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"The Freshmen" is a song by American alternative rock band the Verve Pipe. Released in January 1997 as the third single from their second studio album Villains, the song became the band's breakthrough hit and is the group's highest-charting single to date, peaking at number 5 on the US Billboard Hot 100, number 6 in Canada, and number 28 in Australia.

"The Freshmen"
Single by the Verve Pipe
from the album Villains
Released	January 21, 1997 (1997-01-21)
Genre	Alternative rock[1][2] post-grunge[3]
Length	4:30
Label	RCA BMG
Songwriter(s)	Donny Brown Doug Corella Jeffrey Joseph Douglas Brad Vander Ark Brian Vander Ark
Producer(s)	Jack Joseph Puig
The Verve Pipe singles chronology
"Cup of Tea" (1996) "The Freshmen" (1997) "Villains" (1997)

Background and content

In an interview with Exclusive, lead singer and songwriter Brian Vander Ark stated that the incident which inspired the song was when his pregnant girlfriend had an abortion.[4]

In a 2018 interview with Songfacts, Vander Ark said:

It's for the most part a made-up story, which most of my songs are. These are stories that I come up with, and I do characters. Part of the story was true in the fact that I had gone out with a girl and my buddy had gone out with her after I went out with her, and then I went out with her again and then she ended up getting pregnant and having an abortion. But from there, there's poetic license that happens and makes the story more dramatic. A neophyte writer that I was, I ended up having her commit suicide, and that never happened.[5]

Versions

The song first appeared, in acoustic style, on their 1992 album I've Suffered a Head Injury. It was recorded a second time and released on the band's 1996 album, Villains. Later that year, the band recorded the song again, this time with the producer Jack Joseph Puig,[6] for release as a single in January 1997.[7] Subsequent pressings of Villains replaced the original album version with the single version. "The Freshmen" peaked at number 5 in the United States.

In addition, a slightly modified single version was released to radio, with Vander Ark singing the final lyrics of the second verse ("thinks about her now and how he never really wept") in the same melodic sequence as he sings the homologous lyrics at the end of the first verse ("stop a baby's breath..."), as opposed to his higher-pitched, almost yelled rendering of these lyrics in the version that appeared on the album.

Track listings

Charts and certifications

Release history

Region	Date	Format(s)	Label(s)	Ref.
United States	January 21, 1997 (1997-01-21)	Rock radio	RCA BMG	[25]
	March 4, 1997 (1997-03-04)	Contemporary hit radio		[26]

Cover versions

• In 2004, Skott Freedman released a piano version of the song on his album Judge a Book.[27]
• In 2005, the then-Boston Red Sox pitcher Bronson Arroyo covered the song on his first covers album, Covering the Bases.
• In 2010, Jay Brannan released a soft indie version of the song as a single, "The Freshmen".[28]
• In 2010, Brothers released a melodic hardcore punk version of the song as a bonus track on their EP When I Was Young.<ref>"Brothers - The Freshmen (The Verve Pipe cover)". YouTube. Retrieved March 20, 2022.</ref

In 1998 Mustard Plug released a ska/punk version of the song

See also

• List of Billboard number-one alternative singles of 1997

References

External links

• Archive of Brian Vander Ark's explanation of the song

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