History Music / SavageGarden

Savage Garden (1995 - 2001) were an Australian duo, consisting of Darren Hayes (the brunet) as vocalist and Daniel Jones (the blond) as instrumentalist, whose brand of soft-rock mixed with straightforward pop was a surprise international hit in the {{grunge}}y 1990s. Though they only released two studio albums (in an era where artists didn't shell out an UpdatedRerelease to tide fans over), they had many successful singles including "I Want You", "To the Moon and Back", "Truly Madly Deeply" and "I Knew I Loved You".

* MotorMouth: "I want you" is a prime example. The few clear lyrics, "Chick-a-cherry cola", are often mistaken for the title.

* SignedLanguage: Darren 'sings' The lyrics at the ending of "Crash and Burn" in this manner.

** It should be noted, that most of the silly love songs had Ambiguous Genders, which could be applied to just about any kind of relationship, Sans for a few songs, like "I knew I loved you".
*** The first album really only has Truly Madly Deeply and Santa Monica to fit this description, but Affirmation has a whole lot more, due to the band aiming for a radio hit. "I Knew I Loved You" was frequently mistaken for the Music/BackstreetBoys or Music/{{NSYNC}} when it came out, such is its overt poppishness.

* CreatorBacklash: Darren didn't like the song Promises for a while, because the band were forced to include it on the international first album by the US label. He has warmed up to it somewhat since then.
* DevelopmentHell: They recorded 'You Can Still Be Free' for their 1995 demo tape, but it completely missed recording for their first album or B Sides. Instead it appeared on their second album Affirmation in 1999.
* ExecutiveMeddling: The International version of their first album (outside Australia and New Zealand) removed the songs "All Around Me" and "Mine", and added "Promises" to make up for it (it was previously the Australian B Side to Truly Madly Deeply). Both were removed because they might offend MoralGuardians in the band's attempt to break the US - "All Around Me" being overtly about sex, and "Mine" having the line 'crosses and crucifixes'. "Mine" was however reinstated as the bonus track on the Japanese version. In addition, "Truly Madly Deeply" was replaced by a version with a new drum track replacing the original drum machine - this version became the hit single version around the world. The track order was changed too in order to give prominence to the singles. The band were annoyed about this, having deliberately sequenced the album and chosen the tracks from a large pool, and feeling that the song "Mine" was important to the album. Darren Hayes insists that people listen to the original Australian version to hear the band's real vision.

* OneOfUs: Darren Hayes is a ''massive'' fan of ''Film/StarWars''. More relevantly to the actual group, it was named for a line in Creator/AnneRice's ''Literature/TheVampireChronicles'':
--> ''The mind of each man is a savage garden.''

* WastedSong: DarrenHayes feels this way about their B-Side "I'll Bet He Was Cool", - he's mentioned it as his favorite song the band did and continues to do it live in his solo career.

*** The first album really only has Truly Madly Deeply and Santa Monica to fit this description, but Affirmation has a whole lot more, due to the band aiming for a radio hit. "I Knew I Loved You" was frequently mistaken for the Backstreet Boys or N Sync when it came out, such is its overt poppishness.

* ExecutiveMeddling: The International version of their first album (outside Australia and New Zealand) removed the songs "All Around Me" and "Mine", and added "Promises" to make up for it (it was previously the Australian B Side to Truly Madly Deeply). Both were removed because they might offend MoralGuardians in the band's attempt to break the US, "Mine" having the line 'crosses and crucifixes'. "Mine" was however reinstated as the bonus track on the Japanese version. In addition, "Truly Madly Deeply" was replaced by a version with a new drum track replacing the original drum machine - this version became the hit single version around the world. The track order was changed too in order to give prominence to the singles. The band were annoyed about this, having deliberately sequenced the album and chosen the tracks from a large pool, and feeling that the song "Mine" was important to the album. Darren Hayes insists that people listen to the original Australian version to hear the band's real vision.

* BreakupBreakout: Darren Hayes, who had a very successful career for the remainder of the TurnOfTheMillennium. Daniel Jones (not to be confused with Daniel Johns from Music/{{Silverchair}}) pretty much became TheGarfunkel, although he still produces and plays instruments on tracks for new artists.

* YouAreNotAlone / AFriendInNeed: "Crash and Burn".

Savage Garden (1995 - 2001) were an Australian duo, whose brand of soft-rock mixed with straightforward pop was a surprise international hit in the {{grunge}}y 1990s. Though they only released two studio albums (in an era where artists didn't shell out an UpdatedRerelease to tide fans over), they had many successful singles including "I Want You", "To the Moon and Back", "Truly Madly Deeply" and "I Knew I Loved You".

* VideoFullOfFilmClips: The video for "The Animal Song" is intercut with clips from the JulietteLewis movie ''The Other Sister''.

* SillyLoveSongs: A ''whole lot'' of them. They were basically TheNineties' answer to Air Supply in this regard. Not too surprising, given they worked with Charles Fisher who produced for that group.

* CoveredUp: Music/{{Cascada}} is often the attributed artist to "Truly Madly Deeply" amongst the younger generation.

* YouAreNotAlone: "Crash and Burn".

Savage Garden (1995 - 2001) were an Australian duo, whose brand of soft-rock mixed with straightforward pop was a surprise hit in the {{grunge}}y 1990s. Though they only released two studio albums (in an era where artists didn't shell out an UpdatedRerelease to tide fans over), they had many successful singles including "I Want You", "To the Moon and Back", "Truly Madly Deeply" and "I Knew I Loved You".

After splitting in 2001, Darren Hayes is continued with a solo career with some success.