And You Think You Know What Life's About by Dishwalla

Dishwalla's second album, And You Think You Know What Life's About, landed on A&M in 1998 carrying a heavy load: following "Counting Blue Cars", the 1996 hit the Santa Barbara band was best known for. J.R. Richards still leads from the mic, with Rodney Browning on guitar, Scot Alexander on bass, George Pendergast on drums and Jim Wood on keys.

The critics couldn't agree on what they were hearing, and that's half the story. The record lurches between metal-edged crunch and huge, glossy choruses that the Washington Post heard as a throwback to the power ballads grunge had chased off, and Entertainment Weekly called the ballad "Until I Wake Up" a modern-rock Journey, guilty pleasure and all. Rolling Stone caught Richards swapping his grumble for a softer croon on "The Bridge Song", while Stereo Review complained that the band spent part of the album moaning about its own success. "Once in a While" carried it onto the countdowns, and Opaline came next.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.