Third Eye Blind - Everyone Has A Story (or two)

During the last 15 years the most relevant, irrelevant - er - irrelevant, relevant band may just be Third Eye Blind. The band, but specifically Stephan Jenkins, has done two things:

1) Put out several extremely catchy songs
2) Become the band you love to hate

Former Blender editor Rob Tannenbaum defends Third Eye Blind in this article in the NY Post with you must read.

Here's the thing, I've been going back and forth on the band for years. I almost cleared an indie-pop dance floor four years ago playing, "Semi-Charmed Life". Those who I didn't run off, loved it. Everyone else didn't get it. It was too early to be retro for the wannabe hipsters.

Jenkins is what he is. Talented, but nerve-grinding. I've got a number of first hand stories from his tours in '97/'98 (including a wonderful story of getting dissed by a local while on tour and while dating his soon-to-be superstar actress girlfriend {crying in a car, come on dude}). But you can't discount that - despite all the qualities that make the band the anti-Oasis - they made some of the best modern-rock pop songs of the late-'90s.

He was too popular (and not business minded enough) to be Butch Walker; he was too much of a poser to be as respectfully-hated as the Gallagher bothers; he was to relevant to fall into the category with bands like Cool for August, Eve 6 or Dishwalla; yet the band wasn't "indie" enough to get embraced like Nada Surf or Fountains of Wayne.

No, Third Eye Blind - and Jenkins - have both failed and succeeded in hanging around because he wanted it too much.