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No Rain

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"No Rain"
U.S. CD maxi-single
Single by Blind Melon
from the album Blind Melon
B-side
  • "Drive" (live)
  • "Soak the Sin" (live)
Released1993 (1993)
StudioLondon Bridge (Seattle, Washington)
Genre
Length3:37
LabelCapitol
Songwriter(s)Blind Melon
Producer(s)
Blind Melon singles chronology
"Tones of Home"
(1992) 		"No Rain"
(1993) 		"I Wonder"
(1993)

"No Rain" is a song by American rock band Blind Melon. It was released in 1993 as the second single from the band's debut album Blind Melon. The song is well known for its accompanying music video, which features the "Bee Girl" character. The music video, directed by Samuel Bayer, received heavy airplay on MTV at the time of its release. It subsequently helped propel Blind Melon to multi-platinum level.

The song is the band's highest-charting song, reaching number 20 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number one on both the Billboard Album Rock Tracks and Modern Rock Tracks charts. It proved to be successful internationally, peaking at number one in Canada and number eight in Australia.

Background

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"No Rain" is in the key of E Mixolydian, and is performed in a moderately fast tempo.[4]

Although the song is credited to the whole band, it was bassist Brad Smith who wrote the greater part of "No Rain". He said: "The song is about not being able to get out of bed and find excuses to face the day when you have really, in a way, nothing." At the time, Smith had been dating a girl who was going through depression (she would sleep through sunny days and complain when it did not rain), and for a while he told himself that he was writing the song from her perspective, though Smith later realized that he was also writing it about himself.[5]

Music video

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The music video, directed by Samuel Bayer, stars Heather DeLoach as the "Bee Girl", a young tap dancer wearing a homemade bee costume and large glasses, modeled after the Blind Melon album cover: a family picture of Georgia Graham, younger sister of drummer Glen Graham.[6] The Bee Girl's story is intercut with footage of Blind Melon performing in a field against a clear blue sky.

It opens on the girl's tap routine; the audience responds with mocking laughter, and the girl runs off-stage in tears. As the song plays, she wanders through Los Angeles, stopping to perform her dance for whoever will watch, but she still feels alone. Ultimately, at the point in the song where the word "escape" is repeated, she peeks through a gate, which elicits a look of astonishment on her face, then runs through it to join a group of "bee people" just like her, dancing joyfully in a green field.

As a result of the video, DeLoach appeared on the 1993 MTV Video Music Awards doing her "Bee Girl" dance to close the show, and also appeared as the "Bee Girl" in the video for "Weird Al" Yankovic's song "Bedrock Anthem".[7][8]

Reception

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Pitchfork described the song as "a playfully jingle-jangle riff that feels strummed from a hammock, a beguiling falsetto vocal from wildly charismatic frontman Shannon Hoon, a sweet and mournful lyric about watching the world go by that doesn't sound depressed even though it literally describes depression."[9]

Track listings

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Charts

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Certifications

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Region Certification Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[38] Gold 35,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[39] Silver 200,000‡

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.
‡ Sales streaming figures based on certification alone.

Release history

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Region Date Format(s) Label(s) Ref.
United States 1993
  • CD
  • cassette
 Capitol
United Kingdom November 29, 1993
  • 7-inch vinyl
  • 12-inch vinyl
  • CD
  • cassette
 [40]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas (January 1, 1997). "Various Artists - MTV's Best of the Buzz Bin, Vol. 1 (1996)". In Bogdanov, Vladimir; Erlewine, Michael; Erlewine, Stephen Thomas; Unterberger, Richie; Woodstra, Chris (eds.). AllMusic Guide to Rock. San Francisco: Miller Freeman, Inc. p. 1080.
  2. ^ a b Starkey, Glen (August 30, 2018). "Blind Melon with local singer Travis Warren plays SLO Brew on Sept. 5". New Times. Retrieved August 23, 2020.
  3. ^ Gerard, Chris (April 20, 2021). "The 100 Greatest Alternative Singles of the '90s: 80 - 61". PopMatters. p. 2. Retrieved August 12, 2022.
  4. ^ "No Rain". Musicnotes.com. 1993.
  5. ^ "ShieldSquare Captcha".
  6. ^ "To Bee Or Not To Bee". Entertainment Weekly. No. 189. September 24, 1993. Archived from the original on May 9, 2012.
  7. ^ Kaufman, Gil (December 10, 2008). "Blind Melon 'Bee Girl' Grows Up, Has Eye on Acting Career". MTV News. Archived from the original on August 3, 2014. Retrieved September 30, 2021.
  8. ^ Hajari, Nisid (August 18, 1995). "Catching up with Heather DeLoach". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved September 30, 2021.
  9. ^ Jeremy Gordon (October 4, 2022). "The Pitchfork Staff's Favorite One-Hit Wonders of the '90s". Pitchfork.
  10. ^ No Rain (US maxi-CD single liner notes). Blind Melon. Capitol Records. 1993. C2 0777 7 15994 2 2.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  11. ^ No Rain (Australian CD single liner notes). Blind Melon. Capitol Records. 1993. 8810252.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  12. ^ No Rain (US cassette single sleeve). Blind Melon. Capitol Records. 1993. 4KM 0777 7 44939 4 9.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  13. ^ No Rain (French maxi-CD single liner notes). Blind Melon. Capitol Records. 1993. 8813322.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  14. ^ No Rain (European CD single liner notes). Blind Melon. Capitol Records. 1993. CDCL 699, 7243 8 81000 2 1.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  15. ^ No Rain (UK CD single liner notes). Blind Melon. Capitol Records. 1993. CDCL 699, 7243 8 81024 2 1.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  16. ^ No Rain (UK 12-inch single sleeve). Blind Melon. Capitol Records. 1993. 12CLPD 699.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  17. ^ No Rain (UK 7-inch single vinyl disc). Blind Melon. Capitol Records. 1993. CLS 699, 7243 8 81024 0 7.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  18. ^ No Rain (UK cassette single sleeve). Blind Melon. Capitol Records. 1993. TCCL 699.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  19. ^ "Blind Melon – No Rain". ARIA Top 50 Singles.
  20. ^ "Blind Melon – No Rain" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40.
  21. ^ "Blind Melon – No Rain" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50.
  22. ^ "Top RPM Singles: Issue 2297." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved September 30, 2019.
  23. ^ "Eurochart Hot 100 Singles" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 11, no. 2. January 8, 1994. p. 11. Retrieved August 11, 2020.
  24. ^ "Blind Melon – No Rain" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts. Retrieved September 30, 2019.
  25. ^ "Íslenski Listinn Topp 40 (4.–10. nóv)". Dagblaðið Vísir (in Icelandic). November 4, 1993. p. 20. Retrieved September 30, 2019.
  26. ^ "The Irish Charts – Search Results – No Rain". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved September 30, 2019.
  27. ^ "Nederlandse Top 40 – Blind Melon" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40.
  28. ^ "Blind Melon – No Rain" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved September 30, 2019.
  29. ^ "Blind Melon – No Rain". Top 40 Singles.
  30. ^ "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved September 30, 2019.
  31. ^ "Billboard Hot 100". Billboard. November 20, 1993. Retrieved August 21, 2023.
  32. ^ "Mainstream Rock Airplay". Billboard. October 9, 1993. Retrieved August 21, 2023.
  33. ^ "Alternative Airplay". Billboard. September 18, 1993. Retrieved August 21, 2023.
  34. ^ "Pop Airplay". Billboard. October 16, 1993. Retrieved August 21, 2023.
  35. ^ "Cash Box Top 100 Singles: October 30, 1993". Cash Box. Archived from the original on October 10, 2012. Retrieved February 5, 2021.
  36. ^ Ryan, Gavin (2011). Australia's Music Charts 1988–2010. Mt. Martha, VIC, Australia: Moonlight Publishing.
  37. ^ "The RPM Top 100 Hit Tracks of 1993". RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved September 30, 2019.
  38. ^ a b "The ARIA Australian Top 100 Singles 1994". Australian Recording Industry Association. Archived from the original on October 25, 2015. Retrieved November 17, 2019.
  39. ^ "British single certifications – Blind Melon – No Rain". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved April 14, 2023.
  40. ^ "Single Releases". Music Week. November 27, 1993. p. 27.
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