Sometimes the universe sends an artist signs to help out with ideas of what to write. You never know what form these signs will take. Maybe a tree. Maybe a homeless man. Whatever gets the job done.

Chris and Dave met as kids at school in Seattle during the 80’s. The pair did some music-related things together but then Chris moved away for a few years. Eventually he found himself in Boston, on acid, in front of a girl’s empty house to tell her he liked her, waiting for her under a peach tree, tripping hard on LSD and lust, picking up fallen peaches and mashing them into a soft, pulpy mess in his hands. Dude needed to get himself grounded.

After a short stint in Los Angeles living and playing with a young Beck, Chris returned to Seattle in 1993, hooked up with Dave again, and this time they got a serious band going, eventually settling on the name The Presidents of The United States of America. One day, Chris was waiting at a bus stop when a homeless man passed him, muttering over and over, “I’m moving to the country, I’m gonna eat a lot of peaches.” Chris flashed back to Boston, to the girl, to the tree.

To the peaches.

The universe clearly wanted him to write a song about the fuzzy fruit.

The band recorded their debut album on a shoestring budget and released it in 1994 on a tiny Seattle indie label. Someone at Columbia Records heard it, signed the band, and re-released the album the following year with wider distribution. It proceeded to go triple Platinum — over 3 million sold.

The third single, released in February of 1996, was a surreal little ditty called “Peaches.” Although the song went to #1 in Iceland, it was only a moderate hit in the US. But over the ensuing years, “Peaches” has far outperformed its sales and chart numbers, becoming a 90’s alternative classic. With a little help from the universe, a girl who wasn’t home, and a bus that hadn’t arrived yet.

So make a little room for an ant to hide … with The Presidents of The United States of America.