Song: "Stay (I Missed You)"Artist: Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories
Album: Reality Bites Original Motion Picture Soundtrack/Tails
Year: 1994
Label: RCA
Highest Billboard Hot 100 Chart Position: #1
Players: Lisa Loeb - singer, songwriter, acoustic guitarist; Tim Bright - electric guitarist; Jonathan Feinberg - drummer; Joe Quigley - bassist; Daniel Littleton - electric guitarist; Elizabeth Mitchell - harmony vocalist; Juan Patino - producer, harmony vocalist; Ben Stiller - soundtrack co-producer, Reality Bites director; Ethan Hawke - neighbor, Reality Bites star
In 1994 a chart feat was achieved for the first and only time. An unsigned artist topped Billboard's Hot 100 chart. That artist was Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories.
Lisa was performing in coffee houses in New York City when her neighbor and friend, actor Ethan Hawke, was filming Reality Bites, directed by Ben Stiller. Ethan suggested that Ben use "Stay" in the film, and Ben agreed. The soundtrack went on to sell over a million copies, pushing the single to number one.
After the release of Tails, which failed to produce a hit near as massive as "Stay" Lisa Loeb never released another album as part of Nine Stories. Three years later, her second biggest hit, "I Do," off her album Firecracker, was her last major chart appearance and she has since done a cooking show with then-boyfriend Dweezil Zappa and a reality show on E! Channel.
But it's "Stay (I Missed You)" that will be her legacy, even beyond being a historic chart anomaly. From the delightful acoustic guitar that opens the track, to the impassioned lyrics that are so full of regret and confusion, to Lisa's clear sweet vocals and cat-eye glasses, everything about this song is classic, clean, American guitar pop.
