Bowling For Soup frontman Jaret Reddick was the most recent guest on The Jesea Lee Show and was asked about how their song “1985” came together. The song was originally written by the band SR-71 and Reddick actually wasn’t convinced it would be a hit.
Reddick explains, “So essentially they (SR-71) had released it in Japan and then they broke up. We had just finished making ‘A Hangover You Don’t Deserve.’ At the same time, Mitch from SR-71 was shopping for labels and our manager heard it and goes ‘man, that sounds like a Bowling for Soup song.’ And so I heard it and I was just like, ‘man, I don’t know. It’s pretty, it’s pretty abrasive.’ There’s like the line, like ‘never knew George was gay.’ Cause SR 71 was really in your face. I was just like, listen, I just want to be able to change the lyrics and make it more what I would do. More subtle. But lyrically I made some changes, the bridge is different and the intro is different, but you know, we consider it a collaboration and a co-write because my version is different from theirs.”
Reddick went on to talk about online detractors and “gotcha” creators who try to call the band out about it being a “cover.”
“You know, it’s funny, people… And this doesn’t bug me in any way, it’s just weird. Like, people sort of hold it against the song. Like, oh, but that’s a SR 71 song or whatever, you know? It’s like, okay. I mean, I never hid behind that. Mitch is in the video, you know? Mitch Allen walks across the thing and looks at us and goes like this in 1985 like it was never a secret. So when people discover it they’re just like oh their biggest hit’s a cover. But again look there’s a double platinum plaque right there and guess what they say on them? Bowling for Soup. Again, it doesn’t bug me. I just don’t really know why people want to use that to try and bring us down because it’s not an issue.”
Reddick also talks about what nu-metal legends think of him, MGK, the best pop punk song that isn’t Bowling For Soup and more.
