Think about your own life for a second. How exactly
do you measure success in your day to day? Right.
Like, is it just the hard numbers? Yeah, exactly.
I mean, is it about how many people buy into
what you're selling or maybe how loudly your
ideas are applauded in a crowded room? Or do
you look at it from the flip side, like measuring
it by the quiet respect of your peers? Yes. That
critical acclaim from the very specific group
of people who truly understand, you know, the
nuts and bolts of what it takes to do what you
do. It's a huge question. And welcome to the
deep dive. Today, we are looking at a really
fascinating stack of sources. Oh, absolutely.
We've got the release history, the highly specific
chart data, and the background details straight
from the Wikipedia article for a song released
back in the year 2000. A very specific era. Very.
The track is called Pass You By. Yeah. And the
artist is, well, the legendary American R &B
group Boyz II Men. Right. So our mission for
this deep dive, for you listening, is to explore
the anatomy of what looks like a commercial flop.
But one that somehow, against all odds, still
achieved the absolute highest form of industry
validation. It really serves as a perfect case
study in the contradictions of the music industry.
Because when we examine the raw data for this
specific track. the numbers tell two completely
different, almost irreconcilable stories. It's
wild. It really is. You have this stark disconnect
between the consumer reception, which, frankly,
based on the metrics, was abysmal in their home
country. Yeah. And the critical acclaim from
the very highest levels of the music establishment.
So we're going to look strictly at the release
timeline, the specific chart metrics from around
the globe, and the production credits. To understand
how a piece of art can literally be rejected
by the masses but celebrated by the experts at
the exact same time. Exactly. And the trivia
hidden in this track's history, it really makes
you rethink the whole concept of what constitutes
a hit. It changes the whole definition. It does.
And for you listening, we really want you to
keep this in the back of your mind as we go through
the timeline. The pop culture narratives we tend
to just accept without question. Right. The things
we just assume are true. Exactly. They are usually
so much more complicated behind the scenes. What
looks like a massive failure on paper might actually
be a triumph behind closed doors, depending on,
you know, who is holding the pen. That's a great
way to put it. So let's set the scene. The year
is 2000. Boy's Two Second Men is a powerhouse.
unstoppable truly if you look at the discography
listed in our source material they have this
massive catalog of defining singles leading up
to this point songs like end of the road i'll
make love to you on bended knee one sweet day
it's hit after hit right They have been a dominant
force. And in the year 2000, they are gearing
up to release their fifth studio album. And the
context of this specific era for the group is
actually hidden right there in the album's title.
Oh, yeah. The album is literally titled Nathan
Michael Sean Wanya. Which is just their first
names. It feels like a very deliberate choice
to strip away the brand and just focus on the
individuals. Taking that a step further, look
at who is missing. from that title. Right. Because
the source text provides the roster of group
members. And the total list includes Nathan Morris,
Sean Stockman, Wanya Morris, Mark Nelson, and
Michael McCaffrey. Five guys. Five guys originally.
But by titling their fifth studio album simply
Nathan Michael Sean Wanya, they are making a
very literal, specific declaration about the
quartet lineup for this era. It's the fascinating
absence of Mark Nelson from that title. Reflects
the exact composition of the group at the time
this music was being pushed to the public. It's
a statement of identity right on the cover, telling
the audience exactly who is in the room. It's
like they are reintroducing themselves to the
world, laying all their cards on the table. But
focusing specifically on Pass You By, the single
we were tracking from this album, there's a really
interesting twist regarding who is actually in
the room for this one. Oh, absolutely. Because
even though it's released under this very unified,
quartet -focused album title, the track itself
was entirely driven by just one of those guys.
Yep. Sean Stockman is listed as the sole songwriter.
And he's also listed as the sole producer. He
took on both of those massive duties entirely
on his own. Which is incredibly impressive, especially
within the context of a vocal harmony group,
where collaboration is usually the core of the
creative process. Right. You're usually bouncing
ideas off each other. You usually have multiple
writers, outside producers, a whole committee
shaping the sound. But Stockman is stepping up
and taking complete creative control of the architecture
of this specific song. Wow. And when he delivers
it to the label, which in this case is the corporate
machine of Universal, we see the very first compromise
between artistic vision and commercial reality.
Yeah, let's talk about that. The source shows
us two distinct lengths for the song. There's
the main version, which clocks in at 4 minutes
and 26 seconds. And then there's the radio edit,
which is shaved down to 3 minutes and 59 seconds.
Now, 27 seconds might not sound like a massive
sacrifice to you or me, but... In the music business,
why does that matter so much? Like, why does
Universal need a tighter sub -four -minute version?
It comes down to the strict mechanics of radio
playability. Radio stations program their hours
down to the exact second. Every single second
counts. Exactly. They have to fit in advertisements,
station identification, news breaks, and DJ banter.
A song that runs over four minutes, and certainly
one creeping up on four and a half minutes, is
viewed as a liability for a programmer. Because
it throws off the schedule. It throws off the
math of the entire hour. By providing a version
that is exactly three minutes and 59 seconds,
Universal is removing a psychological and logistical
barrier to entry for those programmers. Right.
They are taking Stockman's four and a half minute
vision and packaging it into a product that is
perfectly optimized for the fast paced ecosystem
of contemporary radio. Here's where it gets really
interesting, though, because despite that optimization.
Yep. Despite shaving it down to perfectly fit
the radio format, despite the massive backing
of Universal, and despite being from one of the
biggest R &B groups on the planet, Pass You By
was commercially unsuccessful. Completely. It
completely failed to make the main US Billboard
Hot 100 chart. To not even register on the primary
metric of American musical success is a massive
blow, especially considering their track record.
But the data shows us exactly where it stalled
out. Right on the edge. It peaked at number four
on the Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100. We have
to explain the Bubbling Under chart because it
is essentially the definition of purgatory in
the music industry. It really is. It's literally
the waiting room for the Hot 100. It means you
are just sitting there right on the outside looking
in. If you are number four on the bubbling under
chart, you are essentially the 104th most popular
song in the country. Which is heartbreaking.
You get all the frustration of being close, but
absolutely none of the glory of actually being
on the main list. It's a brutal place for a major
artist to land. However, if we dig deeper into
the chart data, we see that the song didn't just
disappear into the ether. It did find specific
niche audiences within the United States. Okay,
where did it land? It managed to hit number 27
on the U .S. Hot R &B Hip Hop Songs chart. Not
bad. And it reached number 39. on the u .s pop
airplay chart so it is getting some play people
in specific demographics are definitely hearing
it but it just cannot achieve that critical mass
to break into the mainstream consciousness in
the u .s exactly so we had the u .s data did
universal just cut their losses at that point
or is there a global strategy at play here there
was absolutely a global strategy And if we connect
this to the bigger picture, the geographic data
provides a really fascinating contrast. Because
while the United States mainstream was largely
rejecting the song, it was finding a significantly
warmer reception internationally. Really? Yes.
The song actually performed the best in Australia.
It peaked at number 13 on the ARIA top 50 singles
chart. And ARIA being the Australian Recording
Industry Association, they were called on a billboard.
Wow. Number 13 is a legitimate... And it wasn't
just an anomaly in Australia either. The source
shows it also charted in France, reaching number
73 on the SNEP chart, which is the official French
record industry syndicate. Right. And it made
it to number 98 on the single top 100 in the
Netherlands. Why do you think a quintessential,
deeply American R &B group finds a much warmer
reception for this specific track on the Australian
charts than on the main? U .S. Hot 100? It's
a great question. I mean, they are charting at
number 13 halfway across the world, while back
home they are stuck in the bubbling under waiting
room. Is it just a matter of the American market
moving on from their sound, or did the U .S.
marketing team just drop the ball? It's likely
a combination of both. The international markets
were perhaps more receptive to Boy's Tulek Sekine,
men's evolving sound at that exact moment, unburdened
by the specific trends dominating American radio
in the year 2000. That makes sense. Or... Perhaps
Universal's marketing strategy in Australia was
simply more effective at reaching the right ears.
The Australian consumers clearly connected with
Stockman's writing and production in a way that
the broad American pop audience just did not.
Right. It highlights how fragmented audiences
can be and how a song's specific vibe might resonate
with a completely different cultural landscape
than the one it was born in. Okay, let's unpack
this because everything we've talked about so
far paints a picture of a song that genuinely
struggled. Definitely. It's a commercial disappointment
at home with nice, albeit confusing, silver lining
overseas. But here is the biggest twist in the
source material, and it completely upends the
narrative we've been building. This is the best
part. Despite... What's fascinating here is the
massive juxtaposition between the industry establishment
and the everyday consumers. It's night and day.
Think about what this actually means in practice.
The general public, the people buying CDs and
calling into radio stations to request songs,
largely ignore this track it couldn't crack the
top 100 right but the voting members of the recording
academy which is made up of professional musicians
producers and audio engineers listened to this
exact same song and singled it out as one of
the very best vocal performances of the entire
year i have to play devil's advocate for a second
though go for it is this really a pure validation
of the craft of the specific song? Or is it possible
the Recording Academy just saw the name Boys
to Second Men on a ballot and checked the box
out of legacy habit? We see that happen a lot
with award shows. It's a fair question, and legacy
bias absolutely exists. But you have to consider
the specific context of this track. Sean Stockman
wrote and produced this entirely on his own.
It wasn't a factory line hit, utilizing the trendy
producers of the moment. That's true. The peers...
in the academy. The people who actually know
how difficult it is to engineer, arrange and
produce a vocal harmony track were likely responding
to the textual execution of the song itself.
They are recognizing the architecture that Stockman
built, even if the general public didn't want
to buy the house. That distinction really highlights
the difference between a song that is merely
popular and a song that is technically or artistically
excellent. Absolutely. It also reframes Universal's
entire approach to the song. When you look at
the release history, it's clear the label knew
they had something of high quality on their hands,
and they were relentless in trying to force the
public to realize it. They really were. This
was not a song they just dropped once and abandoned
when it didn't immediately chart. The release
history reads less like a standard marketing
plan and more like a sustained siege over three
months. Let's look at the timeline. Because it
exposes the specific mechanics of how a major
label tries to resuscitate a struggling track.
It begins on July 11, 2000. That is the first
impact date. And they specifically target rhythmic
contemporary radio in the U .S. For those who
might not know, Rhythmic Contemporary is essentially
a format that blends upbeat R &B, hip -hop, and
dance music. Exactly. It's aimed at a younger,
club -going demographic. So they are starting
with the core demographic. They are testing the
waters where Boyz II Men has the strongest historical
base. Precisely. They are hoping for a grassroots
groundswell. Then, over a month later, on August
23, 2000, they pivot to physical media. releasing
the CD single over in Japan. Which speaks to
the global strategy we were talking about earlier
with Australia and Europe. They are activating
international markets while still trying to build
momentum at home. Right. And then we get to September.
Now it is two full months after the initial push
to rhythmic radio. The grassroots groundswell
didn't happen. Right. The song isn't taking off.
So what does Universal do? They pivot completely.
On September 11, 2000, they send the track to
adult contemporary and hot adult contemporary
radio in the U .S. Adult contemporary is a completely
different world than rhythmic radio. Totally
different. We're talking about the easy listening
stations, the music you hear playing softly in
doctor's offices or grocery stores, targeting
an older demographic that wants smooth, inoffensive
sounds. That September 11 pivot is the sound
of a label refusing to give up. but changing
their tactics entirely. They didn't get the traction
they wanted with the younger R &B -focused stations
in July, so they regrouped and aimed at an older,
more passive listening audience. It's a huge
shift. And they didn't stop there. The very next
day, September 12th, they pushed it to contemporary
hit radio, which is basically mainstream top
40 pop radio. Wow. You can almost picture the
label executives sweating in a boardroom, just
throwing darts at different radio formats, hoping
one of them finally sticks. Just trying anything.
They staggered this release across multiple distinctly
different formats over a quarter of a year, trying
to find any entry point into the American mainstream.
And they were putting real tangible resources
behind the packaging and the physical extras,
too. They didn't just send out an audio file
to radio DJs. There was a full music video directed
by Darren Grant. And the physical media, specifically
the European CD single, shows how labels used
to manipulate sales and incentivize fans. The
track list on this European release is wild.
You have to remember the landscape of physical
CD singles in the year 2000. Yeah. You are asking
a consumer to go to a store and spend a few dollars
on a piece of plastic that holds just one or
two songs. You had to give them the compelling
reason to buy the disc instead of just waiting
to hear the song on the radio. So on this European
release, track one is the 3 .59 radio edit we
talked about. But then track two is a song called
Darling. Track four is the instrumental version
of Pass You By, which is actually great if you
want to strip away the vocals and really hear
the specific production work Sean Stockman did.
Oh, for sure. But track three is this mysterious
B -side called Rose in a Honeycomb. And what
is so funny about our source material, the Wikipedia
ecosystem, is that Rose in a Honeycomb doesn't
even have its own page. It doesn't. It is actually.
just an alternative search redirect that sends
you right back to the Pass You By article. It
acts as a digital ghost. It exists purely as
a footnote on the track list of a European CD
single for a song that didn't even chart in the
US Hot 100. It's so strange. But for the hardcore
fans who bought that physical disc, that B -side
was a tangible exclusive piece of the Nathan
Michael Shanwanya era. Right. By including unreleased
tracks like Darlin' and Rose and a Honeycomb,
Universal was trying to juice the sales numbers,
hoping the diehard fans would buy the single
just for the exclusive content, which would in
turn push Pass You By higher up the charts. Which
is pretty clever. It all adds to the complex
texture of how this specific piece of music was
packaged, marketed, and sold around the world.
So what does this all mean? We have looked at
the precise dates, the radio formats, the geographic
chart positions, and the industry awards. It
covered a lot of ground. When you put it all
together, Pass You By is an absolute masterclass
in the complexities of the music industry. You
have a scenario where a song can be written and
produced entirely by a single member of a legendary
quartet. It can be aggressively pushed to four
distinctly different types of radio stations
over three months. It can completely flop on
the main charts in its home country. It can then
turn around and become a legitimate top 20 hit
in Australia. And then the Grammy. Right. After
all of that commercial confusion and boardroom
panic, it can still secure a Grammy nomination
from the most critical, discerning ears in the
business. I think the most important takeaway
for you. listening to this is to remember that
success is rarely a single flat metric. No, it
rarely is. We are so heavily conditioned to look
at the top of a billboard chart or the highest
sales numbers or the most likes on a post and
equate that with the ultimate value of a piece
of work. Exactly. But just like in your own career
or your own personal projects, a lack of mainstream
or immediate commercial success does not automatically
invalidate the quality of what you produce. The
peer recognition The respect of the people who
actually know how hard the work is to execute
often tells a truer, deeper story than the raw
sales data. That's so true. Sean Stockman's production
did not connect with the broad U .S. Hot 100
audience, but the Recording Academy heard the
excellence in the architecture he built. It really
makes you appreciate the unyielding hustle behind
the scenes, too. Knowing that Universal kept
pushing it month after month, format after format,
knowing the group kept filming videos and releasing
international CD singles packed with B -sides.
They really pushed it. They believed in the art,
even when the initial numbers were screaming
at them to give up and move on to the next track.
And this raises an important question, one that
I want you to mull over long after we wrap up
this deep dive. Okay, let's hear it. If a piece
of art is celebrated as one of the best of the
entire year by industry experts, but it is completely
rejected by the mainstream consumers it was so
heavily marketed to, who is the true arbiter
of its quality? Does commercial failure invalidate
artistic success, or does it just mean the marketing
team completely missed its target? That's a great
thought to leave on. It is attention that exists
in every single creative field. And pass you
by remains the perfect, fascinating embodiment
of that mystery. The numbers never tell the whole
story. Thanks for joining us on this deep dive.
Keep asking questions, and we'll see you next
time.