I remember when the game Road Rash came out on N64... it had their song "Mean Machine" on it. It surprised me that it was the same band that was on the radio with "Fly" at the time.
I had Road Rash on PS1 and remembered it being the song "Speed Home California" although I could be mixing it up as my dad bought me the CD because I liked it so much
First heard "Fly" at our local minor league team's game when the second baseman used it as his walk up song. Wasn't too long after it the video popped up on TV everywhere. I also remember wondering if it was Vanilla ice at the time, so I'm glad to see I wasn't the only one!
I remember first hearing Sugar Ray on the soundtrack of Escape From LA, not a great movie but the soundtrack had a lot of great alternative and hard rock tracks.
@@apanchernope it’s from a clip that’s literally used in this video. 1:59 look up the full vid if you’re curious. Otherwise move on and have a nice day.
David Cohn tried to do the impossible, steal the Sublime sound ..... instead, we found out how a soulless Sublime might sound..... "Fly" just proved how special Bradley Nowell really was
I am amazed at how Sugar Ray could do both Nu Metal type music and do top 40/pop rock, too. Even though I do enjoy their more pop rock type albums, Lemonade and Brownies just can't be beat.
I remember being a kid listening to the radio and when sugar ray came on it was like a breath of fresh air. Granted I was 7 years old but fly was such a unique song that it encusplated my fantasy of being on the beach away from the desert I lived in. I was surprised to learn when I was older that they were hated and were considered a joke
Mark Sayers McGrath (and the band) appears in the movie Fathers' Day (1997) and not just as cameo,. Mark has a big role in the movie. If i remember well in the movie also The Muffs appears (RIP Kim Shattuck).
My friend and I seen Sugar Ray at a concert at Coney Island High on St. Marks and it was a damn good show. I still have the pictures from that night. We got to talk to him for a bit and he was really nice! Love them! I have both their albums and I enjoyed them. Mean Machine on of my favorite tracks on their earlier album.
I remember hearing floored after fly came out and thought it wasn't too bad, a lot heavier than I expected. Fly wasn't bad either it was just poppy and forgettable.
Not sure if people buy albums anymore, but having the one released track sound like nothing else on the album was definitely a 90s thing. So many albums of mine got tossed after recording one (or maybe two) songs on tape. For the most part, albums released in the 70s and 80s had similar sounding tracks. You either loved it or hated it!
I really like Sugar Ray, and now I have found the connection. What we lack in skill we make up for in craftiness. Lemonade and Brownies is such a fun album that I keep in rotation.
Great video essay. I love this song and it’s one of the most memorable hits when I was a kid in the 90s. Also, now i dont see Mark as a deuche anymore, he actually seems like an incredible marketer in his own right. Please do a part II 💎
I heard of them through mean machine, and I really liked its punkyness. So it surprised me (at the time) when all the sudden they were poppy. Nowadays, I appreciate the exploration in different genres.
I was lucky enough to catch probably all the bands that emerged in the mid-90's when they were paying their dues in the So Cal clubs. Shrinky Dinks were one of those I really enjoyed but they did seem likely the less likely to break out. Them and Incubus surprised me about the heights they reached.
Sugar Ray is one of those bands that did what they had to do to make it to the top. Much like the Goo Goo Dolls, they would write a couple of poppy songs to get on the radio, and then the rest of the album would sound nothing like the singles. When you listen to songs like "Fly" and "Every Morning", you think you're buying a pop album, and then you hear metal songs like "Mean Machine" and it's hard to even believe it's the same band. You can call them sell outs because they damn sure sold out a lot of places over the years. I have a lot of respect for them. They probably got more people to listen to metal than any of the metal bands did.
I was 10 when this album came out and it was the first cassette tape I ever owned. I bought it because I loved the song "Fly" but I honestly loved the entire album and was never dissapointed by it. I have fond memories of playing this album with my parents in the car and my Dad turning it off when the song "Cash" came on. Yes, I was 10 years old haha.
@@better.better His problem is that he fights tooth and nail with time instead of growing old gracefully. He's had a ton of cosmetic surgery and Botox injections and it looks awful. Same thing as Micky Rourke
It’s wild that’s the history. They seemed to just kinda appear and make dropping big poppy hits easy. And they were in a quiet way everywhere. Played constantly to this day but it wasn’t blatant because the music was so casual. So it’s wild to hear they really struggled.
I was there, it was actually more like 150,000. They weren't all fans though, a couple of guys tried to heckle Mark but he jumped from the stage and knocked them out cold. It was the coolest and the crowd went wild with cheers.
The band caught a lot of shit for going poppier because of Fly despite they started out kinda wild and heavy punky and nu-metal like at the start.. I can appreciate both sides of the band tbh. I've actually been following their bassist, Murphy Karges, on youtube since the pandemic... he was talking about Sugar Ray songs, breaking them down, playing and teaching bass for Sugar Ray and other bands/artists he liked... cool guy.
Almost quit - Damn! Soooo close! Well, our gain is Entertainment Tonight’s . . . um, uh, loss? I’m not sure what a net loss for Entertainment Tonight looks like 😅
Ha! I used to have bleached tips like his, not because of McGrath as I was going to beauty school at the time and during our down time a few of the girls would do it. Btw, those were probably the best two years of my life, being one of three straight guys in 85 class size of girls/women. Those were the days!
I've honestly never liked the song Fly. It's catchy, but something about it annoyed the heck out of me from the 1st listen. Oh well, I'm sure my taste in music would annoy some people. That's the good thing, there's plenty of music for everyone.
I remember the different versions of "Fly" on radio back in the day, without Super Cat, and without the rapping bit or even without the heavy guitars... it was ridiculous. Those elements are part of what makes the song... the song... it's a Reggae pop song... why is cutting out the reggae part necessary, or the rapping and heavy guitar section bad... just weird decisions all around.
Funny true story: My friend and I, both of us musicians, went out to a club in downtown Dallas called "Trees" to see one of our guitar heroes Steve Vai. The opening act was Sugar Ray. My friend and I were in the VIP section which was right next to, and slightly higher than the stage. Sugar Ray gets on stage, and after a couple of songs, Mark McGrath jumps onto the railing of the VIP area right in front of me. He proceeds to place his hand on the back of my head, pulls my forehead against his, and sings in my face. All I could do was smile and think, "Nah. This isn't gay at all...". After Mark jumps back down to the stage, I look at my friend, and he's laughing his ass off, and all I could say was, "Man... Fuck you!", and laugh with him. After their set, they came to the VIP section with us to watch Steve Vai play, so we hung out for a while, and they were all pretty cool dudes. Of course the highlight for me and my friend was getting to meet Steve Vai. *Edit* By the way, this was before Sugar Ray's second album came out, so their whole set was punk and metal with McGrath doing some "cookie monster" vocals even. I recognized one song called "Mean Machine" which I'd seen the video for.
I would have never guessed Mark McGrath would have been the guy that wanted to stay heavy. I absolutely hated Fly, and their pandering to 14 year old girls.
Have to agree with Mark on this one. Such a terrible and generic song. I call these songs "fly high in the sky" songs because there are so many of them, they are generic AF with only the most basic lyrics. Please stop with the "fly high in the sky" songs and put a little effort into writing something at least mildly creative.
Not sure how not liking rap music makes you "racist". 😂 Interesting video, bhai. I had no clue about McGrath's history. I just assumed he was just some jock.
McGrath looked like he was in a Boy Band or sold jeans at Abercrombie or The Gap in the mall which is why in the late 90's he became the face of that band.....FACTS
I remember when the game Road Rash came out on N64... it had their song "Mean Machine" on it. It surprised me that it was the same band that was on the radio with "Fly" at the time.
Me too! Exactly! 😂
Same! I thought there had to be 2 bands named Sugar Ray lol
OMG same here! And the other song "Hit the club".
I had Road Rash on PS1 and remembered it being the song "Speed Home California" although I could be mixing it up as my dad bought me the CD because I liked it so much
Their heavy stuff still kicks ass.
AGREED
First heard "Fly" at our local minor league team's game when the second baseman used it as his walk up song. Wasn't too long after it the video popped up on TV everywhere. I also remember wondering if it was Vanilla ice at the time, so I'm glad to see I wasn't the only one!
I remember first hearing Sugar Ray on the soundtrack of Escape From LA, not a great movie but the soundtrack had a lot of great alternative and hard rock tracks.
10 seconds down.
Toadies had a good song on there also
I’ve seen Sugar Ray a few times on the county fair/casino circuit. Mark McGrath is wild and a lot of fun
They always seemed like they'd be fun live
Unless you call them Sugar Gay 😅
@@Jaheguru spend all day thinking that one up?
@@apanchernope it’s from a clip that’s literally used in this video. 1:59 look up the full vid if you’re curious. Otherwise move on and have a nice day.
@@Jaheguru I remember that video 🤣
Mean machine on Bevis and Butthead was awesome
Lemonade and brownies was killer front to back at that time. Classic
Damn, a story about Sugar Ray is lot more wholesome than i thought. Especially the video with their moms, that's just adorable.
Love me some Lemonade & Brownies! Great songs like Iron Mic, BBW and Mean Machine. The breakdown in Dance Party U.S.A is fucking awesome. 😍🤘
I saw them twice at Spring Fest, in Pensacola, and they put on a good show. They even busted out songs from Lemonade and Brownies.
I never knew that the girl on the cover of 'Lemonade & Brownies' was Nicole Eggert. You learn something every day...
Thank you for the post! 👍🏻✌🏼😊
David Cohn tried to do the impossible, steal the Sublime sound ..... instead, we found out how a soulless Sublime might sound..... "Fly" just proved how special Bradley Nowell really was
I am amazed at how Sugar Ray could do both Nu Metal type music and do top 40/pop rock, too. Even though I do enjoy their more pop rock type albums, Lemonade and Brownies just can't be beat.
These are always the best. Thanks for another great episode
I remember being a kid listening to the radio and when sugar ray came on it was like a breath of fresh air. Granted I was 7 years old but fly was such a unique song that it encusplated my fantasy of being on the beach away from the desert I lived in. I was surprised to learn when I was older that they were hated and were considered a joke
Mark Sayers McGrath (and the band) appears in the movie Fathers' Day (1997) and not just as cameo,. Mark has a big role in the movie.
If i remember well in the movie also The Muffs appears (RIP Kim Shattuck).
"Hey, I got your band's tape in the pizza box and I'd like you guys to come down to the studio and wax my Porche."
My friend and I seen Sugar Ray at a concert at Coney Island High on St. Marks and it was a damn good show. I still have the pictures from that night. We got to talk to him for a bit and he was really nice! Love them!
I have both their albums and I enjoyed them.
Mean Machine on of my favorite tracks on their earlier album.
You didn't "seen" Sugar Ray. You "saw" Sugar Ray.
I notice many people misuse this word a lot lately. I wonder why.
@@andydhillon1977 It's like people saying woman instead of women and vice versa. Once you notice it, you see it everywhere.
I remember hearing floored after fly came out and thought it wasn't too bad, a lot heavier than I expected. Fly wasn't bad either it was just poppy and forgettable.
Not sure if people buy albums anymore, but having the one released track sound like nothing else on the album was definitely a 90s thing. So many albums of mine got tossed after recording one (or maybe two) songs on tape. For the most part, albums released in the 70s and 80s had similar sounding tracks. You either loved it or hated it!
I really like Sugar Ray, and now I have found the connection. What we lack in skill we make up for in craftiness.
Lemonade and Brownies is such a fun album that I keep in rotation.
Great video essay. I love this song and it’s one of the most memorable hits when I was a kid in the 90s. Also, now i dont see Mark as a deuche anymore, he actually seems like an incredible marketer in his own right. Please do a part II 💎
I heard of them through mean machine, and I really liked its punkyness. So it surprised me (at the time) when all the sudden they were poppy. Nowadays, I appreciate the exploration in different genres.
Those guys were the kings of summer for a lil while there
I was lucky enough to catch probably all the bands that emerged in the mid-90's when they were paying their dues in the So Cal clubs. Shrinky Dinks were one of those I really enjoyed but they did seem likely the less likely to break out. Them and Incubus surprised me about the heights they reached.
They were a fun band.
Sugar Ray is one of those bands that did what they had to do to make it to the top. Much like the Goo Goo Dolls, they would write a couple of poppy songs to get on the radio, and then the rest of the album would sound nothing like the singles. When you listen to songs like "Fly" and "Every Morning", you think you're buying a pop album, and then you hear metal songs like "Mean Machine" and it's hard to even believe it's the same band. You can call them sell outs because they damn sure sold out a lot of places over the years. I have a lot of respect for them. They probably got more people to listen to metal than any of the metal bands did.
"RPM" and "Breathe" still go hard!
I wasn’t really a big fan of Sugar Ray, but I always thought Mark McGrath was really handsome 😊
Typical comment for a female from that era....Looks came first & music didn't matter ......
I was born in the 90’s, I’m allowed to think a man is attractive and not like his music 🙂
@@KaylaHiggins92 I'm going to allow it. This time...
@@edpoe1108 your going to allow it,okay 🙂 Mark McGrath was handsome but I hated his music. I just said it again, what are you gonna do about it ?😂
Lemonade and Brownies was one of my favorite albums. I lost interest the more pop they became.
I thought Mean Machine was kind of a hit. Love that song.
I was 10 when this album came out and it was the first cassette tape I ever owned. I bought it because I loved the song "Fly" but I honestly loved the entire album and was never dissapointed by it. I have fond memories of playing this album with my parents in the car and my Dad turning it off when the song "Cash" came on. Yes, I was 10 years old haha.
If you see Mark McGrath on the street he likes to be called sugar Ray
Mark is ten years older than I thought he was. He's almost a boomer!
I mean when I see him on TV now, he looks pretty "used hard, and put away wet"... he was certainly easier on the eyes back in the day
@@better.better His problem is that he fights tooth and nail with time instead of growing old gracefully. He's had a ton of cosmetic surgery and Botox injections and it looks awful. Same thing as Micky Rourke
It’s wild that’s the history. They seemed to just kinda appear and make dropping big poppy hits easy. And they were in a quiet way everywhere. Played constantly to this day but it wasn’t blatant because the music was so casual. So it’s wild to hear they really struggled.
there's a struggle behind the success of every band
Sugar Ray recently played a sold out show to over 70,000 diehard fans. The epic concert took place inside Mark McGrath’s head.
I was there, it was actually more like 150,000. They weren't all fans though, a couple of guys tried to heckle Mark but he jumped from the stage and knocked them out cold. It was the coolest and the crowd went wild with cheers.
The band caught a lot of shit for going poppier because of Fly despite they started out kinda wild and heavy punky and nu-metal like at the start.. I can appreciate both sides of the band tbh. I've actually been following their bassist, Murphy Karges, on youtube since the pandemic... he was talking about Sugar Ray songs, breaking them down, playing and teaching bass for Sugar Ray and other bands/artists he liked... cool guy.
Lemonade and Brownies is still in rotation for me.
A fun band. And McGrath is a very nice guy, super-cool and very friendly.
Lemonade and brownies was their best album
I only know em from that Nick Mullen video of him getting punched for saying Sugar Ray sucks.
Sugar Ray are just awesome and are a perfect soundtrack for summer and good times 😊
especially the song Under The Sun.
Almost quit - Damn! Soooo close! Well, our gain is Entertainment Tonight’s . . . um, uh, loss? I’m not sure what a net loss for Entertainment Tonight looks like 😅
The first song on "floored" called rpm is one hell of a banger. The music video doesn't do the actual song justice
Mark loved them young.
Ha! I used to have bleached tips like his, not because of McGrath as I was going to beauty school at the time and during our down time a few of the girls would do it. Btw, those were probably the best two years of my life, being one of three straight guys in 85 class size of girls/women. Those were the days!
"...flirt with breakdancing." Relatable
I like their heavy music!🤘😁🤘
Great video.
L&B is their best album.
I thought this was about Psychedelic Bee!
It is mentioned in the story
@@rnrtruestories Lol, should have watched the whole thing before I posted😂
@@alhollywood6486happens to the best of us.
Sugar gay
I've honestly never liked the song Fly. It's catchy, but something about it annoyed the heck out of me from the 1st listen. Oh well, I'm sure my taste in music would annoy some people. That's the good thing, there's plenty of music for everyone.
16:25 lol love it
People love to hate beautiful people
0:45 .....BRA, errrrrr, BRUH! 😅
BRA, errrrrr, BRUH! 😅
Love me some Sugar Gay! 🥵
That's it? What have they done in the last 20 years?
Wait, Sugar Ray and Crazy Town aren't the same group? what!
I remember the different versions of "Fly" on radio back in the day, without Super Cat, and without the rapping bit or even without the heavy guitars... it was ridiculous. Those elements are part of what makes the song... the song... it's a Reggae pop song... why is cutting out the reggae part necessary, or the rapping and heavy guitar section bad... just weird decisions all around.
The version that got play here on Kiss 98.5 (WKSE) was the one without Supercat.
Funny true story: My friend and I, both of us musicians, went out to a club in downtown Dallas called "Trees" to see one of our guitar heroes Steve Vai. The opening act was Sugar Ray. My friend and I were in the VIP section which was right next to, and slightly higher than the stage. Sugar Ray gets on stage, and after a couple of songs, Mark McGrath jumps onto the railing of the VIP area right in front of me. He proceeds to place his hand on the back of my head, pulls my forehead against his, and sings in my face. All I could do was smile and think, "Nah. This isn't gay at all...". After Mark jumps back down to the stage, I look at my friend, and he's laughing his ass off, and all I could say was, "Man... Fuck you!", and laugh with him. After their set, they came to the VIP section with us to watch Steve Vai play, so we hung out for a while, and they were all pretty cool dudes. Of course the highlight for me and my friend was getting to meet Steve Vai.
*Edit* By the way, this was before Sugar Ray's second album came out, so their whole set was punk and metal with McGrath doing some "cookie monster" vocals even. I recognized one song called "Mean Machine" which I'd seen the video for.
A band named Shrinky Dink signed a 1 million dollar deal based on a video for a song called Caboose?
I would have never guessed Mark McGrath would have been the guy that wanted to stay heavy. I absolutely hated Fly, and their pandering to 14 year old girls.
I always assumed it, but now that I've heard all this, Every....single...Bit of their bio screams "talentless insecure posers"
Answer The Phone is an underrated Sugar Ray song, it's like Sugar Ray going pop-punk
i thought they only had one or two songs??!
SUGAR GAY
Wow first on a sugar ray vid. Strange way to be first. Not expected
Congratulations
❤
Floored was a great album, the only song on that album I wasn't a fan of was "FLY", go figure LOL
Carona Del Mark Highschool.... lol
13:00 ....sorry but its hard to take a dude seriously when he's wearing contour makeup and he's not in a Glam Metal band
Ay, the lil yachty record rocks. They're as nice as sublime
Only half of their first album was worth listening to in their career.
Looks like McGrath really cashed in to afford all that bad facial work
Christ, if they were called "The Tories", then they would have NEVER done anything in the UK.
11:15 .....wait, tf? 🧐
Sugar ray. Theor music eas as cringe worthy as Marks face lifts.
LOL someone thought he was Vanilla Ice? C'mon. really?
I couldn't finish this video. it turns out sugar is boring as hell
let's agree to one thing: one-hit wonders they were not... i think every morning is their best song though
Why have you neglected Propagandi? Canada's Best Political Punk band, probably North America's Best. They are awesome
Their Howard Stern Show appearances are entirely responsible for their breakout success. Cannot be overstated.
Have to agree with Mark on this one. Such a terrible and generic song. I call these songs "fly high in the sky" songs because there are so many of them, they are generic AF with only the most basic lyrics. Please stop with the "fly high in the sky" songs and put a little effort into writing something at least mildly creative.
It’s so easy yet…you don’t have a hit just like it yet right? 🤣
Fun fact..mark mrgraf was named after macgruff the crime dog . His uncle was smokey the bear. He turned a young fan into a dog in a magic trick.
Scruff McGruff
Chicago Illinois
60612
Band is horrible
Not sure how not liking rap music makes you "racist". 😂 Interesting video, bhai. I had no clue about McGrath's history. I just assumed he was just some jock.
No one liked him
God these guys were just utter rubbish🤢🤮🤮🤮🤧😴🤮🤮🤧
The dude narrating is Ai right? Like that's 100% a soulless look behind those eyes isn't it?
Jealous much?
McGrath looked like he was in a Boy Band or sold jeans at Abercrombie or The Gap in the mall which is why in the late 90's he became the face of that band.....FACTS
You make your podcast so interesting it's amazing I just wanted to let you know that Jesus loves you
Sugar gay