Staying power

Ladies and gentlemen, let us please discuss the curious case of Lisa Loeb. It's been ten years since the horn-rimmed gal from Brown became the first unsigned artist to have a No. 1 hit (that would be "Stay," from the Reality Bites soundtrack). And yet—and this is the part I can't put my finger on—Lisa Loeb is still famous. In fact, I think most people would call her a famous musician, even though her album sales declined steadily post-Bites.

But still, Lisa Loeb has a new record coming out. And a cooking show, which she hosts with her significant other. She can even get her picture taken with Jeff Goldblum!

But seriously, can you name two Lisa Loeb songs without checking allmusic? Or for that matter, remember the name of her last album? Or her first?

It's almost like we all forgot to forget about her. Here's the Billboard chart from September 3, 1994. Anyone seen Crystal Waters lately? Do you even remember what All-4-One look like?

From the All-4-One website:
To their fans and friends, All-4-One had fallen off the face of the earth. Most, if not all, were unaware of the reason that they had been chillin'. They were unaware that one of the members of the band had a motorcycle accident, a rain-slicked highway at night and tangled wreckage. The fans knew the hits, the millions of records sold and the world tours...but, what they didn't know was that unlike drugs, greed and petty fighting, three variables that break up most bands, the All-4-One hiatus was much different.

All-4-One, my friends, sold 7 million records. Each of Lisa Loeb's three major label albums was certified Gold (500,000 sold). And I'll bet you can picture her face, down to the leopard stripes on her trademark spectacles.

So why is this? I'm no authority on this, but I don't think she's the type of person who shows up at lots of important parties and premieres. In fact, judging from her website, she seems to be the type of person who opens for Heart (and hangs out with guys who dress up like Hall and Oates).

Maybe I'm going about this all wrong. Maybe Lisa Loeb isn't famous as a singer/songwriter at all. Maybe she's famous as a symbol. You know, the way Sister Souljah and Ivan Boesky are still famous—at this point, not so much for what they did but for what they represented. Lisa Loeb (it feels weird to call her just "Loeb") represents the possibility, however remote, that anyone with an acoustic guitar and sassy lyrics can conquer the world if things line up just right. We don't sleep, we don't eat, we don't breathe her anymore, but when we kick her under the table, by gum, she kicks back.