It's about a man dealing with a wife/girlfriend who is struggling with addiction.

🎶 Hold My Hand 🎶 Another top hit from Hootie & The Blowfish from the Album: Cracked Rear View 1994

Fun fact: Hootie & The Blowfish essentially got their break on "Late Night W/ David Letterman" in 1994. They had just released their album, and it was doing okay and getting some airplay, and Dave heard the song "Hold My Hand" on the radio and liked it so much that he asked his producer to invite them to perform the song on his show. After their performance, their album sales skyrocketed and became one of the biggest albums of the decade. Then, 21 years later as Dave was getting ready to retire from TV, he invited them back to perform again as one of his last musical guests as his show wound down, and they were honored to perform the same song.

“ Only Wanna Be With You” is a little more up tempo and is a GREAT song! ❤

I've always liked this one. 1994 release. It just amazes me that a lot of younger people have never heard this, but, then I realize this song is 30 years old, and that generation didn't necessarily get their music from radio and/or MTV. So, with the internet, people can just hear only the stuff they want to hear, and ignore the rest, unlike radio.

The last verse still gives me chills almost 30 years later.

They were so huge that the hit tv show "Friends" had a scene where the three Friends ladies (Monica, Rachel and Phoebe) had returned from their concert. They claimed they not only kissed Hootie, but the Blowfish too! Us older folks see cowboy Darius Rucker and think "Hootie".

My sister just lost her battle with addiction on February 7th of this year. I wasn't sure if I could make it through this video because this song always makes me think of her and the struggles she faced being an addict. It's so sad. My heart is shattered 💔 . Thanks for doing this reaction. Love you guys.

Boogie and the blow fish were a college band that made it BIG.

Darius said in an interview that he always wanted to sing country but the band voted the other direction. He ended up country in the end anyways. Dosen't matter what he is singing it fantastic.

The album this is on, Cracked Rear View, is an amazing album. There is a story I read about them as to why they are named Hootie and The Blowfish. I read that 2 of them were going to UNC at the time and started a group. One night they were at a party and two of their friends showed up at the same time. One of their friends who wore thick glasses reminded them of an owl hence the name Hootie. The second friend used to puff up his cheeks, for what reason I do not know, and it reminded them of a blowfish. They walked in together and someone said "Hey, it's Hootie and the Blowfish!". The band members looked at each other and they both loved the name.

One of the best albums of the 90s “Cracked Rear View”. A treasure trove of hit after hit.

One thing I know about Darius Rucker.. He wanted to do Country from the start.. but he knew it was next to impossible to make it in country back then as a black artist.. so he figured.. if he could just make it in music in another genre.. get popular enough.. he could eventually have a better chance and warmer welcome into country... and that's exactly what happened! Sad that he had to think that way.. but he wasn't wrong unfortunately! But in the end... he has had 2 major careers! Major in Alternative Rock.. and Major in Country! Who else can claim that one! lol .. Darius is Amazing! So glad he got what he wanted!!

Growing up in the 70s and 80s, I had a hard time with the changes in music, this is one of those bands that got me through the 90s.

***Brantley Smith, the band's first drummer is my friend. He left the band to be a church music minister. He also played the cello at my wedding.*** With the rich, bluesy vocals of Darius Rucker and gleeful harmonies of guitarist Mark Bryan, bassist Dean Felber and drummer Jim “Soni” Sonefeld, Hootie & the Blowfish sold over 25 million records worldwide after their infectious melodies hit the airwaves in 1994 with hits such as “Hold My Hand”, “Let Her Cry” and “Only Wanna Be With You.” One of the biggest misconceptions to most people is that Hootie & The Blowfish became an overnight success in 1994 when their debut album Cracked Rear View, moved over 16 million copies (and counting) in the U. S. alone. What most people don’t know was that the album’s triumph came after a decade of hard work. The quartet met while attending the University of South Carolina in Columbia in the late 1980s. New freshman Mark Bryan heard Darius Rucker singing in the showers of the dorm they shared and was impressed by his vocal ability. Bryan and Rucker began playing cover tunes as The Wolf Brothers and eventually hooked up with Dean Felber, a former high school bandmate of Bryan’s, and Brantley Smith as Hootie & The Blowfish. (The unlikely moniker was borrowed from the nicknames of two college friends.) When Smith’s true passion called him home to Greenville, SC in 1989, Bryan reached out to classmate Jim (Soni) Sonefeld to join the band and the immediate chemistry was undeniable! By the time they graduated, endless gigs at frat parties and local bars had built a major local buzz. “We’d started adding original material to our repertoire,” Bryan recalled. “Our songs went over well, so we decided to see if we could make a career out of it. Even if we hadn’t had a hit, I know we’d still be making music today, because it’s exactly what we want to be doing.” The band’s secret weapon, and the force that pulls all of its diverse influences together, is the voice of Darius Rucker, an expressive instrument brimming with gritty soul and subtle wit. When he sings, the songs are imbued with a buoyant good humor and an openhearted joy that connects on an almost spiritual level with audiences all over the world. “Having Darius in the band is a wonderful luxury,” Mark Bryan explained. “We can try something funky, or bluegrassy or a ballad; we can run the gamut stylistically, but never stray too far from our sound because once Darius starts singing, it’s Hootie and the Blowfish. In the next five years, Hootie & The Blowfish worked their way up the food chain from local draw to gigs all over the Carolinas and finally, the entire East Coast. Their blend of pop, folk, blues, soul and rock made them hard to pigeonhole, but easily accessible to anyone who loved good music. Atlantic Records, impressed by the tens of thousands of Kootchypop copies already sold without the help of a label, signed them and released Cracked Rear View in 1994. The album had been out for six months before the band played on the Late Show with David Letterman. Letterman told his audience “If you don’t have this album, there’s something wrong with you.” The day after the show aired, sales went from four or five thousand a week to 17,000 a week, and eventually Number One on the Billboard charts the following spring. It remains a strong seller today. “It became dream-like,” Rucker recalled. “I’d wished for it, but I’m not sure I believed it, even as it was happening. We were on tour constantly; the whole thing is still kind of a blur.” At the end of the year, Cracked Rear View and the band won two Grammy’s - Best New Artist and Song of the Year by duo or group for “Let Her Cry.” They also took home an MTV Video Music Award for Best New Artist for “Hold My Hand,” a Billboard Music Award for album of the year, a People’s Choice Award for Album of the Year and a People’s Choice Award for Best Selling Artist, a feat they duplicated in 1996. Cracked Rear View went on to earn the band Billboard’s Band of the Year Award in 1996 and the RIAA’s Diamond Award for sales of 10 million units. Cracked Rear View remains the 9th best selling album in music business history, and all albums combined, have moved over 25 million worldwide. www.hootie.com/about/

Listening from Finland 🇫🇮 ❤

Hootie And The Blowfish are AMAZING! They were one of the top bands in the 90's.. they had major hits! Soo many great songs!

As a former musician and song writer. The delivery of the song was absolutely spot on in many different ways

This song, Hold My Hand, Only Wanna Be With You and Time were the four songs from the album CRACKED REAR VIEW that made Hootie & The Blowfish a pop radio staple in 1994. All four songs hit the Top Five on the Airplay chart.

You guys MUST dig into Hootie ... they simply rocked and have many, many hits before Darius went solo.

Oh yeah!!! 😊❤Love some Hootie & the Blowfish!

I knew them when they went to University of South Carolina and used to play outside in the dirt before football games

I saw these guys at a club in Pittsburgh a couple months before they hit it big nationally. I remember thinking these guys are going places because they had such a good sound.

Any song from their “Cracked RearView” album is awesome!!

Darius is a great guy. I was born and raised in Charleston, SC as well. My grandma lived two doors down from his. Our high schools were always competing. He is extremely down to earth and although living a better life now, never forgot where he came from and gives back generously. He once said there’s a fine line between southern rock and country and he’s blurred that line.

This album by Hootie and the Blowfish was a massive hit, with 3 or 4 big hits

As a member of Hootie and the Blowfish, Rucker landed two No.1 albums, several top 40 hits, and two Grammy wins. Then, in 2008, he released his debut country album Learn to Live. Finding acceptance in country music coming from another genre was hard enough. Like Bey, Rucker also had to deal with people questioning his authenticity as well as outright racism. In a recent interview, he weighed in on the pop superstar’s foray into country music.

He will always be Hootie & the Blowfish to me. Love the rock from my college days.

Strongly suggest “Only wanna be with you” next from Hootie and the Blowfish.

Hootie and the Blowfish were huge when I was an early teen. Can remember hearing this (and them in general) many times while at school events or county fairs and it brings me back to those days like it wasn't 30 yrs ago now.

In the 90s this band was larger than life.. well they were large and more of a college band like REM. Hence the line “Michael Stripes not far behind”.

90's classic

Cracked rear View album,not a bad song on it. Darius voice is so unique and expressive. One of my favorite male voices of all time. One of the best Debut albums ever.

The heartbeat of this band is often over looked drummer Jim Sonefeld. This band was huge in the 90’s and 2000’s… Fun reaction and review 👊🏻

Don't forget that this was the early 90s. After the glam rock of the 80s people were looking for songs with deeper meaning that could be played on the radio.

Cracked Rear View Window is just an awesome album. Best selling album of 1995!

Okay, so I was going to say how much this reminds me of She Talks to Angels, then I found the video of Darius Rucker singing She Talks to Angels with the Black Crowes! Both are great songs! Darius is amazing whatever genre he chooses!

Hootie and the blowfish was one of the few 90s rock bands that I liked a lot! I grew up in the 70s and 80s, and so the 90s music did not appeal much. When I first heard Darius Rucker, I knew he sounded familiar but I couldn’t put a finger on where I had heard his voice. When I found out that’s who he was I said to myself oh my goodness how did I not recognize him. He sings a little different, but the voice is still just as beautiful. 6:11

Awesome tune!!! This is my favorite song from them.

"Hold My Hand"...first big hit

I LOVE HATBF!!! They have so many great songs!!

Loved Hootie and the Blowfish, saw them 3 times.

Darius wrote the song as well, a whole lot of talent....

Rucker was inspired to write this after hearing the Black Crows She Talks to Angles.

Good lord, I have not heard this song in a long time, but it is so packed with feeling. I have loved it since it came out. Gets me every time. So good.

Brings back so many memories of the 90s which was a good decade and i didn't realize this song is 30 years old this year wow that's amazing

Man, this song was HUGE in the 90s. I was going through a breakup when I first heard it. ha!

This song is not rock, it's pure rhythm and blues.💯🤗❤️✌️

Rucker has a sweet voice enjoyed the blowfish for so many years and the track Look away. 4-Stars.

Chills and tears.

Great history,thank you!

Their debut album Cracked Rear View is phenomenal. Top twenty all-time in album sales

Darius has mad singing skills. I knew of him as Hootie, but his Darius cover of Wagon Wheel was epic! He's had some great other Country songs since then as well! Great overall artist! Peace, Love!!

Rear Cracked View is packed with hits.

Darius is just incredible. Cracked Rear View, HUGE.

This Thier Second Top Ten , Was A HUGE "College Hit", A Bit, Before It Broke, Mainstream ,/ Nationwide, Etc.. Ohio State Campus/ N. HIGH ST.( Rt#23) , AT "Mean - Mr Mustards" ...Memories... 👌😁👋 🎶🎵🎶 😎 🤔

My favorite by this band and love Darius. Wagon Wheel is great

It's been a minute since I've heard their music. I really miss hearing his voice.

Great reaction! I always enjoyed Hootie and the Blowfish. Darius' voice was a large part of the appeal, but the group has many catchy songs. I've also enjoyed the country songs that I have heard from Darius.

"She says you're the one I love the most but Stipe's not far behind" refers to Michael Stipe, the lead singer from R.E.M.

I love "Time" great vocals great song from the same LP guys

so you can relate to most of us listening to him do country because this is how most of us were introduced to Darius...

Such a powerful song!

He's back to doing Hootie and the Blowfish this summer on tour. Catch him live.

This was the era of Counting Crows and Collective Soul, and this song fits right into that sound that we lived with almost exclusively and loved so much. Check out Counting Crows' song "Round Here" to see what I'm on about. "Mr. Jones" was one of their biggest hits, you've probably heard it. How the hell has it been 30 years!? Damn, time's going by so fast.

Every high school girl in my hometown had Cracked Rear View. It was the biggest record of the year when it came out.

You can't go wrong with Darius Rucker!!!

His voice is amazing. No idea why he stopped making this type of music

Loves me some Hootie and the Blowfish.

They Dominated the air waves at one time 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶

Love this song thank you! I also like Darius country!

They have a lot of great songs! Listened to them a lot in college!

Song about being in love with an addict. Heartbreaking Similar vibe and sound in a slightly different way is the Black crows She talks to angels

The guitar player, Edwin McCain, also has a solo career singing. My favorite is "I Could Not Ask For More"

wow. y'all are in for a treat... thanks for the vid, this came out when my kids were little, I raised them by myself so it brings back many good memories

one of my all time favourites from them is i will wait its very catchy

Some of my favorites by Hootie & The Blowfish are "Time", "Only Lonely" and "Running from an Angel."

Have seen Hootie a couple of times at the Hootie Homegrown events in Charleston, his hometown (I think he now lives across the river in Mt. Pleasant now), and Charleston loves them/him and sings all the songs with them. Quite a great experience.

Beautiful but really sad song.❤

You two, especially, will enjoy Darius Rucker's So I Sang. I will look forward to your checking it out in the future.

Darius is a great songwriter and singer.

Do more HOOTIE😊

Great song and band!

they have some good songs for sure.

Loved Hootie and the blowfish in the 90’s. Saw them live. They were awesome. I love Darius’ voice. Hold my hand is another great won by them.

I saw them in my hometown upstate SC in a bar for three dollars before they made it

This is my favorite song from an album that absolutely took the county by storm in the mid-90s.

Fun fact........As others mentioned, they went to the University of South Carolina (Booo! 😂😂) in Columbia (the middle part of the state) and before they made it big, a local department store, Belk, at the mall gave a demo CD of Hootie & the Blowfish music to their customers at the cash registers. I am from (and still live in upstate SC) and was/still am a big big fan of Hootie & the Blowfish and Darius Rucker (even though I am a Clemson fan and the Univ of SC is Clemson's biggest rival 😂😂). Go Tigers! 🐅🏈🐅🏈 I would recommend Hannah Jane and Look Away, both by Hootie & the Blowfish and If I Told You by Darius Rucker.

They sold a LOT of copies of that album. It was right at the point that I was converting my cassette collection to CDs and there were always about a half dozen Cracked Rear View CDs in the used CD stores. I never got that. That many people bought it and didn't like it?

I've seen Darius Rucker 10 times and went to Hootiefest in Cancun the last two years.

This is my favorite song by this great band and it takes me back to 1995.My son was ten and Hootie And The Blowfish were his favorite band so I surprised him with tickets to their concert at Lakewood Amphitheater in Atlanta.Thanks for bringing back those fantastic memories with this song!

You need to do their debut single, 'Hold My Hand,' it's awesome! (The line 'Won't you hold my hand and let her cry' from this song was a reference to it.)

The whole album was massive back then.

I saw the title and thought at first the lyrics were going to be Skylark's Wildflower, "Let her cry for she's a lady". But this song was good, too.

A great group. I saw them in concert when they first starting performing professionally. They were outstanding.

Darius is so fucking smooth.

At some point, music is a sound, but, it is the writing, isn't it. All the best. Cheers.

Hottie and the Blowfish were awesome,and Darius Rucker's voice is gritty cool!🎙🎶🤩

Cracked Rear View 1994 was an awesome Lp. every song on the Lp is great. Hold my hand, Time and running from an angel are some of the best.

I do love country music (Garth Brooks, Reba), but I will never see him as a country artist. He's the lead singer of Hoodie and the Blowfish forever for me.