Essay/Term paper: A look at savage garden

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Culture

Savage Garden is an Australian duo formed in 1994 by Daniel Jones and

Darren Hayes. Daniel Jones, born on July 22, 1973 in Essex England moved

to Brisbane, Australia as a young child, he plays keyboard, guitar,

programming and sings back up. Darren came from a long line of musicians,

so his love for music started when he was very young. When he was little, his

brother had a drum set and when he went out, Daniel would sneak into his

room and play then, he took piano lessons when he was seven. By the age of

ten, he was playing the keyboard and drums in pubs and hotels. Daniel"s

musical influences were, Peter Gabriel, XTC, and Tears For Fears. Darren

was born May 8, 1972 in Brisbane, he is both the lead and back up singers.

At a young age, he began showing alot of intrest of getting into entertainment

by singing and acting around the house which led him to act in many school

plays when he got into high school. After high school, Darren attended

college, to study journalsim, Drama and education. His influences include,

Prince, The Smiths, Fleetwood Mac, Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross, and Duran

Duran. Both the guys are songwriters. Daniel was playing with another band

called Red Edge, when he put an ad in a Brisbane music paper for a lead

vocalist, Darren was studying to be a teacher when he decided he wanted to

get into the music scene, he saw Daniel"s ad and responded, "We clicked

imeadeatly"(Darren Hayes, SavageGarden biography) Darren joined the band

and in 1994, He and Daniel decided they were tired of playing other people"s

music so they left the band and devoted their time to writing and the band,

Crush was formed. Darren and Daniel soon found out another Australian

band also had that name so, they bought the name from them but, then they

found another English band called Crush so they decided to call the band

Savage Garden which was thought of by Darren, it was from an Anne Rice

novel where "she describes the world as two levels, one as a very beautiful

place but,in the other, underneath, we"re all savage beasts"(The conception of

savage garden) in the other,Darren and Daniel so fired by self assurance, sent

out over 150 demo tapes to record companies and management all over

Australia. One by one they got rejected until John Woodruff heard their tape

and thought they had a chance, he immediately flew to Brisbane to sign them

to JWM, his record company. Their first self titled album was recorded in

Sydney, Australia. It was produced by Charles Fisher and mixed by Chris

Lord-Alge. Woodruff released the record to an independent label, Roadshow

Music and in 1996 their first single, I Want You, was released in Sydney. The

single went platnum and became the highest selling single in Australia for

1996. It was also nominated for a Aria Award for the Best Debut Album in

1996 just two weeks after it"s release and it rised to #3 on the national AMR

charts. It debuted at number 31 on the Billboard charts which was "the

highest chart entry ever for a debut single from an Australian

artist."(village.com) It had a slow start until Rosie O"Donnell who loves the

part in the song that says "chick-a-cherry cola" began playing it on her show

and eventually invited them to appear and preform on the air. Their Second

single, To The Moon and Back, "which adresses the insecurities of a teenage

girl" (savagegarden.com/bio)quickly became a hit, reached number one and

sold 135,000 copies in Australia and was in the top 30 in the US. Their third

and most sucessful, Truly Madly Deeply which is a love song "distilled from

the purity of heart" (savagegarden.com/bio),sold 160,000 copies and debuted

at number 25 on the billboard charts. Their album was released on March 24,

1997 and debuted at number 1 on the national ARIA chart where it spent 19

weeks. The album has sold 9 times platnum, 670,000 albums, in Australia

alone. Savage Garden launched their first live tour in Australia, May 1997,

preforimg at sold out shows. Then in 1998 they were on the road again with

their The Future Of Earthly Delites World Tour. Their cd was number 9 on

the top ten best selling albums list from Dec 29, 1998 to Jan 3, 1999. They

are currently in the process of making a new album which shoud be out

sometime this year.