Retro Video of the Week: "Closing Time" by Semisonic

This Friday will be the 25th anniversary of the release of Minneapolis rock trio Semisonic's second studio album, Feeling Strangely Fine.  It was the band's biggest album, reaching #43 on the Billboard album chart and #16 on the UK album chart, eventually going platinum in the U.S.  Of course, if there's only one Semisonic song you know, it's their ubiquitous hit from this album, "Closing Time."  The song, though seemingly about last call at a bar, was actually written by lead singer and guitarist Dan Wilson as a song the band could play to close out their live shows.  However, his girlfriend was pregnant with their first child at the time, so he has said the song is also actually about birth.  So it's likely the only song about both getting booted from a bar at the end of the night and escaping the womb.

Though the song did not chart on the Billboard Hot 100 -- presumably because it wasn't officially released as a single or whatever weird rules the Billboard Hot 100 had at the time -- it topped the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart, and went to #4 on the Billboard Adult Alternative Songs chart, #11 on the Billboard Hot 100 Airplay chart (which is based on radio play), #13 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, and #25 on the UK pop chart.  It was also nominated for the Grammy for Best Rock Song. Needless to say, it is the band's signature song.

The video is really cool, with two side-by-side continuous shots, as Wilson and his video girlfriend try to meet up with each other, but keep missing each other, eventually going to the same club, where they fail to run into each other.  This is what life was like before cell phones when you tried to meet up with people at bars.