Hard to Believe this Song is Almost 20 Years Old (video)

When I was programming a rock station in the late 90's, I would get calls from independent record reps trying to get me to play their clients music on the air.

One day I got a call from a record rep trying to get stuff from Santana's latest album "Supernatural". he told me there was a great song on the album entitled "Smooth" with Rob Thomas from Matchbox 20 on vocals. Carlos Santana used a different vocalist for each song on the album.  Santana had originally considered George Michael for this particular song but as luck would have it, he went with Rob Thomas.

Anyway, the record rep volunteered to send me a case of the new CD. I had a system for picking new songs for airplay. I would sit and listen to the song 20 times in a row. If I still liked it, I'd give it some airtime.

I like it so much, I called and asked for some more CD's to give away and was told they had none left. In the course of a week, the song had gone up the charts in a big way.

It won three Grammy Awards, Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best pop Collaboration with vocals.  As of 2018, "Smooth" is ranked the second most successful song of all time by Billboard.

Enjoy