MILB: "Freak of the Week" by Marvelous 3

Once again, I'm delving into a lost song that deserved better.  (To be honest, there are two songs I've been searching for, one since the early 90s is a song called "Believe" by DiG.  Found it on YouTube, but not on iTunes.  The other was a heavy rock cover of "You're the One that I Want" from Grease.  The video had two guys in a pickup doing donuts.  It was awesome!  But, impossible to find.  If anyone knows where I can find them to purchase, please put it in the comments.)

I digress, this song is from a group called Marvelous 3 from Atlanta, Georgia.  They release three albums, and basically split up in 2001 after a farewell show in Olympic Park.  However, in the fall of 1998 they released an album called Hey! Album which included the lead single "Freak of the Week."

"Freak of the Week" sounded a bit like a Cars song, and had a bit of simplicity to it.  Moving bass line, horn licks on the guitar during the verse, loud sing-a-long chorus.  It's a song that was basic enough to enjoy, but also good enough that you didn't feel like an idiot liking it.  (A good example of that is "Complicated" by Avril Lavigne.  Simple song, but good enough that you won't get mocked too much for liking it.)

The girl I dated at around that time thought the song sounded like a shoe commercial, and she wasn't too far off on it.  It's a song about being an outsider or being famous in a rock band.  The first verse is: 

"I spend a lot on all the clothes that I've got/ because all the geeks that I meet/ they all look cooler than me./ But what to do when they're all looking at you/ because you're the freak of the week/ cause you're on the TV."

Pretty decent opening.  The second verse talks about his shrink who thinks he's Elvis and wears suede shoes to work.  That's pretty descriptive there.  The break is fantastic, and definitely sounds like the Cars.  repetitive guitar lick, while a falsetto over the top says:

"Tell me I've sold out/ Tell me I've sold out, go ahead./ Tell me I've sold out./  Tell me I've sold out, go ahead."

Interesting, because that's the worst thing you can call a band.  A sell-out.  Maybe this was written because prior to being in Marvelous 3, the band members were part of a glam outfit.  Perhaps in the writing of the song, the singer thought he'd sold out to make commercially viable music, hence "Freak of the Week" and the sold out lines.

Even though they broke up in 2001, the band members still seem to be on good speaking terms.  The lead singer is a guy named Butch Walker, who had a decent solo career and has been a writer and producer of some renowned for other artists.  When he tours as a solo act, he occasionally has the other members from Marvelous 3 come on stage to do some of their songs.  I think that's pretty darn cool.

Anyways, it's a good song, I like it, and listen to it when I feel a bit down.  It peps me up and makes me think that I'll be ok.  Give it a listen, see if you like it, and let me know if there are other songs out there that I haven't talked about that I should give a listen.