Music / Semisonic

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Semisonic is an alternative rock band from Minneapolis formed in 1995 by Dan Wilson on lead vocals and guitar, John Munson on bass and Jacob Slichter on drums. The band was formed after the disollution of Wilson and Munson's previous group, Trip Shakespeare, and recruited Slichter to join the group they were forming, which was initially named "Pleasure".

The band released three albums on their initial run, Great Divide in 1996, Feeling Strangely Fine in 1998 and All About Chemistry in 2001, with their biggest hit, "Closing Time", from their second album serving as their signature song. The band also had other notable songs such as "F.N.T.", "Secret Smile", "Singing in My Sleep" and "Chemistry", though they weren't as successful as "Closing Time".

The band entered on hiatus in 2001 after touring for All About Chemistry, and only reunited a decade and a half later in 2017. They released an EP titled You're Not Alone in 2020 and released their proper fourth studio album, Little Bit of Sun in 2023.

Slichter wrote a memoir called So You Wanna Be a Rock & Roll Star that chronicled the band's formation and unlikely rise to One-Hit Wonder stardom.

Discography:

• Pleasure EP (1995)
• Great Divide (1996)
• Feeling Strangely Fine (1998)
• All About Chemistry (2001)
• You're Not Alone EP (2020)
• Little Bit of Sun (2023)

Troping in My Sleep:

• Album Title Drop: Subverted with Feeling Strangely Fine as it' doesn't have its title to appear directly in a song, but "All Worked Out" has a variation of it with the line "It's strange but you're feeling fine." Played straight with "Chemistry" from All About Chemistry.
• Armor-Piercing Question: Used in "You're Not Alone":
  "Who you gonna believe, the TV or your beating heart?"
• Continuity Nod: Their debut EP is called Pleasure, which was the first name for the band before they settled on "Semisonic".
• Does This Remind You of Anything? "Get A Grip" is about masturbation and the music video, set at a gym, runs with it: for instance a woman bouncing up and down while sweating with a pained look on her face turns out to be jogging on a treadmill, while a man outside the gym is rapidly moving his hand near his crotch but turns out to be cleaning his glasses. Eventually they do some Lampshade Hanging by having a young boy walk into the building, look around for a second and run out the door, clearly sensing something age inappropriate is happening.
• Double Entendre: A non-sexual example for "Closing Time", which is both about the last call at a bar and giving birth.
• Face on the Cover: The album cover for Feeling Strangely Fine has all the three members in it.
• Lighter and Softer: Feeling Strangely Fine compared to Great Divide.
• Missed Him by That Much: The music video for "Closing Time" has both the singer and a woman go to the same club, where they continuously and unintentionally just manage to keep missing seeing each other; the woman gets there first, looks around, and leaves, and as she leaves, she walks just past the singer as he comes in, with neither of them seeing the other. The singer also then looks around for the woman too and then leaves. The video ends as the singer meets the band outside by the car and shrugs.
• Mixtape of Love: "Singing In My Sleep" is about this.
• Rock Trio
• Split Screen: The iconic music video for "Closing Time" uses this.
• Step Up to the Microphone: Bassist John Munson takes lead vocals in "In Another Life" from Great Divide and "She Spreads Her Wings" from Feeling Strangely Fine.
• Title Track: Subverted with the variant "Across the Great Divide".
• Video Full of Film Clips: "FNT" had two music videos made, one with footage from 10 Things I Hate About You and one from The Long Kiss Goodnight.
• Workout Fanservice: The music video of "Get a Grip", which consists of people — mainly women — working out at the gym, complete with rather suggestive closeups.

So gather up your jackets, move it to the exits.
I hope you have found a friend.
Closing time,
Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end, yeah....