Over the Brooklyn band’s 12-year existence, they have yet to match the success of their first single, but this doesn’t seem to faze them. “It’s better to have one hit, than no hits at all,” says drummer Ira Elliot. Although “Popular” has garnered their biggest numbers, the guys—Elliot, Matthew Caws, and Daniel Lorca—manage to stay out of its shadow. Not that this is an easy feat. After the success of their 1996 album, High/Low, and riding high on “Popular,” they planned to release The Proximity Effect, but Elektra said they didn’t hear a single. Their label wanted to hear “Popular: The Sequel” and even approached the band about doing an acoustic version of the original. When the band refused to change or add anything to the album, they were given the ax. Unable to release an album in the States, they were left with four years worth of downtime that would come to affectionately be known as “the luxury period.”

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