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Crowded House’s “Don’t Dream It’s Over” is one of the most memorable tunes of the ’80s, and the band’s Neil Finn explores that lasting legacy on the latest edition of The Story Behind the Song.
Crowded House helped launch a new post-New Wave era in pop music in 1986, creating beautifully simple, earthy melodies driven by guitars rather than synths. Lead singer, guitarist, and songwriter Neil Finn founded the band after the demise of Split Enz (a Kiwi band out of New Zealand with several iconic songs of its own.) Over the years, the band has somewhat quietly sold over 15 million albums worldwide and continues to release new music; just earlier this year, the band released Dreamers Are Waiting, their first LP in over a decade. And Finn continues to record as a solo artist as well, not to mention joining Fleetwood Mac in 2018.
Finn’s most iconic song is, without a doubt, “Don’t Dream It’s Over” – you know, the “Hey Now, Hey Now” song. It has transcended mere “classic” status over the years to become one of the most enduring music anthems of the past several decades, inspiring sing-alongs to this day. Neil wrote this song in less than 24 hours, something this podcast has revealed to be quite common for artists when creating their most lasting, signature songs.
In this sixth episode of The Story Behind the Song, host Peter Csathy interviews Finn about “Don’t Dream It’s Over” and how it came to be. The two also discuss Neil’s beautiful love song “Fall at Your Feet” from Crowded House’s third album, Woodface. Through it all, Finn touches on his continuing “out of the box” musical journey, from Split Enz, to Crowded House, to solo artist, to Fleetwood Mac — and what’s next for it all.
Listen to Finn discuss Crowded House’s “Don’t Dream It’s Over” in episode above or via the full video interview below. Make sure you like and subscribe to The Story Behind the Song wherever you get your podcasts, and follow the Consequence Podcast Network for updates on all our series.
(Editor’s Note: You can also catch Crowded House on their 2022 tour by getting tickets here.)
For more from our host, follow Peter Csathy on Twitter @pcsathy and check out his company CREATV Media.
Theme music courtesy of Juan Pieczanski.