A High School Breakup Inspired Matchbox Twenty’s First Big Hit in 1997

In 1997, Matchbox Twenty had their first big hit with “Push”. The song was written by lead singer Rob Thomas and producer Matt Serletic. It is part of Yourself Or Someone Like It, Matchbox Twenty’s freshman album.

“Push” says, “Don’t just stand there, say nice things to me / ‘Cause I’ve been cheated, I’ve been wronged, and you / You don’t know me, well I can’t change / I won’t do anything at all / I wanna push you around, I will, I will / I wanna push you down, I will, I will / I wanna take you for granted, I wanna take you for granted / I will.”

Thomas was inspired to write “Push” by thinking about a toxic relationship he was in in high school. She reportedly gave his clothes to charity as a way to get back at him.

“I was really writing about me,” Thomas says. “I was writing about someone who was manipulating me. But then instead of it being a victim song, I switched it around so that it was me manipulating someone, saying, ‘I want to push you around, and I want to take you for granted.’”

How Matchbox Twenty Saved Their Career With “Push”

Matchbox Twenty had been performing together before releasing Yourself Or Someone Like You. Their first single, “Long Day”, did not do well at radio. The lackluster results left Matchbox Twenty and their record label to wonder if they had a future as a successful band. Fortunately, those fears came to an end with “Push”.

 “‘Push’ is the song that saved us,” Thomas tells Grammy.com. “We released our record in ’96. And the day that it came out was the same day that Lava, our record label, folded, and a bunch of bands got dropped. We were possibly on the list because we put out a song called ‘Long Day’, and it didn’t react the way we wanted.”

Matchbox Twenty was able to continue making music, thanks to “Push”, and Dave Rossi, a persistent program director at a radio station in Birmingham, Alabama.

“[He] started to play ‘Push’ on his own, because you could do that back then,” he adds. “And it just started to react in Birmingham, in a crazy way. It was like the No. 1 song immediately. So Atlantic was like, ‘Well, let’s give this one more chance.’ So then they put some money behind ‘Push’, and put it out to radio. And that was the saving grace for us.”

Photo by Larry Busacca/WireImage