 songs was released...
as well as coming 27th in the 2009 Hottest 100 of all Time. "My Happiness" was highly praised by critics, with even negative reviews of Odyssey Number Five noting it as a highlight, especially for its catchy chorus. "My Kind of Scene" was equally popular. One of the highlights of Powderfinger's United States tour with Coldplay
Coldplay
Coldplay are a British alternative rock band formed in 1996 by lead vocalist Chris Martin and lead guitarist Jonny Buckland at University College London. After they formed Pectoralz, Guy Berryman joined the group as a bassist and they changed their name to Starfish. Will Champion joined as a...
was a performance of "My Happiness" on 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...
; they were only the fourth Australian act to appear on the show.
Production and content
If you can't cop a bit of emotional stuff then you should go and get the lamp shade extracted from your arse. If you don’t think there is enough rock in your life then let me know and I will personally come around to your house and chuck stones at you.—Bernard Fanning
Bernard FanningBernard Joseph Fanning is a musician and singer-songwriter. He is best known as the lead singer and frontman of Australian alternative rock band Powderfinger from its formation in 1989 to its dissolution in 2010....
In response to "My Happiness" being described by fans as "like Lauryn HillLauryn HillLauryn Noelle Hill is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress.Early in her career, she established her reputation as a member of the Fugees. In 1998, she launched her solo career with the release of the commercially successful and critically acclaimed album, The Miseducation of...
, bland and boring Top 40 bullshit".
"My Happiness" was written by Bernard Fanning
Bernard Fanning
Bernard Joseph Fanning is a musician and singer-songwriter. He is best known as the lead singer and frontman of Australian alternative rock band Powderfinger from its formation in 1989 to its dissolution in 2010....
, Powderfinger's lead singer and 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...
. The song describes feelings of love and separation; Sains Pennie Dennison said it described "the pining feeling you experience when you spend time away from the one you love". Fanning called it "a sad story of touring and the absence loneliness that comes with it". The extensive time spent touring took its toll on the band, and it was on the back of this that Fanning wrote "My Happiness". Thus, he expressed confusion at its being considered a romantic song.
"My Happiness" was attacked by some fans as being "like Lauryn Hill
Lauryn Hill
Lauryn Noelle Hill is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress.Early in her career, she established her reputation as a member of the Fugees. In 1998, she launched her solo career with the release of the commercially successful and critically acclaimed album, The Miseducation of...
, bland and boring Top 40 bullshit"; guitarist Ian Haug
Ian Haug
Ian David Haug is a lead guitarist and backing vocalist in the Australian rock band Powderfinger. Mainstays Haug and bass guitarist John Collins formed the band in Brisbane in 1989. During a hiatus in Powderfinger's career, Haug worked on a side project, The Predators, with Collins and original...
rebutted by pointing out that the song was an example of the new emotional level on which Powderfinger made music, while Fanning was more aggressive in his defence of the song. In response to being dubbed "Mr Miserable" by The Sun-Herald
The Sun-Herald
The Sun-Herald is an Australian tabloid newspaper published on Sundays in Sydney by Fairfax Media. It is the Sunday counterpart of The Sydney Morning Herald. In the 6 months to September 2005, The Sun-Herald had a circulation of 515,000...
s Peter Holmes for the lyrics of "My Happiness" and "These Days
These Days (Powderfinger song)
"These Days" is an alternative rock song from Powderfinger's fourth studio album, Odyssey Number Five, which was released in 2000. The song was also released on Powderfinger's 2004 compilation album Fingerprints: The Best of Powderfinger, 1994-2000....
", Fanning pointed out that the songs could be construed either as melancholy, or as part of "the most hopeful record ... in a long time".
Much of Fanning's writing is inspired by non-rock music, and "My Happiness" is no exception. Gospel
Gospel music
Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....
and soul music
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
that is "unashamedly about love and how good it makes you feel" was common during the Odyssey Number Five recording sessions. Powderfinger worked hard in those sessions to ensure a more polished work than Internationalist; guitarist Darren Middleton
Darren Middleton
Darren Stuart Middleton is an Australian lead guitarist for alternative rock band Powderfinger. He is also the lead singer for Drag....
concluded that "My Happiness", "The Metre", and "Up & Down & Back Again" were more "complete" because of the band's efforts. The lighter elements of "My Happiness" in comparison to some of the band's earlier work saw Fanning reveal his passion for several other musicians, such as James Taylor
James Taylor
James Vernon Taylor is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. A five-time Grammy Award winner, Taylor was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2000....
—something that "five years ago ... would have been an embarrassing thing to say".
Touring and promotion
"My Happiness" was put on heavy rotation by Los AngelesLos Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
radio station
Radio station
Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...
KROQ-FM
KROQ-FM
KROQ-FM — branded 106.7 KROQ — is a commercial modern rock radio station licensed to Pasadena, California serving the Greater Los Angeles. The call sign is pronounced "kay rock." It is the flagship station of Loveline hosted by Dr...
two months prior to its United States release, and Powderfinger signed a contract with United States label Republic
Republic Records
Republic Records was a record label and subsidiary of Universal Motown Republic Group. They originally went by the name Cheese Factory Records...
as a result of the song's early success. Beat journalist Jayson Argall joked the song had received "a bit" of airplay. Although "My Happiness" was subsequently dropped from KROQ-FM's roster, other radio stations continued to give the song high priority.
"My Happiness" peaked at number 23 on the Hot Modern Rock Tracks, making it the first Powderfinger song to appear on a Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
chart. According to Susan Groves of WHRL, part of the song's success came about because very few people knew of Powderfinger, but were drawn towards "My Happiness" because it was "melodic, [and] pretty"—a change from what she described as "middle of the road rock" popular in the United States. Meanwhile, Australians were "starting to get sick of My Happiness"—Cameron Adams argued in The Hobart Mercury that this was one of the reasons Powderfinger decided to focus on the offshore market.
Powderfinger performed "My Happiness" live on 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....
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...
while touring North America with British rock group Coldplay
Coldplay
Coldplay are a British alternative rock band formed in 1996 by lead vocalist Chris Martin and lead guitarist Jonny Buckland at University College London. After they formed Pectoralz, Guy Berryman joined the group as a bassist and they changed their name to Starfish. Will Champion joined as a...
,. They were the fourth Australian act (after The Living End
The Living End
The Living End are an Australian rock band from Melbourne, Victoria, formed in 1994. The current lineup consists of Chris Cheney , Scott Owen and Andy Strachan...
, Silverchair
Silverchair
Silverchair were an Australian rock band, which formed in 1992 as Innocent Criminals in Merewether, Newcastle with the line-up of Ben Gillies on drums, Chris Joannou on bass guitar and Daniel Johns on vocals and guitars. The group got their big break in mid-1994 when they won a national demo...
, and Nick Cave
Nick Cave
Nicholas Edward "Nick" Cave is an Australian musician, songwriter, author, screenwriter, and occasional film actor.He is best known for his work as a frontman of the critically acclaimed rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, established in 1984, a group known for its eclectic influences and...
) to play on the show. The band also did free promotional shows leading up to the release of the single. In Europe, "My Happiness" received approximately four weeks of airplay on German music video program Viva II, and the band sold out for three nights in a row in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, partly due to the success of the single.
Music video
Music 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 "My Happiness" starts at a train station (Roma Street railway station
Roma Street railway station, Brisbane
Roma Street railway station is a major railway station in the Brisbane central business district, the state capital of Queensland, Australia. It was Brisbane's first railway station, opening in 1876...
in Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
) with a boy and girl stepping off a train. As the pair leave the train, the boy turns and tries to reach for something, but the girl pulls him back. It is shown that he was reaching for a sentient slinky
Slinky
Slinky or "Lazy Spring" is a toy consisting of a helical spring that stretches and can bounce up and down. It can perform a number of tricks, including traveling down a flight of steps end-over-end as it stretches and re-forms itself with the aid of gravity and its own momentum.-History:The toy was...
. The slinky leaves the train, and passes Middleton busking
Busking
Street performance or busking is the practice of performing in public places, for gratuities, which are generally in the form of money and edibles...
in the train station. The slinky ventures to find the boy, facing a range of challenges along the way; these include avoiding fruit falling on it and riding a skateboard. In the middle of the music clip, the slinky is shown making its way through a music room in which Powderfinger are performing "My Happiness". It rests on the bar and the band finishes playing, while the background music continues. As Powderfinger leaves, the slinky is picked up by Haug. He gets into a car and places the slinky on the car's dashboard, but it falls out the window as the car turns a tight corner. It lands outside the gate of a house and is picked up and brought inside to the boy.
The video was created by Fifty Fifty Films, who created numerous other Powderfinger music videos. It was directed by Chris Applebaum and produced by Keeley Gould of A Band Apart, with editing by Jeff Selis. Cameron Adams of The Courier Mail reported that following the music video's release, slinky
Slinky
Slinky or "Lazy Spring" is a toy consisting of a helical spring that stretches and can bounce up and down. It can perform a number of tricks, including traveling down a flight of steps end-over-end as it stretches and re-forms itself with the aid of gravity and its own momentum.-History:The toy was...
sales increased dramatically.
Release and commercial success
"My Happiness" was released as a singleSingle (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...
in Australia on 21 August 2000. When asked how they chose the release date, Fanning jokingly said "the release date is timed to coincide with the Olympics
2000 Summer Olympics
The Sydney 2000 Summer Olympic Games or the Millennium Games/Games of the New Millennium, officially known as the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was celebrated between 15 September and 1 October 2000 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...
, when all the visitors are here ... they can go into HMV
HMV
His Master's Voice is a trademark in the music business, and for many years was the name of a large record label. The name was coined in 1899 as the title of a painting of the dog Nipper listening to a wind-up gramophone...
and pick it up." At the time of the single's release, the band's previous album, Internationalist
Internationalist (album)
Internationalist is the third studio album by Australian alternative rock band, Powderfinger. The album was released on 7 September 1998 and was often labelled Powderfinger's most adventurous work, with greater experimentation than in previous works....
, was still in the top 50 on the ARIA Albums Chart, 95 weeks after entering. The single featured B-side "My Kind of Scene
My Kind of Scene
"My Kind of Scene" is a song by Australian rock band Powderfinger. the song was initially written for their fourth studio album Odyssey Number Five however the band was requested to contribute a song to the soundtrack for the 2000 film Mission: Impossible 2...
", which had already received strong airplay due to its appearance on the Mission: Impossible II soundtrack. "My Happiness" appeared on a Triple M
Triple M
The Triple M Network is an active rock radio network in Australia owned by media company Austereo, who also own the Today Network.- History :...
compilation
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...
entitled Triple M's New Stuff, and on a Kerrang!
Kerrang!
Kerrang! is a UK-based magazine devoted to rock music published by Bauer Media Group. It was first published on June 6, 1981 as a one-off supplement in the Sounds newspaper...
compilation, Kerrang!2 The Album.
"My Happiness" entered the ARIA singles chart
ARIA Charts
The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June...
at number four—making it Powderfinger's highest-charting single in Australia—and spent 24 weeks on the chart. It reached number two on the Queensland
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
singles chart, and peaked at number seven on the New Zealand singles chart, on which it spent 23 weeks. "My Happiness" was Powderfinger's first single to chart in the USA, reaching number 23 on the Modern Rock Tracks
Modern Rock Tracks
Alternative Songs is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in Billboard magazine since September 10, 1988. It lists the 40 most-played songs on modern rock radio stations, most of which are alternative rock songs...
chart.
The song won the "Single of the Year" award at the ARIA Awards of 2001
ARIA Music Awards of 2001
The 15th Annual Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards were held on 30 October 2001 at the Capitol Theatre.-Awards:...
, and the 2001 "Song of the Year" APRA Award. Furthermore, "My Happiness" topped the Triple J Hottest 100
Triple J Hottest 100
The Triple J Hottest 100 is an annual music poll, based on the votes of national Australian radio station Triple J listeners, in order to determine their favourite song of the year. Voting is conducted by the internet and begins roughly two weeks prior to the new year for the previous year's songs...
chart in 2000
Triple J Hottest 100, 2000
The 2000 Triple J Hottest 100, announced in January 2001, was the eighth such countdown of the most popular songs of the year, according to listeners of the Australian radio station Triple J. As in previous years, a CD featuring 37 songs was released...
, and appeared on that year's CD release. Rolling Stone Australia
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
named "My Happiness" "Song of the Year" in a reader poll. "My Happiness" was the eighth most-played song on Australian radio in 2001.
Critical reception
"My Happiness" was a critical success. Cameron Adams of The Herald Sun wrote that "My Happiness" did not disappoint in the trend of excellent first singles from Powderfinger, citing "Pick You UpPick You Up
"Pick You Up" is the first single released from Powderfinger's second album Double Allergic. The single was released on 13 April 1996, and was Powderfinger's first moderate success both on commercial and Indie radio stations, and the most successful single from the album reaching #23 on the ARIA...
" and "The Day You Come
The Day You Come
"The Day You Come" is a song from Powderfinger's third studio album Internationalist. It was released as a single on 10 August 1998.-History:...
" as examples. He praised the song's structure, stating that "the verses almost crash into the chorus". Adams also expressed surprise that "My Kind of Scene" was only released as a B-side. The Newcastle Herald
The Newcastle Herald
The Newcastle Herald is a local tabloid newspaper published daily, Monday to Saturday, in Newcastle, New South Wales, the largest non-capital city in Australia. It is the only local newspaper that serves the entire Hunter and Central Coast regions six days a week...
s Chad Watson described a mixture of acoustic
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...
and electric guitar
Electric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
and "a restrained yet warmly infectious chorus". Despite praising it as a "Big Rock AnthemTM", Richard Jinman of The Sydney Morning Herald
The Sydney Morning Herald
The Sydney Morning Herald is a daily broadsheet newspaper published by Fairfax Media in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1831 as the Sydney Herald, the SMH is the oldest continuously published newspaper in Australia. The newspaper is published six days a week. The newspaper's Sunday counterpart, The...
complained that "My Happiness" was not as "hummable" as past singles "Passenger
Passenger (Powderfinger song)
"Passenger" is a song from Powderfinger's third studio album Internationalist. It was released as a single on 9 August 1999, and reached #30 on the Australian music chart. The single was nominated for Single of the year in 2000 at the Australian ARIA Music Awards...
" or "These Days
These Days (Powderfinger song)
"These Days" is an alternative rock song from Powderfinger's fourth studio album, Odyssey Number Five, which was released in 2000. The song was also released on Powderfinger's 2004 compilation album Fingerprints: The Best of Powderfinger, 1994-2000....
". Devon Powers of PopMatters
PopMatters
PopMatters is an international webzine of cultural criticism that covers many aspects of popular culture. PopMatters publishes reviews, interviews, and detailed essays on most cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, films, books, video games, comics, sports, theater,...
described it, and "Waiting for the Sun", as sounding bored. The Evening Mail
North-West Evening Mail
The North-West Evening Mail, known locally as the Evening Mail, is a daily, local newspaper in the United Kingdom, printed every evening. It is based in Barrow-in-Furness....
agreed; it argued the "rock-lite" song, while sounding lush, failed to "make you really sit up and take notice".
In his highly negative review of Odyssey Number Five, Allmusic's Dean Carlson labelled it one of the best songs, for the riff
RIFF
The Resource Interchange File Format is a generic file container format for storing data in tagged chunks. It is primarily used to store multimedia such as sound and video, though it may also be used to store any arbitrary data....
Powderfinger executed "better than most bands of their stature". Adams also enjoyed the song's "wobbly guitar", and Sains Christie Eliszer approved of the "acoustic strumalong", but The Advertisers Michael Duffy said the song was "a familiar piece of yearning guitar indie that is polished but pedestrian"; he reserved his praise for "My Kind of Scene", which he described as akin to the best of Internationalist. Darren Bunting wrote in the Hull Daily Mail
Hull Daily Mail
The Hull Daily Mail is the local daily newspaper for Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire and is published along with the free weekly, Hull Advertiser. There used to be a weekly sports paper, the SportsMail, but this folded in 2006...
that "My Happiness" was the best song on Odyssey Number Five, praising "soaring vocals, heartfelt lyrics and chiming guitar". Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
s Marc Weingarten said that on "My Happiness", "Fanning's heavy heart is tattered by scratching and clawing guitars".
Charts
| Chart | Peak position |
|---|---|
| ARIA Australian Recording Industry Association The Australian Recording Industry Association is a trade group representing the Australian recording industry which was established in 1983 by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replacing the Association of Australian Record Manufacturers which was formed in 1956... Singles Chart ARIA Charts The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June... |
4 |
| RIANZ Singles Chart | 7 |
| Billboard Billboard (magazine) Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis... Modern Rock Tracks Modern Rock Tracks Alternative Songs is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in Billboard magazine since September 10, 1988. It lists the 40 most-played songs on modern rock radio stations, most of which are alternative rock songs... |
23 |
Awards
| Year | Organisation | Ceremony | Award | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Triple J Triple J triple j is a nationally networked Australian radio station intended to appeal to listeners between the ages of 18 and 30. The government-funded station is a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation... |
Hottest 100 Triple J Hottest 100, 2000 The 2000 Triple J Hottest 100, announced in January 2001, was the eighth such countdown of the most popular songs of the year, according to listeners of the Australian radio station Triple J. As in previous years, a CD featuring 37 songs was released... |
N/A | #1 |
| 2001 | APRA Australasian Performing Right Association The Australasian Performing Right Association is a copyright collective representing New Zealand and Australian composers, lyricists and music publishers. The association's head offices located in Sydney Australia, and it has branch offices in Auckland, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth... |
APRA Awards APRA Awards The APRA Music Awards are several award ceremonies run in Australia and New Zealand by Australasian Performing Right Association to recognise songwriting skills, sales and airplay performance by its members annually.... |
Song of the Year | Won |
| ARIA Australian Recording Industry Association The Australian Recording Industry Association is a trade group representing the Australian recording industry which was established in 1983 by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replacing the Association of Australian Record Manufacturers which was formed in 1956... |
ARIA Music Awards ARIA Music Awards of 2001 The 15th Annual Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards were held on 30 October 2001 at the Capitol Theatre.-Awards:... |
Single of the Year | Won |
Track listing
- "My Happiness" – 4:36
- "My Kind of SceneMy Kind of Scene"My Kind of Scene" is a song by Australian rock band Powderfinger. the song was initially written for their fourth studio album Odyssey Number Five however the band was requested to contribute a song to the soundtrack for the 2000 film Mission: Impossible 2...
" – 4:37 - "Nature Boy" – 3:12
- "Odyssey #1" (Demo) – 4:09
Personnel
Powderfinger- Bernard FanningBernard FanningBernard Joseph Fanning is a musician and singer-songwriter. He is best known as the lead singer and frontman of Australian alternative rock band Powderfinger from its formation in 1989 to its dissolution in 2010....
– Vocals, tambourineTambourineThe tambourine or marine is a musical instrument of the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zils". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, though some variants may not have a head at all.... - Darren MiddletonDarren MiddletonDarren Stuart Middleton is an Australian lead guitarist for alternative rock band Powderfinger. He is also the lead singer for Drag....
– Guitars and backing vocals - Ian HaugIan HaugIan David Haug is a lead guitarist and backing vocalist in the Australian rock band Powderfinger. Mainstays Haug and bass guitarist John Collins formed the band in Brisbane in 1989. During a hiatus in Powderfinger's career, Haug worked on a side project, The Predators, with Collins and original...
– Guitars - John CollinsJohn Collins (Australian musician)John Andrew Collins is the mainstay bass guitarst for Australian rock band Powderfinger since 1989. He is one of the founding members of the band, along with guitarist Ian Haug, forming at their high school, Brisbane Grammar School as a three piece. Powderfinger has released seven studio albums, a...
– Bass guitarBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
s - Jon CoghillJon CoghillJon Coghill is an Australian drummer best known for his work with Australian rock band, Powderfinger, although he has also toured with Regurgitator. Coghill replaced Powderfinger's original drummer Steven Bishop in 1991 when Bishop wanted to pursue further studies...
– DrumDrumThe drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments, which is technically classified as the membranophones. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the player's hands, or with a...
s and percussion
Production
- Nick DiDia – ProducerRecord producerA record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
, engineer and mixerAudio mixing (recorded music)In audio recording, audio mixing is the process by which multiple recorded sounds are combined into one or more channels, most commonly two-channel stereo. In the process, the source signals' level, frequency content, dynamics, and panoramic position are manipulated and effects such as reverb may... - Matt Voigt – Assistant engineer
- Anton Hagop – Assistant engineer
- Stewart Whitmore – Digital editing
- Stephen Marcussen – Mastering
- Anton Hagop – Assistant producer
- Kevin Wilkins – Art direction and photographyPhotographyPhotography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...