Steal My Sunshine
Encyclopedia
"Steal My Sunshine" is a song written by Marc Costanzo
for Len
's third album You Can't Stop the Bum Rush
. The backdrop is based on a sample of a short instrumental portion of Andrea True Connection's 1976 disco
single "More, More, More
". Supposedly inspired by The Human League
's 1981 synthpop
hit "Don't You Want Me
", the song's vocals alternate between Marc
and Sharon Costanzo.
The song became a sleeper hit
when radio stations began playing it in March 1999, four months before Len planned to release its album. "Steal My Sunshine" had a commercial single
release in July 1999 (see 1999 in music
). It received positive reviews from music critics, and its chart success has made Len a one-hit wonder
. The song earned a nomination for "Best Single
" at the Juno Awards of 2000
.
during a time when he and his sister Sharon had gone several months without speaking. While out, he was listening to old disco music with friends and heard Andrea True Connection's "More, More, More
". Marc decided to loop part of the song's bridge
and wrote "Steal My Sunshine". When he returned home, he presented the song to Sharon. The two recorded it on an 8-track cartridge, and she threw the cartridge in a closet. Marc stated that "Steal My Sunshine" did not make much of an impression on him, so Len did not originally plan to include it on You Can't Stop the Bum Rush. The master recording
was under his bed, so the group was almost unable to find the song.
When producing "Steal My Sunshine", Marc Costanzo wanted to make a song similar to The Human League
's 1981 synthpop
single "Don't You Want Me
". As a result, the song's structure is characterized by alternating between male and female vocals from Marc and Sharon. It describes a romantic relationship between teenagers, whose feelings vacillate between extremes.
, released on March 30, 1999 by Sony Music Entertainment
. It received heavy airplay as a result, causing Sony's subsidiary Work Records to push the album's release date from mid-June to May 25, 1999. The song became Len's most successful, reaching the Top 10 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100
in September 1999. It reached the top ten on the Adult Top 40, Modern Rock Tracks, Top 40 Mainstream
, and Top 40 Tracks
charts. At the 2000 Juno Awards, "Steal My Sunshine" was nominated for "Best Single" but lost to The Tragically Hip
's "Bobcaygeon
".
"Steal My Sunshine" received positive reviews from music critics. Rob Brunner of Entertainment Weekly
rated it a B+, describing it as a 1990s "Don't You Want Me" with a "smiley groove and alternating male/ female vocals". For The Village Voice
, Richard Riegel described the song's beat as "McCoy Tyner
playing the Kraftwerk
songbook, outlined in aural neon". In her review for Rolling Stone
, Karen Schoemer compared Sharon Costanzo's vocals to Josie and the Pussycats
. The publication listed "Steal My Sunshine" tenth on its list of the best singles of 1999. The single also garnered high praise from AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine
: "Then, there's Len's 'Steal My Sunshine,' as perfect as songs get. This sun-kissed, sun-bleached blend of hip-hop, pop, disco, post-Beastie Boys cleverness and California culture is a priceless, timeless confection that instantly calls up sweltering, shimmering beaches the second the looped keyboard plays. It's a monumentally great single...put it this way, if 'Steal My Sunshine' was the last song I ever heard on this earth, I'd die happy — and it shows that mainstream pop can truly be transcendent". The song was listed third on the 1999 Pazz and Jop list, a survey of several hundred music critics conducted by Robert Christgau
. In 2007, Stylus Magazine
ranked the song thirteenth on its list of the top fifty one-hit wonder
s, stating that it "perfectly captured that warm, lazy feeling you get when late summer still seems like it could last forever." For a short period of time, baseball player Melky Cabrera
used the song as his batting music. It is also included on the soundtrack of Major League Baseball 2K9
, which was released in 2009.
with two dozen friends while the area was crowded with people on their spring vacations. They spent much of the budget on alcohol, buying so much that they broke their hotel's elevator trying to lift it. They shot the video in the afternoon so that they could recover from hangovers in the morning and drink in the evening. The scenes were shot without a script or storyboard. In the video, Len and its friends are shown relaxing together and riding on scooters, go-karts, and jet skis.
Motorrad, whose scooters were included in the music video, later held a promotion giving away scooters of the same model. At the 1999 MuchMusic Video Awards
, "Steal My Sunshine" won awards for "Best Video
", "Best Pop Video
", and "Favourite Canadian Video
".
The music video also appeared as a bonus feature on the special edition DVD release of the film Go
.
Cassette single
CD maxi single
CD single
Marc Costanzo
Marc Costanzo is a record executive, record producer, artist and songwriter from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Born in Montreal , he relocated with his family to Toronto in the early 90's. He is the lead vocalist and producer of the pop band Len and wrote the hit single "Steal My Sunshine"...
for Len
Len (band)
Len is a Canadian alternative rock group from Toronto, Ontario. They are best known as a one-hit wonder for their song "Steal My Sunshine" in 1999. The band consists of siblings Marc Costanzo and Sharon Costanzo .-Studio albums:...
's third album You Can't Stop the Bum Rush
You Can't Stop the Bum Rush
You Can't Stop the Bum Rush is the 1999 major-label debut of alternative pop/hip-hop group Len released on Work Records. The album consists of a number of songs of different genres....
. The backdrop is based on a sample of a short instrumental portion of Andrea True Connection's 1976 disco
Disco
Disco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...
single "More, More, More
More, More, More
"More, More, More" is a song written by Gregg Diamond and recorded by American disco artist Andrea True, who performed under the name "The Andrea True Connection"...
". Supposedly inspired by The Human League
The Human League
The Human League are an English electronic New Wave band formed in Sheffield in 1977. They achieved popularity after a key change in line-up in the early 1980s and have continued recording and performing with moderate commercial success throughout the 1980s up to the present day.The only constant...
's 1981 synthpop
Synthpop
Synthpop is a genre of popular music that first became prominent in the 1980s, in which the synthesizer is the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s by the use of synthesizers in progressive rock, electronic art rock, disco and particularly the "Kraut rock" of...
hit "Don't You Want Me
Don't You Want Me
"Don't You Want Me" is a single by British synthpop group Human League, released from their album: Dare on 27 November 1981.It is the band's best known and most commercially successful recording to date, and was the Christmas number one in the UK, in 1981, where it sold over 1,400,000 copies,...
", the song's vocals alternate between Marc
Marc Costanzo
Marc Costanzo is a record executive, record producer, artist and songwriter from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Born in Montreal , he relocated with his family to Toronto in the early 90's. He is the lead vocalist and producer of the pop band Len and wrote the hit single "Steal My Sunshine"...
and Sharon Costanzo.
The song became a sleeper hit
Sleeper hit
A sleeper hit, a.k.a. surprise hit , refers to a film, book, single, album, TV show, or video game that gains unexpected success or recognition...
when radio stations began playing it in March 1999, four months before Len planned to release its album. "Steal My Sunshine" had a commercial single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
release in July 1999 (see 1999 in music
1999 in music
-Events:*January 7**After eight years of marriage, Rod Stewart and supermodel wife Rachel Hunter announce their separation.**Paul McCartney attends the first of his stepdaughter Heather's first housewares collection in Georgia....
). It received positive reviews from music critics, and its chart success has made Len a one-hit wonder
One-hit wonder
A one-hit wonder is a person or act known mainly for only a single success. The term is most often used to describe music performers with only one hit single.-Characteristics:...
. The song earned a nomination for "Best Single
Juno Award for Single of the Year
The Juno Award for Single of the Year has been awarded since 1974 for the best single in Canada. It has also been known as Best Single and Best Selling Single.-Best Single :...
" at the Juno Awards of 2000
Juno Awards of 2000
The Juno Awards of 2000 were held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada during the weekend of 11-12 March 2000.The primary ceremonies were hosted by The Moffatts at the SkyDome on 12 March 2000 and broadcast on CBC Television...
.
Background
Marc Costanzo went to a raveRave
Rave, rave dance, and rave party are parties that originated mostly from acid house parties, which featured fast-paced electronic music and light shows. At these parties people dance and socialize to dance music played by disc jockeys and occasionally live performers...
during a time when he and his sister Sharon had gone several months without speaking. While out, he was listening to old disco music with friends and heard Andrea True Connection's "More, More, More
More, More, More
"More, More, More" is a song written by Gregg Diamond and recorded by American disco artist Andrea True, who performed under the name "The Andrea True Connection"...
". Marc decided to loop part of the song's bridge
Bridge (music)
In music, especially western popular music, a bridge is a contrasting section which also prepares for the return of the original material section...
and wrote "Steal My Sunshine". When he returned home, he presented the song to Sharon. The two recorded it on an 8-track cartridge, and she threw the cartridge in a closet. Marc stated that "Steal My Sunshine" did not make much of an impression on him, so Len did not originally plan to include it on You Can't Stop the Bum Rush. The master recording
Master recording
A multitrack recording master tape, disk or computer files on which productions are developed for later mixing, is known as the multi-track master, while the tape, disk or computer files holding a mix is called a mixed master.It is standard practice to make a copy of a master recording, known as...
was under his bed, so the group was almost unable to find the song.
When producing "Steal My Sunshine", Marc Costanzo wanted to make a song similar to The Human League
The Human League
The Human League are an English electronic New Wave band formed in Sheffield in 1977. They achieved popularity after a key change in line-up in the early 1980s and have continued recording and performing with moderate commercial success throughout the 1980s up to the present day.The only constant...
's 1981 synthpop
Synthpop
Synthpop is a genre of popular music that first became prominent in the 1980s, in which the synthesizer is the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s by the use of synthesizers in progressive rock, electronic art rock, disco and particularly the "Kraut rock" of...
single "Don't You Want Me
Don't You Want Me
"Don't You Want Me" is a single by British synthpop group Human League, released from their album: Dare on 27 November 1981.It is the band's best known and most commercially successful recording to date, and was the Christmas number one in the UK, in 1981, where it sold over 1,400,000 copies,...
". As a result, the song's structure is characterized by alternating between male and female vocals from Marc and Sharon. It describes a romantic relationship between teenagers, whose feelings vacillate between extremes.
Release and reception
"Steal My Sunshine" was included on the soundtrack to GoGo (1999 film)
Go is a 1999 comedy thriller film written by John August and directed by Doug Liman, with three intertwining plots that happen to involve one drug deal. The film stars William Fichtner, Katie Holmes, Jay Mohr, Sarah Polley and Scott Wolf and features Taye Diggs, Breckin Meyer, Timothy Olyphant,...
, released on March 30, 1999 by Sony Music Entertainment
Sony Music Entertainment
Sony Music Entertainment ' is the second-largest global recorded music company of the "big four" record companies and is controlled by Sony Corporation of America, the United States subsidiary of Japan's Sony Corporation....
. It received heavy airplay as a result, causing Sony's subsidiary Work Records to push the album's release date from mid-June to May 25, 1999. The song became Len's most successful, reaching the Top 10 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
in September 1999. It reached the top ten on the Adult Top 40, Modern Rock Tracks, Top 40 Mainstream
Mainstream Top 40 (Pop Songs)
The Mainstream Top 40 is an airplay chart from Billboard magazine, and is also known as Pop Songs on billboard.com. It was often mistaken for and confused with the now discontinued Pop 100 Airplay chart...
, and Top 40 Tracks
Top 40 Tracks
Top 40 Tracks is a defunct airplay chart from Billboard Magazine. It was created in 1998, when Billboard Magazine changed the airplay profile of The Hot 100 Airplay to include more R&B, Country, and Rock stations to its profile . To preserve the notion of the former chart, Top 40 Tracks was...
charts. At the 2000 Juno Awards, "Steal My Sunshine" was nominated for "Best Single" but lost to The Tragically Hip
The Tragically Hip
The Tragically Hip, often referred to simply as The Hip, is a Canadian rock band from Kingston, Ontario, consisting of Gordon Downie , Paul Langlois , Rob Baker , Gord Sinclair and Johnny Fay . Since their formation in 1983 they have released 12 studio albums, two live albums, and 46 singles...
's "Bobcaygeon
Bobcaygeon (song)
"Bobcaygeon" is a single by The Tragically Hip, from their sixth album, Phantom Power. The song is named after a town in Canada called Bobcaygeon, Ontario. The song won the Juno Award for Single of the Year in 2000....
".
"Steal My Sunshine" received positive reviews from music critics. Rob Brunner of Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
rated it a B+, describing it as a 1990s "Don't You Want Me" with a "smiley groove and alternating male/ female vocals". For The Village Voice
The Village Voice
The Village Voice is a free weekly newspaper and news and features website in New York City that features investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts and music coverage, and events listings for New York City...
, Richard Riegel described the song's beat as "McCoy Tyner
McCoy Tyner
McCoy Tyner is a jazz pianist from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, known for his work with the John Coltrane Quartet and a long solo career.-Early life:...
playing the Kraftwerk
Kraftwerk
Kraftwerk is an influential electronic music band from Düsseldorf, Germany. The group was formed by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider in 1970, and was fronted by them until Schneider's departure in 2008...
songbook, outlined in aural neon". In her review for Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
, Karen Schoemer compared Sharon Costanzo's vocals to Josie and the Pussycats
Josie and the Pussycats (album)
Josie and the Pussycats, besides being both an Archie comic book and a Saturday morning cartoon series, is also the name of a bubblegum pop singing group from the early 1970s, which was designed to be the real-life incarnation of the musical girl group featured in both the comic and the cartoon...
. The publication listed "Steal My Sunshine" tenth on its list of the best singles of 1999. The single also garnered high praise from AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Stephen Thomas Erlewine is a senior editor for Allmusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for Allmusic, as well as a freelance writer, occasionally contributing liner notes. He is also frontman and guitarist for the Ann Arbor-based band Who Dat?Erlewine is the nephew...
: "Then, there's Len's 'Steal My Sunshine,' as perfect as songs get. This sun-kissed, sun-bleached blend of hip-hop, pop, disco, post-Beastie Boys cleverness and California culture is a priceless, timeless confection that instantly calls up sweltering, shimmering beaches the second the looped keyboard plays. It's a monumentally great single...put it this way, if 'Steal My Sunshine' was the last song I ever heard on this earth, I'd die happy — and it shows that mainstream pop can truly be transcendent". The song was listed third on the 1999 Pazz and Jop list, a survey of several hundred music critics conducted by Robert Christgau
Robert Christgau
Robert Christgau is an American essayist, music journalist, and self-proclaimed "Dean of American Rock Critics".One of the earliest professional rock critics, Christgau is known for his terse capsule reviews, published since 1969 in his Consumer Guide columns...
. In 2007, Stylus Magazine
Stylus Magazine
Stylus Magazine was an online music and film magazine launched in 2002. It featured long-form music journalism, four daily music reviews, movie reviews, a number of different podcasts, an MP3 blog, and a text blog....
ranked the song thirteenth on its list of the top fifty one-hit wonder
One-hit wonder
A one-hit wonder is a person or act known mainly for only a single success. The term is most often used to describe music performers with only one hit single.-Characteristics:...
s, stating that it "perfectly captured that warm, lazy feeling you get when late summer still seems like it could last forever." For a short period of time, baseball player Melky Cabrera
Melky Cabrera
Melky Astacio Cabrera is a Major League Baseball outfielder for the San Francisco Giants.-Minors:Cabrera was signed by the New York Yankees on November 13, 2001, at age 17...
used the song as his batting music. It is also included on the soundtrack of Major League Baseball 2K9
Major League Baseball 2K9
Major League Baseball 2K9 or, in short, MLB 2K9, is a MLB licensed baseball simulation video game published by 2K Sports. The game was developed for Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable and Wii...
, which was released in 2009.
Music video
The song's music video was directed by Marc Costanzo and Bradley Walsh, under the stage names The Burger Pimp and B-Rad. When Len had signed to Work Records, one of its demands was to be able to direct its own videos. The group used a $100,000 budget to make the video. They flew to Daytona Beach, FloridaFlorida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
with two dozen friends while the area was crowded with people on their spring vacations. They spent much of the budget on alcohol, buying so much that they broke their hotel's elevator trying to lift it. They shot the video in the afternoon so that they could recover from hangovers in the morning and drink in the evening. The scenes were shot without a script or storyboard. In the video, Len and its friends are shown relaxing together and riding on scooters, go-karts, and jet skis.
Motorrad, whose scooters were included in the music video, later held a promotion giving away scooters of the same model. At the 1999 MuchMusic Video Awards
MuchMusic Video Awards
The MuchMusic Video Awards are annual awards presented by the Canadian music video channel MuchMusic to honour the year's best music videos....
, "Steal My Sunshine" won awards for "Best Video
Best Video (MMVA Award)
The following is a list of the MuchMusic Video Awards winners for Best Video....
", "Best Pop Video
Best Pop Video (MMVA Award)
The following is a list of the MuchMusic Video Awards winners for Best Pop Video.The award for "Best Pop Video" was not distributed at the 2008 MuchMusic Video Awards, but was distributed again in 2009....
", and "Favourite Canadian Video
MuchMusic Video Award for Peoples Choice: Favourite Canadian Video
The Award for Peoples Choice: Favorite Canadian Video is an award presented at the MuchMusic Video Awards. The award was not presented after the 2000 MuchMusic Video Awards until the 2009. During that period, the award show presented the awards for Peoples Choice: Favourite Canadian Group and...
".
The music video also appeared as a bonus feature on the special edition DVD release of the film Go
Go (1999 film)
Go is a 1999 comedy thriller film written by John August and directed by Doug Liman, with three intertwining plots that happen to involve one drug deal. The film stars William Fichtner, Katie Holmes, Jay Mohr, Sarah Polley and Scott Wolf and features Taye Diggs, Breckin Meyer, Timothy Olyphant,...
.
Track listings
12" vinyl single- "Steal My Sunshine" (Steal My Club mix)
- "Steal My Sunshine" (Skyjump club edit)
- "Steal My Sunshine" (Steal My Club mix instrumental)
- "Steal My Sunshine" (More and More instrumental)
Cassette single
- "Steal My Sunshine" (album edit)
- "Steal My Sunshine" (Neon Phusion remix)
CD maxi single
- "Steal My Sunshine" (album edit)
- "Steal My Sunshine" (Skyjump club edit)
- "Steal My Sunshine" (Version Idjut)
- "Steal My Sunshine" (Bougie Soliterre remix)
CD single
- "Steal My Sunshine"
- "Steal My Sunshine" (Skyjump club edit)
- "Steal My Sunshine" (Version Idjut)
Peak positions
| Chart (1999) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Canadian RPM RPM (magazine) RPM was a Canadian music industry publication that featured song and album charts for Canada. The publication was founded by Walt Grealis in February 1964, supported through its existence by record label owner Stan Klees. RPM ceased publication in November 2000.RPM stood for "Records, Promotion,... Singles Chart |
1 |
| Dutch Mega Top 100 | 89 |
| New Zealand Singles Chart | 34 |
| UK Singles Chart | 8 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 9 |
| U.S. Billboard Adult Top 40 | 7 |
| U.S. Billboard Modern Rock Tracks | 5 |
| U.S. Billboard Top 40 Mainstream | 3 |
| U.S. Billboard Top 40 Tracks | 3 |
| Chart (2000) | Peak position |
| Australian ARIA Singles Chart | 3 |
| Swedish Singles Chart | 28 |
End-of-year charts
| End-of-year chart (1999) | Position |
|---|---|
| Canadian RPM Singles Chart | 15 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 78 |