Mean to Me

When we started to break down Mean to Me, we encountered a song that, although it was the first single released by Crowded House, already hinted at the distinctive marks that would define their sound. You can notice Neil Finn's pop sensibility, his particular way of anchoring lyrics in a specific place, something that was already glimpsed here. Even, if we pay attention to the video recording, we see the band having fun in a shed, with a curious detail: on repeated occasions, the members make the "I love you" gesture with their lips, which also appears written on screen.

This piece, released in June 1986, was the starting point for the Australian-New Zealand group's self-titled album. The story behind the lyrics has a rather peculiar origin: Neil Finn conceived it from an encounter with a Split Enz fan during a tour of New Zealand. He himself recounted how, after a brief exchange of words, he saw her later with someone else, which inspired those lines. Curiously, years later, that same fan approached him in Los Angeles, quite upset, denying that anything had happened, which left Finn a bit bewildered. The song also stands out for a keyboard passage that recalls the Split Enz era, but it manages to establish key elements of Crowded House's future sound from the outset. It was written by Neil Finn, with a collaboration from Eddie Rayner on one of its versions.