Toad the Wet Sprocket was formed in 1986 at San Marcos High School just outside of Santa Barbara, California, when singer-songwriter Glen Phillips was just a 14-year-old freshman, and the other members were 17-year-old juniors. The band drew its name from the Eric Idle monologue "Rock Notes" on Monty Python's Contractual Obligation Album from 1980. Their first public appearance was at an open-microphone talent contest in September 1986 (which they lost).
Toad the Wet Sprocket's first album came out in 1989. Named Bread and Circus, it was their first effort for Columbia Records, who had signed them out of high school. The album spawned the singles "Way Away" and "One Little Girl," which made the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart, but did not receive much attention.
The follow-up, Pale, was released in 1990 and saw their sound mature. Featuring the singles "Jam" and the Modern Rock Chart hit "Come Back Down," the album was still not a massive success.
The band finally achieved fame with their third album, Fear (released in 1991), which became the band's first RIAA certified platinum album. Also, the singles "All I Want" and "Walk on the Ocean" reached the top twenty on the Billboard Hot 100.
In 1994, after years of heavy touring, the band released their follow-up to Fear, Dulcinea. This album spawned the hit singles "Fall Down", which reached #1 on the US Modern Rock charts as well as #5 on the Mainstream Rock chart, as well as "Something's Always Wrong", which also charted. This album was also certified platinum by the RIAA.
A compilation album of b-sides and rarities, In Light Syrup, was released in 1995; it included the single "Good Intentions", which was featured on the soundtrack for the television show Friends. Largely due to the strength of the single, this compilation was certified as a gold album in 2001.
The release of Coil in 1997 acted much like a follow up to 1994's Dulcinea. Featuring a more electric, rock sound, it contained the Modern Rock and Mainstream Rock hit "Come Down", as well as the radio hit "Crazy Life" (which did not chart). The album, despite the success of "Come Down" as a single, failed to reach any sales benchmarks.
Toad the Wet Sprocket formally broke up in July 1998, citing creative differences. Since breaking up, the band performed together in 2002 at a Rape Crisis Center benefit and opened up for Counting Crows. In 2006 they began touring the United States as a band in small-venue, short-run tours each summer.
In 2009, bassist Dean Dinning said Toad the Wet Sprocket was now something each member considered an active project, and though they had not released a new studio album since 1997 and only did small summer tours, they no longer considered themselves "broken up". In May 2010, the band gathered at a California studio to begin re-recording some of their older hits for licensing reasons. Columbia Records owns the masters to the band's albums. Therefore, the band makes little money from them, so to be able to make a living off their own talent again, they made these re-recordings with the goal of having them used in film and TV.
On December 7, 2010, Toad the Wet Sprocket released their first new studio track in 11 years. The holiday track "It Doesn't Feel Like Christmas", a cover of a Sam Phillips original, was posted on their official site, available via Bandcamp, for free download just in time for the holidays, along with a new message on their site: "We're that band that did 'Walk on the Ocean', 'All I Want', 'Something's Always Wrong', and "Fall Down'. The one with the weird name. We're back from a long slumber and look forward to saying hello some time. Keep in touch…" The band had recently signed a deal with Primary Wave to handle their back catalog and any future releases, and on December 11, 2010, the band mentioned, both on stage and in an offstage YouTube interview, that they are currently writing songs for their first new studio album since 1997's Coil. In addition, they began playing two new songs, "Friendly Fire" and "The Moment", which were being worked on for the new album.
On April 12, 2011, Toad the Wet Sprocket released a new greatest hits album titled All You Want in digital and disc form via their official website. The 11-track CD includes brand new studio versions of their hits. The band does not have access to some of the versions they did for Columbia Records in the '90s. However, they did regain full control of the songs from their first two albums, and they planned to re-release them in remastered form on their own label, Abe's Records, following the release of their upcoming studio album.
On March 22, 2013, it was announced via Toad the Wet Sprocket's Facebook page that recording of the new album had been completed. The album was produced and mixed by Mikal Blue at Revolver Studios in Thousand Oaks, California. On June 5, 2013, the band announced the first new single in 16 years on Rolling Stone's website titled "New Constellation". An album of the same name was released on the band's own Abe's Records on October 15, 2013. The band marketed the new album via the crowdsourcing website Kickstarter. The band initially set a fundraising goal of $50,000, expecting it to take about two months to raise that amount. Instead, fans contributed more than $50,000 in less than 20 hours. When the Kickstarter campaign finally came to a close, they had raised a total of $264,762.
In 2014, Toad the Wet Sprocket resumed touring and opened a number of shows for Counting Crows. They showcased some of the new material from New Constellation, the Kickstarter-funded album, including "California Wasted" and the album's title track while playing a number of their earlier hits. During summer 2015, the band went on tour with fellow '90s acts Smash Mouth and Tonic. The band released an EP called Architect of the Ruin on June 16, 2015.
In 2018, Toad the Wet Sprocket announced that they had reissued their albums fear and Dulcinea on a deluxe remastered vinyl LP available through their online store. The same year, they also released a limited deluxe 5-LP box set of colored vinyl for their albums fear, Dulcinea and Acoustic Dance Party.
In a January 2020 interview with ChicagoNow, Glen Phillips stated that "Toad has started recording again." In addition, he confirmed the band's first official lineup change, and that drummer Guss had left the band on good terms. Previous occasional touring member Josh Daubin replaced Guss.
On September 25, 2020, they released a new song entitled “Starting Now”, followed by another new song "Old Habits Die Hard" on October 23rd, from their upcoming album, set to be released in 2021.
There's another band with the same name:
2. Toad The Wet Sprocket was an NWOBHM (New Wave of British Heavy Metal) band active from the mid-70s to 1982. They released two singles, "Pete's Punk Song" and "Reaching the Sky", before their breakup. Their song, "Blues in A", was included on Metal for Muthas compilation (1980).
Stupid
Toad The Wet Sprocket Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I did not look
Talked about the reservoir
His thumbs were hooked
On his carpenter's belt
As he squinted in the sun
Smiled wide many times
Think I smiled back once
And it's frightening
Oh, I didn't expect that from you
It's blinding
Serious are you seriously
I am feeling really stupid now
Last time on the fly
Work had all been done
Sanding down the ceiling
So it ends up in the rug
We were waiting in the bedroom
'Til he finished up
One short "hi" and no goodbye
She says she knew him once
And it's frightening
Oh, I didn't expect that from you
It's blinding
Serious are you seriously
And I am feeling really stupid now
And it's frightening
Oh, I didn't expect that from you
It's blinding
Can't see a think
I see I see
And I am feeling really stupid
I am feeling stupid
I am really feeling stupid now
Stupid now
Stupid now
The lyrics of Toad The Wet Sprocket's song "Stupid" describe a situation where the singer is feeling foolish and vulnerable after encountering someone who has caught them off guard. The song starts with the singer describing the first few encounters with this person, who comes by several times talking about the reservoir. The person is described as a carpenter, with their thumbs hooked on their belt, squinting in the sun, and smiling wide many times. The singer seems to be holding back from engaging with this person, only smiling back once.
In the second verse, the song describes the most recent encounter with this person, who comes by while the singer is waiting with someone else in the bedroom. The person is doing some work on the ceiling and doesn't say much, only a short "hi" and no goodbye. The person in the bedroom (presumably the singer's romantic partner) recognizes the carpenter from somewhere but doesn't say anything more.
The chorus contains the phrase "And it's frightening, Oh, I didn't expect that from you, It's blinding, Serious are you seriously, And I am feeling really stupid now," which repeats multiple times throughout the song. This chorus conveys the singer's feelings of surprise, shock, and foolishness after encountering this person.
Overall, the lyrics of "Stupid" seem to be conveying a sense of vulnerability, uncertainty, and confusion that can come with unexpected encounters with people who catch us off guard.
Line by Line Meaning
Four times he came by
He has visited me four times
I did not look
Each time he visited, I did not acknowledge him
Talked about the reservoir
He talked to me about the reservoir
His thumbs were hooked
He had his thumbs hooked on his carpenter's belt
As he squinted in the sun
The sun was in his eyes and he had to squint to see
Smiled wide many times
He smiled at me many times
Think I smiled back once
I only remember smiling back at him once
And it's frightening
His behavior is making me scared
Oh, I didn't expect that from you
I'm surprised that you would act this way
It's blinding
His actions are overwhelming
Serious are you seriously
Are you really this serious about me?
I am feeling really stupid now
I feel foolish for not realizing his intentions earlier
Last time on the fly
During his last visit, he was in a hurry
Work had all been done
He had finished his work before he visited me
Sanding down the ceiling
He had done some work sanding down the ceiling
So it ends up in the rug
The ceiling particles ended up on the rug
We were waiting in the bedroom
Someone else was there with me, waiting for him
Till he finished up
We waited for him to finish his work
One short "hi" and no goodbye
He only said hello and didn't say goodbye
She says she knew him once
Someone else in the room claims to have known him before
Can't see a thing
His behavior is so unexpected that I'm blinded to the truth
I am feeling really stupid
I feel foolish for not seeing what was happening earlier
I am really feeling stupid now
I regret not realizing the truth sooner
Stupid now
I feel stupid now for not noticing sooner
Lyrics © THE ADMINISTRATION MP, INC.
Written by: GLEN RICHARD PHILLIPS, DEAN V. DINNING, RANDEL S. GUSS, TODD B. NICHOLS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Brian B
Such a great version. Raw and powerful!
Daburcor
What a wonderful band.
John Zapetis
Best audio of live acoustic version of this song on YT. One of my favs. Cheers! Thanks a lot!
Jay Hanneman
This song woke me up from a bad place in my heart...
Cara Mason
Acoustic is so much more beautiful to me 😊❤️
Edward McCall
Love this guy.
mousepolice55
Always excellent!!!!!!
Karla Straight
just really discovered this song.. know one of you will have an answer. Does he feel stupid because 1) the handyman accidentally turns out to be an exboyfriend she never told him about 2) someone she once dated and clearly still has feelings for 3) someone who she now admits ( she said she knew him once) she is/was having a fling with while they were dating/married. I can't figure it out. Help Toad fans!
Cara Mason
Bravo 👏👏👏🌹🌹🌹
Brian Balderson
Kept me alive