Ants Marching
Dave Matthews Band
1994

Another band who rose to obsession status for a couple of decades starting in the mid-90s. In 1995, as a freshman at BYU, I remember piling into a car on a cold December evening with a bunch of other friends on the way to see Handel’s “Messiah” in Salt Lake City. I was on a blind date that evening with a girl named Shauna, set up by my friend Joe. (Incidentally, my wife was on the same group date with the guy she was dating at the time, my very good friend Darren.)

Anyways, we’re traveling on I-15 when somebody puts on a CD with this song called “Satellite.”  I remember being taken aback by how different this sound was; doesn’t seem like much now, but this was coming right in the middle (or maybe just after) the grunge era.  That song, of course, was the hit song from the Dave Matthews Band’s debut album, Under the Table and Dreaming, the single which had just been released a month prior. I remember asking those in the car, “who *are* these guys,” as though I had just heard music from the gods. 

So began a long fandom that included me learning how to download DMB bootlegs off the internet and multiple concerts. In fact, one of the greatest regrets of my life — of my life! — was not accompanying my friend Joe to see Dave and Tim Reynolds do an acoustic show at Kingsbury Hall at the Universoty of Utah on March 3, 1999. It would be more than 15 years later until I finally got to see Dave with Tim. 

For this particular song, you all know it (although my brothers guessed I would pick a DMB song called “Marching Ants,” so maybe y’all don’t know it). This is just a super fun song, instant happiness. With the best part being when the music cuts out when Dave sings, “People in every direction / No words exchanged / no time to exchange” at the end of the 4th verse. 

And listen, you haven’t lived until your man Jared pulls out his violin in your dorm room and plays a slightly off-tune violin intro to Ants Marching. Don’t sleep on those Jared violin solos!

Other Songs Considered:
Way too many to list here, but a sample: The Best of What’s Around, Don’t Drink the Water, Warehouse, Satellite, Say Goodbye, Stay (Wasting Time)