4. “Bang Bang Bang” – Tracy Chapman (From the album Matters Of The Heart) 1992 Tracy Chapman made some subtle changes to her formula for ther third record Matters Of The Heart. While not a radical departure from the sound and style that had made her a success, Matters Of The Heart is a quieter and more reflective record that draws on both a wider range of human experiences and on a more diverse set of musical influences; all filtered through Chapman’s style, of course. Still, Matters Of The Heart generally has less anger running through its songs and stories while Chapman’s traditional folk mu ..read more

3. “Crossroads” – Tracy Chapman (From the album Crossroads) 1989 Tracy Chapman followed up the success of her debut album by being one of the artists on 1988’s Amnesty International Human Rights Now! Tour. The tour featured Chapman along with Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, Sting, Peter Gabriel, Youssour N’Dour, and was meant to promote the cause of Amnesty International and to raise awareness to the lack of basic human rights many around the world faced. Shortly after the tour Chapman began work on her second album and in October of 1989 she released Crossroads. The lead single fro ..read more

2. “Talkin’ About A Revolution” – Tracy Chapman (From the album Tracy Chapman) 1988 Tracy Chapman had scored a massive hit with her debut single “Fast Car”. “Fast Car” had been politically adjacent as it had powerfully shown the effects of poverty and its cyclical and generational nature. However, to follow it up Chapman released the much more politically direct “Talkin’ About A Revolution”, a song that pulled no punches about the need for change and that time for it is now. The song had been one of Chapman’s earliest songs. She had sung it while street busking in Boston while attending univer ..read more

7. “Monsters” – Sarah McLachlan (From the album Shine On) 2014 Sarah McLachlan went on an extended hiatus following the release of 2003’s Afterglow to be a mother and live a more normal life. She did release the Grammy nominated seasonal album Wintersong in 2006. Wintersong consisted of holiday and seasonal songs but was of a higher quality than the average cash grab seasonal release. Indeed, Wintersong saw McLachlan release her version of Joni Mitchell’s “River” as a single and it went to #71 in the US. Wintersong mixed traditional hymns and carols with McLachlan’s covers of modern classics l ..read more

6. “Fallen” – Sarah McLachlan (From the album Afterglow) 2003 Sarah McLachlan waited a full six years to properly follow-up her massively successful album Surfacing. Of course, that doesn’t mean it really ever felt that she went away since Surfacing spun off hit after hit for two full years, with “Angel” then given a second life when it was used in the film City of Angels. Then the live version of “I Will Remember You” from her concert album Mirrorball became a hit as well. Not to mention all the press and interviews McLachlan did first to promote her Lilith Fair tour and then because of all t ..read more

5. “Angel” – Sarah McLachlan (From the album Surfacing) 1997 Sarah McLachlan had scored three big hits off of Surfacing already when she released the fourth single “Angel”, a song that would become a signature moment. Written early in the writing sessions for Surfacing “Angel” was a tribute to the death of Smashing Pumpkins’ touring keyboardist Jonathan Melvoin, who had died of a heroin overdose. McLachlan was just coming off of a long tour and understood the loneliness and pressures that can come from being a touring musician and how those factors could lead someone to seek escape. “Angel” wa ..read more

4. “Building A Mystery” – Sarah McLachlan (From the album Surfacing) 1997 Sarah McLachlan released her fourth album Surfacing in 1997 and it became her biggest hit and first album to achieve notable sales and chart success outside of North America. The first single was the mysterious and sensual “Building A Mystery”, a song that went to #13 in the US (#3 on the US alt charts) and, unsurprisingly, to #1 in Canada, and helped to launch the album that would elevate McLachlan to the rank of a full-blown star. Indeed, “Building A Mystery” was only the first of four successful singles from the album ..read more

3. “I Will Remember You” – Sarah McLachlan (From the movie soundtrack The Brothers McMullen) 1995 Sarah McLachlan followed up the slow building success of Fumbling Towards Ecstasy and bought herself some more time to work on its follow-up by contributing the song “I Will Remember You” to the soundtrack for the Edward Burns’ film The Brothers McMullen. The film was scored by Séamus Egan and McLachlan and her co-writer Dave Merenda took Egan’s instrumental track “Weep Not For The Memories”, which he had released on his 1990 album A Week In January, and added lyrics and adjusted the melody to cre ..read more

2. “Possession” – Sarah McLachlan (From the album Fumbling Towards Ecstasy) 1993 Sarah McLachlan released her third album Fumbling Towards Ecstasy in 1993 and it was an immediate success in her native Canada where she was already a star. The lead single and biggest hit was the song “Possession”, a song from the point-of-view of a man obsessed with a woman and inspired by disturbing letters McLachlan had received from several different obsessed fans who were stalking her and believed they were in a relationship with her. The most concerning of these was a man named Uwe Vandrei who sued McLachla ..read more

1. “Into The Fire” – Sarah McLachlan (From the album Solace) 1991 Born in the eastern Canadian province of Nova Scotia, Sarah McLachlan was something of a musical prodigy as a child and studied music throughout her childhood. By the time McLachlan was in high school she was fronting a rock band named The October Game. However, after an early October Game show McLachlan was offered a solo recording contract with the Vancouver, Canada based record label Nettwerk. McLachlan was interested and excited but her parents insisted she finish high school and one year of college before she could move wes ..read more