Ongoing History Daily: The one-hit wonderness of Harvey Danger
The late 90s were an awkward time for alt-rock. Pop music and hip-hop were the dominant sounds. Meanwhile, the rock music industry just threw stuff out there, hoping that something would stick. This is where we encounter Harvey Danger and their 1998 song called “Flagpole Sitter,” a one-hit wonder that endures to this day.
A couple of facts: (1) Harvey Danger was a four-piece from Seattle. (2) Although the song was released in ’98, it was written and recorded in 1996 as a comment on how the Seattle music scene influenced the music of the ’90s. (3) The title “Flagpole Sitta” isn’t mentioned anywhere in the lyrics. It comes from a 1930 film by The Marx Brothers called Animal Crackers, with the spelling of “sitter” altered to be like “Flame Throwa” by NWA.
