Crazy Town, Butterfly | 1 Hit WONDERful

In the 28th edition of 1 Hit WONDERful (2024), we highlight “Butterfly” by the rap-rock band, Crazy Town. 

It only takes ONE hit to solidify a musical legacy 💯! On 1 Hit WONDERful, we highlight songs that were the SOLE hit by a given musician.  It is possible that the artists appearing on this list earned a minor hit or two, BUT for the most part, that ONE hit earned them recognition. . So, in the 28^th edition of 1 Hit WONDERful (2024), we dive into “Butterfly”,  the one-hit wonder by Crazy Town.

“Come, my lady, come-come my lady / You’re my butterfly, sugar baby.” ICONIC lyrics, PERIOD! Crazy Town is renowned for one song and one song only: “Butterfly”.  “Butterfly” was the sole song by the rap-rock charted on the Billboard Hot 100.  While that’s the unfortunate side of being a one-hit-wonder, the silver lining is that “Butterfly” spent two nonconsecutive weeks at no. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2001.  The album the hit appeared on, 1999’s The Gift of Game, was certified platinum by the RIAA. Sweet! Notably, “Butterfly” contains multiple samples. The key sample is “Pretty Little Ditty” by Red Hot Chili Peppers, who are credited as writers. The song also samples “It’s a New Day” by Skull Snaps, and “The Big Beat” by Billy Squier. Lead rappers/singers Brett Mazur (Epic Mazur) and Seth Binzer, best known as Shifty Shellshock, penned the aughts gem. Mazur and Josh Abraham produced.

The chorus is the section to beat on “Butterfly.” However, three verses keep things engaging too.  In the first verse, what about those piercings? “Fierce nipple pierce, you got me sprung with your tongue ring.” Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, as they say.  Shifty is taken by this woman, asserting, “I was lost, now I’m found ever since you’ve been around / You’re the woman that I want, so yo, I’m puttin’ it down.” Ooh-la-la! In the second verse, a familiar scenario plays out.  He isn’t good enough for this girl. He’s lived rough but because of her, he’s ready to change his “wild child” ways! Sadly, Binzer died on June 24, 2024, from an accidental overdose, at age 49. As the second verse references, he experienced his fair share of ups and downs. In the third and final verse, Epic Mazur compares him and his girlfriend to “Sid and Nancy / So sexy, almost evil / Talkin’ ‘bout butterflies in my head.” While that’s a troubling reference 😬, Mazur also praises her because she “filled an empty space with the love I used to chase.” The song title, and references to butterflies are significant because Binzer’s girlfriend collected butterflies.  The plight of a one-hit wonder is real, however, “Butterfly” by Crazy Town is a prime example of where it’s better to score massive success once than never.  25 years later, we still remember this hip-hop/rock banger. R.I.P. Shifty.

Crazy Town // The Gift of Game // Sony BMG Music Entertainment // 1999

Crazy Town, Butterfly: 1 Hit WONDERful No. 28 (2024) [📷: Brent Faulkner / The Musical Hype; Sony BMG Music Entertainment; Elias Souza from Pexels; OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay]