Our Lady Peace, Clumsy – 25th Anniversary
On January 23, 2022, Our Lady Peace’s sophomore album, Clumsy turns 25 years old. A quarter-century of Superman’s Dead and 4am and, of course, Clumsy.
While OLP burst onto the scene with Naveed in 1994, it’s Clumsy that I’ve always come back to. It’s Clumsy that’s burned into my brain along with memories of cassettes and CDs and mixed tapes and karaoke and adolescence and 90s Canadian rock and roll.
And I know I’m not alone.
A week before the album’s release, Superman’s Dead dropped as the lead single. And that makes sense. It’s got more edge and oomph than the title track. And just the name alone is attention-grabbing – never mind the way it felt/feels when you hit the Why-e-i-e-ya. The track made it to #2 on the Canadian Rock/Alternative singles chart and opened the door for Automatic Flowers as the next track on the album and everything that came after it.
I still love this song, I still slide back to being 15 years old, to a Discman and a boombox and MuchMusic and FM signals on an alarm clock radio in my bedroom. It’s the entry point to the album and I’ll always be good with that.
At the 1998 JUNO Awards, Our Lady Peace won three trophies in the wake of Clumsy. The JUNO list from the year honours them winners of Group of the Year, Blockbuster Rock Album of the Year, and Rock Album of the Year. They may have won more too if Sarah McLachlan’s Surfacing hadn’t also stolen the hearts of Canadian music.
Note: Last summer we broke down the Top 10 Our Lady Peace songs based on Spotify streams and YouTube plays. Songs from Clumsy took up three spaces on the list (I thought it would be more) with 4am at #10, Clumsy at #4, and Superman’s Dead at the top of the list in the #1 most streamed/played spot.
In the two to three years after this album came out, it was in heavy rotation for me. Already in 1997, I was into country music and pop and rock and roll and trying to find my place as a music fan and a kid in high school and in my own little world. But this album stood out.
And now, when I look back or reach for memories, it’s 4am and Clumsy that stand out.
Before Emo, in the post-grunge, alt-rock boom I was there listening to and singing along with (and sometimes singing without the music on at all) these slowed down, sad, heartbreaking, emotionally-twisting tracks. I didn’t know heartbreak or loss or any of those things like I do now. I knew some, but not what comes with ageing and living and losing.
Note: I’ve got to give it up for Carnival which hits a lot harder now as I quickly approach 40 than it did when I was in my mid-teens.
I will admit that I haven’t listened to 4am a lot in the last few years, and that’s on me. “I blame my father for the wasted years, we hardly talked” hits too hard since I lost my dad. I’m thankful that it wasn’t a phone call, that I was there, that I loved him and he loved me, but it still hurts – and while I have loved the song for 25 years (and am listening to it while I write this paragraph), it’s heavier now than when I was an idiot kid who thought life was hard when I really had no idea.
We’re all dumb and jaded indeed.
Clumsy though, you can’t make me not listen to Clumsy.
From the opening notes, I’m all the way in, every time. And when Raine starts singing, I’m singing (even if it’s just in my head).
25 years later I still need to hear the words, “You need to understand, there’s nothing strange about this, you need to know your friends…” we all do. I know that now, maybe I knew it then too? Maybe Our Lady Peace taught me? Maybe it helped me try to be the friend, as clumsy as you’ve been, to try to make you feel safe in here.
Music can do that.
25 years ago, my 15-year-old ass didn’t know anything about mental health or depression or anxiety. I was a mess, admittedly, maybe more than folks knew, but it was 1997 and boys didn’t talk about feelings, especially with other boys. And we didn’t cry and we were supposed to be tough. And here was the biggest group in Canadian rock and roll telling me and everyone else that it was okay and someone could be here for you and I wish I’d understood it more then and I hope the kid that’s 15 years old now knows better than I did then. Maybe share this song with them if they’re in your life.
And maybe you should sleep. And maybe you just need a friend. As clumsy as you’ve been, there’s no one laughing. You will be safe in here.
I’ve also got my own live version I’ve been singing forever that changes just a little bit of the inflexion and emphasis and feels like I’ve got my own little ownership when I’m the one singing.
Clumsy is Our Lady Peace’s most successful album. It’s certified Diamond in Canada, Platinum in the US, went to #1, had the singles and launched Summersault (1998 & 2000). And while fans will always have their own favourites, especially if they’re diehard fans or they came to the band at a different time, or who knows why Clumsy is it for me. And then Naveed and Happiness… Is Not A Fish That You Can Catch. Those three albums took me from 12 to 17 to 40 (so far). Not a bad trifecta.
For 45 minutes, across eleven songs, Clumsy was my top Canadian rock and roll album for a long time. It’s still a top 5 choice for me because of how these songs make me feel and how I remember them.
If it’s been a while since you listened to Clumsy, I highly recommend hitting play on the stream, imagining yourself in 1997 when you first heard these songs, from Superman’s Dead to Car Crash and everything in between, and celebrating the fact that you’ve made it this far since then, and that these songs made it here with you.
Good for you and me and Our Lady Peace.
Happy Anniversary, Clumsy.
Our Lady Peace, Clumsy Tracklist
1. Superman’s Dead
2. Automatic Flowers
3. Carnival
4. Big Dumb Rocket
5. 4am
6. Shaking
7. Clumsy
8. Hello Oskar
9. Let You Down
10. The Story of 100 Aisles
11. Car Crash
creator of content, daddy blogger, writer, coffee drinker, fan of the Batman. proud mo bro. prouder dad.
