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Five For Fighting Continues 'Superman' Tradition
08/31/2001 10:00 AM, Yahoo! Music
Neal Weiss
(8/31/01, 10 a.m. ET) -- Five For Fighting continues to score its biggest success yet thanks to its latest single, "Superman," from the Los Angeles group's debut album, America Town.
The song adds to a long list of pop and rock songs named for the superhero, including the recent 3 Doors Down smash, "Kryptonite." Five For Fighting frontman John Ondrasik tells LAUNCH that it didn't cross his mind as he wrote the piano ballad. "I didn't realize until actually after I wrote it, everybody keeps telling me all the Superman, you know, songs, like the Crash Test Dummies has a Superman song and then R.E.M. And, of course, there's the 'Kryptonite' song which is a huge hit right now, which I never... you know, I wrote the damn song two years ago. So, I guess Superman is still in our culture and probably won't be leaving for a while."
The Crash Test Dummies released their "Superman's Song" in 1991, while R.E.M. covered the obscure 1960s song "Superman" in 1986. Others with songs named "Superman" include Alanis Morissette, Southern California punks Goldfinger, classic rockers the Kinks, indie-rock cult hero Robyn Hitchcock, and Love Spit Love, featuring Psychedelic Furs frontman Richard Butler.
Barbra Streisand, the Commodores, the Atlanta Rhythm Section, Chico DeBarge, and Benny Goodman are also on the list.
-- Neal Weiss, Los Angeles
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