"Losing a Whole Year" is a song by Third Eye Blind

Third Eye Blind

Third Eye Blind is an American alternative rock band formed in the early 1990s in San Francisco. The songwriting duo of Kevin Cadogan and Stephan Jenkins signed the band's first major label recording contract with Elektra records in 1996 resulting in two multi platinum albums. The band's lineup...

 from their 1997 self-titled debut album

Third Eye Blind (album)

Third Eye Blind is the eponymous debut for the American alternative rock band Third Eye Blind, originally released on April 8, 1997. It spawned several singles, including top 10 charting "Semi-Charmed Life", "Jumper", and "How's It Going to Be"....

. It was written by Stephan Jenkins

Stephan Jenkins

Stephan Douglas Jenkins , is an American musician best known as the lead singer, songwriter, and guitarist for Third Eye Blind. Under Jenkins's leadership, Third Eye Blind has sold over eight million copies of four albums: Third Eye Blind , Blue , Out of the Vein , and Ursa Major...

 and Kevin Cadogan

Kevin Cadogan

Kevin Rene Cadogan is an American singer/songwriter, producer and rock guitarist. He is a founding member of the band Third Eye Blind. he performed with the band from 1994 to 2000...

. Released as a single, the song received positive reviews from music critics and charted on the Billboard Alternative Songs and Mainstream Rock charts. A music video

Music video

A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...

 was released in support of the single.

Background

The song was written by Stephen Jenkins and Kevin Cadogan. According to Jenkins, the song "started from a riff that Kevin was playing on the guitar. The words were how that riff made me feel. The story is just lamenting the end of a relationship and all of its wasted time." During a concert on December 9, 2000, Jenkins said that the song "is about a rich girl from Bernal Heights."

Critical reception

"Losing a Whole Year" was released as a single from Third Eye Blind's 1997 self-titled album. The song received a positive reaction from music critics. Chuck Eddy

Chuck Eddy

Chuck Eddy is an American music journalist.He was born in Detroit, Michigan. After starting his journalism career with The Village Voice and Creem, where he published one of the first national interviews with the Beastie Boys in the mid-1980s, Eddy then wrote for Rolling Stone, Spin,...

 of Spin

Spin (magazine)

Spin is a music magazine founded in 1985 by publisher Bob Guccione Jr.-History:In its early years, the magazine was noted for its broad music coverage with an emphasis on college-oriented rock music and on the ongoing emergence of hip-hop. The magazine was eclectic and bold, if sometimes haphazard...

magazine called it one of the band's "catchiest" songs. Allmusic's Mike DeGagne agreed, writing that "its pop-friendly makeup of frolicking guitar and a welcoming tempo make it one of the band's most catchiest tunes."

Chart performance

"Losing a Whole Year" stayed on the Billboard Alternative Songs chart for 14 weeks and peaked at number 13 on May 2, 1998. The song also appeared on the Mainstream Rock chart in 1998, peaking at number 36.

Music video

Third Eye Blind planned to make two music videos for "Losing a Whole Year", but ultimately only one was released. The video features the band performing the song in front of an audience of three laughing women. At the end of the video, two cars crash into each other right in front of the band members.

Charts

Chart	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Billboard (magazine) Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis... Alternative Songs	13
U.S. Billboard Billboard (magazine) Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis... Mainstream Rock Tracks	36