4 Non-Blondes "What's Up" vs Edie Brickell "What I Am"

i like both songs but i REALLY like whats up

haha oh man

I was struggling to think of something to go against the 4 non blondes that might give it a run for its money then i remembered smithys thread :)

this is going to be a 4 Non Blondes landslide

What's Up is way worse - that vocal hook is unbearable

You almost tricked me with that Vote for the WORST question.

At any rate, I about just put a hole through my computer screen ticking the 4NB tab.

Had a little crush on Edie when this song came out. Now I watch that video and think, Good Lord, teenage Pleasant Plains. You could've been watching Heather Thomas on Fall Guy.

What's up, my dick?

That is all

Always get 4 Non Blondes and L7 mixed up in my head. That's pretty unforgivable on my part, but it happens.

I like What's Up. I understand why people don't like it but I need to be true to myself here and vote for Edie Brickell.

I don't know what the hell "Religion is a smile on a dog" means, but it's helluva more poetic simile than LIFE IS A HIGHWAY.

just thought I'd throw that one back out there.

yeah my mum actually bought the cd because she likes whats up so for that alone it gets my vote.

One song i really really hate as much as that song is Cher - Believe but that has its fans on ilx.

xp

haha i did consider putting it up against life is a highway

what is this
'what's up' is one of the best songs of the 90s and inspired this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjVugzSR7HA
the other one is one of the worst things ever released
why would you put them in the same poll? *cries*

"What's Up?" is a hideous misconception of a song from top to bottom and is only halfway listenable because the overwrought, wholly out-of-place vocal screeching

"What I Am" is basically what Phish would sound like if they didn't want me to punch them in their phishy phaces

^^^ gets it

Literally cannot decide but watching Edie now is a cruel reminder of what a hippie I was in college.

i had no idea that the singer of 4 non blondes was a pioneer of steampunk fashion!

What's up, my dick?

That is all

so otm

the My Dick Band has permanently elevated the 4 Non Blondes song into the upper echelon of lol

I mean, I've rolled my eyes at Edie's empty platitudes before but I've never had the full-on painful belly laughs like I have with "And I try/OH MY GOD DO I TRY"

I couldnt even pick Bush or Hootie because we brits just didnt hear anything by them. And I refuse to believe they were worse than whats up.

As a budding bass player I was of course enamored by the intro to "What I Am" and would play it for hours. "What's Up" has never made me want to do anything but drop-kick puppies.

What's Up is one of the worst songs ever made whereas What I Am is kind of sweet and spawned a great Balearic remix which led to Primal Scream's Loaded so this is an easy one.

smithy im sorry for reminding you of the pain of the edie song

I PRAY EVERY SINGLE DAY
FOR REVOLUSHUHHHHH-AHHHH *turns into pteradon, eats unlucky baby, flies into the sunset*

Every time I see people complaining about Jessie J or Karmin, I remember that Linda Perry sang on a hit song.

The time that I liked Edie Brickell is coincident with the time I liked Over the Rhine, who looked like this in those days:

http://www.weblo.com/music/images/artists/full/Over_the_Rhine_48f5eec1bfeaa.jpg

My gay mum loves what's up btw

it is true that he-man what's up is an invaluable piece of internet ephemera

I have never played her the my dick version

OMG Over the Rhine. Since they were an Ohio band we were legally obligated to play them on our college station. I have a signed CD from them. I am not joking.

PS They are still around and still playing festivals and stuff.

if this were strictly on the merits of the original, I hate both of these but at least you can ignore "What I Am." However "What I Am" irritates me more lyrically, which is really saying something, because "What's Up" is not exactly Leonard Cohen. A difficult contest in which the only real fair move is self-immolation

The Edie is sooooo much better. Minus the Jerry Garcia envelope filter diaper-guitar solo.

I still have love for OtR. They were not bad.

What's Up Lyrics

Twenty-five years I'm alive here still
Trying to get up that great big hill of hope
For a destination

I realized quickly when I knew I should
That the world was made up of this brotherhood of man
For whatever that means

And so I cry sometimes
When I'm lying in bed Just to get it all out
What's in my head
And I, I am feeling a little peculiar.

And so I wake in the morning
And I step outside
And I take a deep breath and I get real high
And I scream from the top of my lungs
What's going on?

And I say: HEY! yeah yeaaah, HEY yeah yea
I said hey, what's going on?

And I say: HEY! yeah yeaaah, HEY yeah yea
I said hey, what's going on?

ooh, ooh ooooooooooooooooh
ooh, ooh ooooooooooooooooh

and I try, oh my god do I try
I try all the time, in this institution

And I pray, oh my god do I pray
I pray all sanctity
For a revolution.

And so I cry sometimes
When I'm lying bed
Just to get it all out
What's in my head
And I, I am feeling a little peculiar

And so I wake in the morning
And I step outside
And I take a deep breath and I get real high
And I scream from the top of my lungs
What's going on?

And I say, hey hey hey hey
I said hey, what's going on?

And I say, hey hey hey hey
I said hey, what's going on?

And I say, hey hey hey hey
I said hey, what's going on?

And I say, hey hey hey hey
I said hey, what's going on?

ooh, ooh ooooooooooooooooh ooooooooooooooooh

Twenty-five years I'm alive here still
Trying to get up that great big hill of hope
for a destination
mmh mh

vs

I'm not aware of too many things
I know what I know, if you know what I mean
Philosophy is the talk on a cereal box
Religion is the smile on a dog
I'm not aware of too many things
I know what I know, if you know what I mean, d-doo yeah

Choke me in the shallow waters
Before I get too deep

What I am is what I am
Are you what you are or what?
What I am is what I am
Are you what you are or

Oh, I'm not aware of too many things
I know what I know, if you know what I mean
Philosophy is a walk on the slippery rocks
Religion is a light in the fog
I'm not aware of too many things
I know what I know, if you know what I mean, d-doo yeah

Choke me in the shallow water
Before I get too deep

What I am is what I am
Are you what you are or what?
What I am is what I am
Are you what you are or what?

What I am is what I am
Are you what you are or what?
What I am is what I am
Are you what you are or what you are and

What I am is what I am
Are you what you are or what?

Don't let me get too deep
Don't let me get too deep
Don't let me get too deep
Don't let me get too deep

Choke me in the shallow water
Before I get too deep
Choke me in the shallow water
Before I get too deep

Choke me in the shallow water
Before I get too deep
Choke me in the shallow water
Before I get too deep

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVK3Zo95Vhg

yeah I mean

Philosophy is the talk on a cereal box
Religion is the smile on a dog

that's game over in the horrible lyrics contest forever, flawless victory, none left standing, smoking pile of ash in the corner of every potential opponent. And then she goes and runs up the score with

Choke me in the shallow water
Before I get too deep

if we had an open thread titled "name the worst most bad and hated song that ever charted: GO!" the answer would still be What's Up.

ah do yeah

I swear I cant think of a worse song than What's Up

Mind you I cant think of a worse guitar solo than the one in What I Am

I just realised this is why I hate 'what I am' and that I've never heard the original, I don't think
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEOeClFSQ1o

As much as I love 'what's up' I've always been annoyed at "And I scream from the top of my lungs"
You scream FROM the bottom of your lungs or AT the top of your lungs

Screaming from the top of your lungs would be like ~hhh eeehhhhh ehhh~ creepy shit

almost kinda miss these white hippie bands with like nine members. "Hey, you know how to shake the gourds? Well, we're not Camper Van Beethoven or anything, but if you were good enough for Poi Dog Pondering, you're good enough for us."

That Rusted Root song (dunno the name, it's in a bank commercial now or something) should've been a third poll option.

xp to aero: but dog is god backwards DO YOU SEE

yeah it was baby spices first solo song

tarfumes i dunno it and these 2 songs are well known all over the western world (which is why black velvet beat life is a highway)

even if "what's up" wasn't my least favorite song of all time (w/ "zombie" and "breakfast at tiffany's" right behind it) and even if "what i am" didn't quote popeye i'd still give it to brickell. she's capable of making steve martin laugh apparently which is something. plus there are other edie brickell songs i very passively enjoy in a shopping for produce and listening to solo natalie merchant way. otoh linda perry has actually been involved w/ a number of actually great songs. but none of them were by 4 non-blondes.

like i couldve chosen toploader or that dodgy song but only the brits would know that

these are both great songs everyone is just jealous of how catchy they are!

ohh yeah zombie coulda been a contender for whats up

https://d3uepj124s5rcx.cloudfront.net/items/1k2Z1H0y0a3y393s2G0w/4-non-dogs.jpg

man, what's up with that?

Everybody playing what I am my jr yr of college was a fake deadhead ecstatic that touch of grey was on radio hit and finally a deadhead friendly young band and let's hack man.

my freshman year roommate knew the what i am guitar solo NOTE FOR NOTE. what a pantydropper eh boys

So glad I hit that sweet spot between Edie Brickell and Jewell for my college years. LICK MY LIPS I'M ON FIRE

Hear that lonesome whippoorwill
He sounds too blue to fly
The midnight train is whining low
And I scream at the top of my lungs, "What's going on?"

argh

good lord, that spring break performance is dire. band and audience both seem bored and tired, and perry cannot adjust whatsoever to a different vibe/scale of audience. not sure a laid-back, beachy good-time version of "what's up" is possible but it would have been worth it to try.

I was just going to ask about that really fucked up acoustic guitar, can't search the thread on my phone but shocked of that hadn't been brought up yet.

Also the mocking of the envelope filter guitar solo the other day got me listening to a bunch of 70s versions of "Fire on the Mountain" which has been good.

Thanks, y'all, for helping me focus my hate.

Touch of grey was a the shitty mulch imo, seemed like he inev conclusion

This stupid bar has played both in the last hour

Hate to be a bummer, but it's possible you had an unexpected and deadly accident and are now in the bad place.

It’s true

I love how it was uncool in the 90s to name your song after the chorus and What's Up is my favorite example and on an unrelated note my least favorite song of all time

yeah I like what I am more

Alfred you definitely bring up a good point that Edie pioneered that college radio reared hippies market niche that Matthews et al took to the bank

i hope he was really drunk when those songs played

Why is the 4NB song so bad and hated? It's inarguably chock full of hooks. I think they're GOOD hooks. I like the unabashed use of acoustic guitar which you really don't hear much in top 40. The sentiment is corny and maudlin, sure. Is that what people hate about it? It's hard to call it hackwork, Linda Perry has an extensive catalog of good songs. WHAT'S UP is basically what I'm asking.

kinder at 9:43 11 Mar 17

What's Up is brilliant

What's Up is bad enough that an earthquake was unleashed to attempt to kill the band before they could record it. a bit harsh if you ask me but there it is.

hmm this story checks out. am i going to hell for liking this song

kinder I applaud your courage

I try
Oh my god do I try

Don’t try

In What I Am, Edie Brickell sings "I know what I know if you know what I mean? D-do ya?", but at first I thought she was singing "D-derriere."

On a different note, I don't think I had ever put together until just now that her future husband had a song called "I Know What I Know" on Graceland. I mean, I knew his song but didn't catch on that she also had the title in her lyric.

I PRAY EVERY SINGLE DAY
FOR REVOLUSHUHHHHH-AHHHH *turns into pteradon, eats unlucky baby, flies into the sunset*

― THE WORINÐLVE (DJP), Monday, August 5, 2013 1:52 PM bookmarkflaglink

My son's girlfriend loves 'What's Going On' so I am now not allowed to say bad things about it.

but I pray, oh, my God, do I pray

You should pull a reverse "Rude" and show up at your son's girlfriend's house and break up with her for him.

She's really nice she just likes a bad song.

My rudeness extends to commenting out loud on the size of Linda Perry's mouth and speculating on whether she or Steve Tyler could eat the biggest whole orange.

Hatgoggles

Imagine a Linda Perry/Steve Tyler screech duet

i love that this poll is on ile

Finally, a Tyler Perry that white people can understand.

holy lol

great songs both

― Whiney G. Weingarten, Saturday, March 11, 2017 12:11 PM (five years ago) bookmarkflaglink

screaming at the top of my lungs

best “What” song from this era: Haddaway’s “What Is Love”

Or Tribe's "What?"

Whiney otm

Whiney otm

Lol whoops

The remix of “what I am” with the soul2soul/“loaded” beat rules

assumed bump was for https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/jun/06/linda-perry-non-blonde-pink-christina-aguilera-dolly-parton-gwen-stefani-courtney-love

looking at the Guardian took me a few times to not read it as Legendary Hat Maker

I have What's Up stuck in my head this morning and I want to die

^fav Nirvana b-side

4 Non Blondes - What's Up (Official Music Video)
1,373,815,500 views

grocery store last night, place is basically two big rooms/areas and i guess they have two different sound systems. "What's Up?" was coming out of the speakers in the frozen/meat room; near the front, by the juice bar, another speaker was pumping out something where the lyrics got muffled out by the aisles of canned goods, but this chunky, thunky beat was coming through --- the kind of thing that 90s Yamahas keyboards would include as a "rap" or "hip-hop" beat, like bassy RZA drums with no spooky samples. anyway they were really locking together well, the BPM didn't synch completely so not everything worked but it sorta grounded and slowed down "What's Up?" in a way that i think really helped it a lot. maybe the best it's worked for me in years.not sure "What I Am" would be susceptible to this process, as its coffee-shop rhythm section is so much a part of the songwriting itself.

The unusual name of the band came from an experience the group had in the Bay Area with a blonde family. According to Christa Hillhouse, "Right next to us, there's a trash receptacle with a piece of pizza on top and the kid wanted to pick it up. The mom said, 'No, it's probably dirty, what with the pigeons and people.' And she stared right at us. We were Non Blondes."[8]

The experience and the name became a symbol that they didn't fit the California stereotype.

not sure "What I Am" would be susceptible to this process

just came across the existence of this thanks to an aside in David Cavanagh's Creation book

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uq3RJaAgh3U

great find. wow the Mad Magic DJs really burned the midnight oil on that one, huh?

hell yeah, balearic my friends