Twenty eight years later and 4 Non Blondes are back in the news: what's going on?
The US group's 1993 single What's Up? reached a billion streams on YouTube for the first time in 10 years since it was uploaded on the platform.
The song joins the likes of fellow 1990s anthems November Rain by Guns N' Roses, Whitney Houston's I Will Always You and Zombie by The Cranberries in YouTube's musical billionaires' club.
While singer Linda Perry went on to have a thriving songwriting career, collaborating with Adele and Pink, What's Up? remains her most enduring success.
The track also buried her band, as 4 Non Blondes fell into the "one-hit wonder" trap. They broke up the following year with one album – Bigger, Better, Faster, More! – to their name.
Here are five other fun facts about the song.
1. The title was chosen for clarity
A confusing aspect of What's Up? is the title's words are never heard in the song. Instead, the chorus has Perry bellowing, "Hey, what's going on?"
The reason for the word change was to avoid confusion in record stores with soul singer Marvin Gaye's 1971 hit What's Going On.
2. The band knew it would be a hit
Sometimes, it just comes down to a gut feeling.
4 Non Blondes guitarist Christa Hillhouse recalls how the band reacted when Perry composed the track on the acoustic guitar.
"I remember when she was writing the verses to What's Up?, she knew it so well, she thought she heard it before," Hillhouse told Songfacts.
“I think that's why the song connects with so many people. What she was feeling she was able to translate. If you look at the lyrics, they don't mean anything. It's the way the song makes certain people feel.”
3. Linda Perry heard the song and cried
Perry was devastated by the song’s shiny production.
"I'm not supposed to tell you this and my publicist said to me 'please don't say this' – but I wasn't really a big fan of my band," she told Rolling Stone in 2011.
"I did love What's Up?' but I hated the production. When I heard our record for the first time I cried. It didn't sound like me. … I wanted to say, 'We're a (cool) band. We're not that fluffy polished (music) that you're listening to.'"
4. Other rockers hate the song too...
What's Up? has appeared in numerous "worst song" lists by musicians.
Mogwai guitarist Stuart Braithwaite told The Independent: "This songs makes me feel ... nauseous."
Meanwhile, Dean Ween, frontman of fellow 1990s band Ween, said What's Up? represents the worst aspects of that era's sound. "It's as bad as music gets," he told The AV Club.
“Everything about the song is so awful that if I sat down and tried to write the worst song ever, I couldn't even make it 10 per cent of the reality of how awful that song is."
5. It got the remix treatment
If that's how Ween felt about the original, where would he begin when describing DJ Miko's version?
In 1993, while the song was riding high in the charts worldwide, the Italian producer did a Europop remix of What's Up? that apparently went down a treat on dance floors in Sweden and Finland.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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In Full Flight: A Story of Africa and Atonement
John Heminway, Knopff
Various Artists
Habibi Funk: An Eclectic Selection Of Music From The Arab World (Habibi Funk)
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5pm: Wathba Stallions Cup – Handicap (PA) Dh70,000 (Turf) 2,200m
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5.30pm: Khor Al Baghal – Conditions (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 1,600m
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6.30pm: Abu Dhabi Fillies Classic – Prestige (PA) Dh110,000 (T) 1,400m
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7pm: Abu Dhabi Colts Classic – Prestige (PA) Dh110,000 (T) 1,400m
Winner: AS Jezan, George Buckell, Ahmed Al Mehairbi
7.30pm: Khor Laffam – Handicap (TB) Dh80,000 (T) 2,200m
Winner: Dolman, Antonio Fresu, Bhupath Seemar
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What is the definition of an SME?
SMEs in the UAE are defined by the number of employees, annual turnover and sector. For example, a “small company” in the services industry has six to 50 employees with a turnover of more than Dh2 million up to Dh20m, while in the manufacturing industry the requirements are 10 to 100 employees with a turnover of more than Dh3m up to Dh50m, according to Dubai SME, an agency of the Department of Economic Development.
A “medium-sized company” can either have staff of 51 to 200 employees or 101 to 250 employees, and a turnover less than or equal to Dh200m or Dh250m, again depending on whether the business is in the trading, manufacturing or services sectors.
Checks continue
A High Court judge issued an interim order on Friday suspending a decision by Agriculture Minister Edwin Poots to direct a stop to Brexit agri-food checks at Northern Ireland ports.
Mr Justice Colton said he was making the temporary direction until a judicial review of the minister's unilateral action this week to order a halt to port checks that are required under the Northern Ireland Protocol.
Civil servants have yet to implement the instruction, pending legal clarity on their obligations, and checks are continuing.
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more from Janine di Giovanni
Earth under attack: Cosmic impacts throughout history
- 4.5 billion years ago: Mars-sized object smashes into the newly-formed Earth, creating debris that coalesces to form the Moon
- 66 million years ago: 10km-wide asteroid crashes into the Gulf of Mexico, wiping out over 70 per cent of living species – including the dinosaurs.
- 50,000 years ago: 50m-wide iron meteor crashes in Arizona with the violence of 10 megatonne hydrogen bomb, creating the famous 1.2km-wide Barringer Crater
- 1490: Meteor storm over Shansi Province, north-east China when large stones “fell like rain”, reportedly leading to thousands of deaths.
- 1908: 100-metre meteor from the Taurid Complex explodes near the Tunguska river in Siberia with the force of 1,000 Hiroshima-type bombs, devastating 2,000 square kilometres of forest.
- 1998: Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 breaks apart and crashes into Jupiter in series of impacts that would have annihilated life on Earth.
-2013: 10,000-tonne meteor burns up over the southern Urals region of Russia, releasing a pressure blast and flash that left over 1600 people injured.
Four-day collections of TOH
Day Indian Rs (Dh)
Thursday 500.75 million (25.23m)
Friday 280.25m (14.12m)
Saturday 220.75m (11.21m)
Sunday 170.25m (8.58m)
Total 1.19bn (59.15m)
(Figures in millions, approximate)
