26 Too Much Joy “Crush Story”

Too Much Joy’s “Crush Story” is pretty close to a perfect alt rock collage pop song. It’s certainly the case that no other song they wrote has come close to the level of popularity as this one. For a song as popular as it was when it was released, if feels a bit lost in time. Similar to the way Iggy Pop’s “Candy” was played non-stop on alt radio, “Crush Story” was ubiquitous and then…

What makes this close to a perfect song? 

Let’s break down the sections:

Intro: Great clean guitar riff, then the bass guitar and drums come in with a clock like feel. 

Verse 1: Vocals come in following the chord progression but spread out on the repeated last line. 

Verse 2: Repeat the form of the first verse same spread and repeat of the lines from the first verse with a small build at the end to move into the pre-chorus.

Pre-chorus: Nice driving distorted guitar taking over the the click of the drums during the intro and the verses. Note the move from being on the beat to off the beat for emphasis on the “fine with me.” It’s hard to make something build above a distorted four beat passage, but the off beat does just that. 

Chorus: Good harmonies, good melody, easy to sing along with, but lots of vocal parts happening. 

Small Bridge back to the verses, but now with more guitar riffs. 

Verse 3: More guitar than the first two verses, and no fourth verse.

Pre-chorus: Repeats the pre-chorus/chorus from earlier.

Breakdown: Clock like drums with an emphasis on the bass moving the melody

Bridge: Heavy distorted guitar with an emphasis on a slight funk groove on the drums – a mix of heavy metal and alt rock.

Pre-chorus: But heavier than before with more organ and crash cymbals on 2 and 4. 

Chorus: Again, builds on what came before and is now intertwined with the pre-chorus going back and forth between the two. 

Fade out. 

What makes it an almost perfect song? I don’t think the fade out does it any favors and while I am a fan of the oddity of the main vocals in a few parts, I can imagine it might not be that appealing for some.