30 years after ‘Cracked Rear View’, Hootie & the Blowfish say, “Success is the best revenge”

July will mark the 30th anniversary of Hootie & the Blowfish‘s album Cracked Rear View, which is still the bestselling debut album of all time. While the band has been the butt of jokes over the years, singer Darius Rucker points out that 23 million fans can’t be wrong.

While speaking to Billboard about the anniversary, Darius says he agrees “100%” that people didn’t understand what their songs were about back then, and they still don’t.

“‘Hold My Hand’ was a protest song,” he explains. “That’s a song about ‘Why are we hating each other?’ You’ve got ‘Drowning’ [about racism]. … ‘Let Her Cry’ is a dark song.” 

He adds, “I think some people were caught up in ‘Hold My Hand’ and ‘I Only Want To Be With You’ and they didn’t look any deeper than that.”

But when asked whether or not they hope people give the album “a deeper listen” in honor of its 30th anniversary, Darius says, “We wish they would but they won’t, and the thing that really matters to us is 23 million records sold. Success is the best revenge.”

“Say what you want. Don’t put us on the ballot for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame,” he says defiantly. “We still have one of the top 10-selling records of all time.”

Asked if the band is bothered by the fact that they haven’t been nominated for the Rock Hall, Darius notes, “If we didn’t get in, that’s fine. But you really mean to tell us that we don’t even deserve to be on the ballot?”

Darius also recalls when the band won two Grammys in 1996; the second one was presented to them by the late Tupac Shakur. 

“Tupac says, ‘My boys, Hootie & The Blowfish,'” he notes. “That was unbelievable.”