On March 4, 1997, the Australian pop duo Savage Garden made a splash on the music scene with their self-titled debut album. The duo was comprised of Darren Hayes (vocals) and Daniel Jones (instrumentals). The group’s sound was largely influenced by 80s pop but at the same time, fit perfectly on pop radio in the mid 90s.
The album yielded multiple successful singles, including “I Want You,” “To the Moon and Back,” and the most well known, their now-signature song, “Truly Madly Deeply.” Perhaps cursed by the eclipsing and almost one-hit-wonder-esque success of “Truly Madly Deeply,” Savage Garden only went on to release one more album, in 1999, before disbanding in 2001.
The rest of the album is more of the same. Once you’ve heard their big singles, there’s not much need to delve further into the rest of the album and perhaps that is why the group did not last very long after all. Their biggest single after “Truly Madly Deeply” was the 1999 hit, “I Knew I Loved You,” which is basically a carbon copy of the former. Nevertheless, if you’re in the mood for a little 80s/90s pop-rock nostalgia and indistinct background music… then hit play on 1997’s Savage Garden. Though, it may be hard to resist singing along to catchy hits like “Truly Madly Deeply” and “To the Moon and Back.” I may even go dust off my 18 year old copy of the CD and import it into my iTunes.