"No Rain" is a song by American rock band

Blind Melon Blind Melon is an American rock band formed in 1990 in Los Angeles, California. The band consists of guitarists Rogers Stevens and Christopher Thorn, drummer Glen Graham, vocalist Travis Warren and bassist Nathan Towne. They are best known ...

. It was released in 1993 as the second single from the band's debut album ''

''. The song is well known for its accompanying music video, which features the "Bee Girl" character. The music video, directed by

Samuel Bayer Samuel David Bayer (born February 17, 1962) is an American visual artist, cinematographer, and commercial, music video and film director. Bayer was born in Syracuse, New York. He graduated from New York City's School of Visual Arts in 1987 with ...

, received heavy airplay on

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

at the time of its release. It subsequently helped propel ''Blind Melon'' to multi-

platinum Platinum is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a density, dense, malleable, ductility, ductile, highly unreactive, precious metal, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name origina ...

level. The song is the band's highest-charting song, reaching number 20 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and number one on both the ''Billboard''

Album Rock Tracks Mainstream Rock is a music chart published by ''Billboard'' magazine that ranks the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations in the United States. It is an administrative category that combines the " active rock" and " heritage rock" fo ...

and

Modern Rock Tracks Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks between 1988 and 2009, and Alternative Songs between 2009 and 2020) is a music chart published in the American magazine ''Billboard'' since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-playe ...

charts. It proved to be successful internationally, peaking at number one in Canada and number eight in Australia.

Synopsis

"No Rain" is in the key of E

Mixolydian Mixolydian mode may refer to one of three things: the name applied to one of the ancient Greek ''harmoniai'' or ''tonoi'', based on a particular octave species or scale; one of the medieval church modes; or a modern musical mode or diatonic sca ...

, and has a moderately fast tempo. Although the song is credited to the whole band, bassist Brad Smith wrote most of "No Rain". He said: "The song is about not being able to get out of bed and find excuses to face the day when you have really, in a way, nothing." At the time, Smith had been dating a depressed woman who slept through sunny days and complained when it did not rain. For a while, he told himself that he was writing the song from her perspective, and later realized that he was also writing it about himself.

Music video

The music video, directed by

, stars Heather DeLoach as the "Bee Girl", a young

tap dance Tap dance (or tap) is a form of dance that uses the sounds of tap shoes striking the floor as a form of percussion; it is often accompanied by music. Tap dancing can also be performed with no musical accompaniment; the sound of the taps is its ow ...

r wearing a homemade bee costume and large glasses, modeled after the ''Blind Melon'' album cover: a family picture of Georgia Graham, younger sister of drummer Glen Graham. The Bee Girl's story is intercut with footage of Blind Melon performing in a field against a clear blue sky. It opens on the girl's tap routine; the audience responds with mocking laughter, and the girl runs off-stage in tears. As the song plays, she wanders through Los Angeles, stopping to perform her dance for whoever will watch, but she still feels alone. Ultimately, at the point in the song where the word "escape" is repeated, she peeks through a gate, which elicits a look of astonishment on her face, then runs through it to join a group of "bee people" just like her, dancing joyfully in a green field. As a result of the video, DeLoach appeared on the 1993

MTV Video Music Awards The MTV Video Music Awards (commonly abbreviated as the VMAs) is an award show presented by the cable channel MTV to honor the best in the music video medium. Originally conceived as an alternative to the Grammy Awards (in the video category ...

doing her "Bee Girl" dance to close the show, and also appeared as the "Bee Girl" in the video for

"Weird Al" Yankovic Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic ( ; born October 23, 1959) is an American comedy musician, writer, and actor. He is best known for writing and performing Comedy music, comedy songs that often Parody music, parody specific songs by contempo ...

's song "

Bedrock Anthem "Bedrock Anthem" is a song by "Weird Al" Yankovic, which was featured on his 1993 album ''Alapalooza''. It is a parody of "Under the Bridge" and " Give It Away", both by the Red Hot Chili Peppers and features the same funk rock musical style. The ...

Reception

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'' described the song as "a playfully jingle-jangle riff that feels strummed from a hammock, a beguiling falsetto vocal from wildly charismatic frontman

Shannon Hoon Richard Shannon Hoon (September 26, 1967 – October 21, 1995) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. He was the lead singer of the band Blind Melon from 1990 until his death in 1995. Early life Hoon was born on September 26, 1967, in ...

, a sweet and mournful lyric about watching the world go by that doesn't sound depressed even though it literally describes depression."

Track listings

US maxi-CD single (1993) and Australian CD single (1993) # "No Rain" (LP version) # "No Rain" (live) # "Drive" (live) # "Soak the Sin" (live) US cassette single (1993) # "No Rain" (LP version) – 3:15 # "No Rain" (live) – 6:00 # "Soak the Sin" (live) – 3:50 French maxi-CD single (1993) # "No Rain (live) – 5:25 # "Candy Says" (Country Jellyfish version) – 3:29 # "Paper Scratcher" (acoustic version) – 3:10 # " Tones of Home" (remix) – 4:29 European CD single (1993) # "No Rain" (LP version) # "Paper Scratcher" (Board mix) UK CD and 12-inch single (1993) # "No Rain" (LP version) # "Soak the Sin" (Board mix) # "Paper Scratcher" (Board mix) # "Deserted" (Board mix) UK 7-inch and cassette single (1993) # "No Rain" (LP version) – 3:15 # "No Bidness" (Triple Vision version) # "I Wonder" (LP version) * "No Bidness" was recorded live at

Bogart's Bogart's is a music venue located in the Corryville, Cincinnati, Ohio, Corryville neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio, near the University of Cincinnati, across Vine Street from the former Sudsy Malone's Rock 'n Roll Laundry & Bar. History The venu ...

, Cincinnati, Ohio, on August 11, 1993

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1992 songs 1993 singles Blind Melon songs RPM Top Singles number-one singles Song recordings produced by Rick Parashar Music videos directed by Samuel Bayer Capitol Records singles pt:No Rain Songs about depression