Song:Better Days (And The Bottom Drops Out)
Album:Gone in 60 Seconds: Original Soundtrack
The 1999 single Better Days was the only chart single for Citizen King. They only recorded one album for Warner Bros. and then they split up. You may have heard the song in the 2000 film Gone in 60 Seconds. Citizen King were from Milwaukee. They formed in 1993 out of the ashes of their previous band Wild Kingdom. Keyboard player Dave Cooley and lead singer Matt "Mount" Sims wrote all the songs and Cooley produced. Other members were Kristian Riley on guitar, DJ Brooks on drums and Malcolm Michiles on turntables. They had a couple of bassists but Sims took that over in 1997. Their music was alt rock with hip hop elements like the turntables. If that reminds you of Fishbone, Cooley was a big fan and Citizen King later toured with Fishbone. The band was having success locally when they were spotted by Todd "Speech" Thomas of Arrested Development and he agreed to produce the 1995 album Brown Bag. While touring with Fishbone, they got a record deal with Warner Bros. Cooley and Sims wrote and produced the 1999 album Mobile Estates with Eric Valentine. Better Days reached #25 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song appeared in the pilot episode of the sitcom Malcolm in the Middle and in the 2000 film Gone in 60 Seconds starring Nicolas Cage which is available on CD. Apparently the song is frequently miscredited to the band Sublime. So I think it's a song that fans have heard but they don't know who recorded it. Better Days was Citizen King's only chart single. It looks like they tired of constant touring and they split up in 2002. Dave Cooley owns Elysian Masters in Los Angeles. He does a lot of remastering of archival recordings including Isaac Hayes and Bob Marley. He has produced Silversun Pickups and Ziggy Marley among others. Mount Sims released a few solo albums and had his own band for a while. It looks like he could be out of the music business. 2011 was the last time he released anything. Here's the video for Better Days (And The Bottom Drops Out) by Citizen King.
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