#1,624 – “Cover Me”

The section about Candlebox in Mark Yarm’s excellent grunge oral history Everybody Loves Our Town makes you feel bad for these guys. It’s not their fault that they came from Seattle but didn’t spend years toiling in the underground club scene. It’s not their fault that Madonna gave them a ton of money so her record label could leave a big ol’ checkmark in an empty box that said “grunge band from Seattle,” and it’s not their fault that MTV played their videos non-stop. However, it is their fault that a lot of their music wasn’t very good, including this dour monster ballad that sounds like its performed by a high-school football player pouring his heart out five minutes after picking up a guitar for the first time.