Technically, “Everything You Want” by Vertical Horizon made most of its chart impact in 2000. But it was released in 1999, and it certainly has more in common with the angsty music of the 90s than with the poppier inclinations of the following decade.
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The song came from a songwriter who knew what he was singing, as he pretty much lived through the story behind the tune. That kind of authenticity explains why “Everything You Want” continues to hit home as a downbeat sing-along.
Horizon Rising
Some bands come right out of the gate with the world at their feet. More often, bands have to scrounge for a while for their shot at the big time, if it ever comes. Give credit to Vertical Horizon, who bopped around for about a decade before getting their opportunity to broadcast their music to a wide audience.
They formed as a duo out of Washington, D.C. at the beginning of the 90s. For the most part, their first two albums were acoustic affairs. Matt Scannell and Keith Kane switched off on singing and songwriting duties while also handling most of the playing.
As the decade progressed, they started to add full-band instrumentation and shifted to more of an electric rock sound. Their persistence paid off when they finally secured a major label deal at RCA. It meant that they earned a big promotional push for their next album, Everything You Want, in 1999. By that time, they’d added bassist Sean Hurley and drummer Ed Toth.
Getting “Everything”
Scannell had also mostly taken over as the frontman with the band as well, writing and singing lead on ten of the album’s eleven tracks. After lead single “We Are” received a bit of airplay, the band released the title track next. And then they watched it soar.
Matthew Scannell woke up one night with a chord pattern in his head, which started the process of writing “Everything You Want”. He remembered a relationship he had with a girl who constantly turned to him when everything went wrong with her other boyfriends. The song combined frustration over the girl’s decision-making with his own heartsickness that she wouldn’t choose him.
Scannell made the decision to switch the pronouns in the final portion of the song, altering “He is everything you want” to “I am everything you want.” That made it clear that there wasn’t any separation between himself and the narrator. “Everything You Want” scrambled all the way to the top of the pop charts by the summer of 2000.
Behind the Lyrics of “Everything You Want”
“Everything You Want” uses evocative lyrics to get to the heart of a personal story. The narrator hints that the girl keeps putting herself in touch positions, not learning from past mistakes.
“Now you’re here and you don’t know why.” She’s haunted by the “Echoes of angels who won’t return.”
Her dichotomies frustrate him: “You’re waiting for someone to put you together / You’re waiting for someone to push you away.”
Instead of fighting for a better love, she stays passive: “But you’ll just sit tight and watch it unwind.” And now she’s gone too far: “Past the places where you might have turned.”
In the refrain, the narrator details his rejection. “He says all the right things at exactly the right time / But he means nothing to you and you don’t know why.”
Vertical Horizon finally knew major success with “Everything You Want”, a song that turned a difficult past experience into the band’s bright future.
Photo by Jeff Moore/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock
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