Savage Garden is the debut studio album by Australian pop duo Savage Garden, released on 24 March 1997 in Australia by Columbia Records and Roadshow Music. The album won the award for Highest Selling Album at the 12th Annual ARIA Music Awards, selling more than 12 million copies worldwide, according to Billboard magazine. In September 1997, Savage Garden won a record ten ARIA Awards from 13 nominations for the album and associated singles. As of 2005, Savage Garden had been certified diamond in Canada, 12× platinum in Australia, 7× platinum in the US, 2× platinum in New Zealand, Singapore, and in the UK.

Background

The band had formed in June 1994, consisting of multi-instrumentalist and producer Daniel Jones and vocalist Darren Hayes. In 1995, they entered the studio to work on their debut album with producer, Charles Fisher (Air Supply, Moving Pictures, 1927). After the success of "I Want You", a deal was struck with Columbia Records. The record label's executives sent Darren Hayes and Daniel Jones to Sydney for 8 months, tasking them with writing material. It was there that they would come up with most of the songs for their debut album, including "Truly Madly Deeply", for which Darren Hayes wrote the chorus while dining out in Kings Cross. The album's track listing varies depending on territory. The original Australian version of the album includes the tracks "Mine" and "All Around Me", which were removed from the international track listing. "Mine" was removed due to concerns held by the record company over the line "crosses and crucifixes", and "All Around Me" was removed for being overtly sexual. The international version adds the track "Promises", which had previously been released in Australia as the B-side to "Truly Madly Deeply". Also, the international version of "Truly Madly Deeply" has a new live drum track, compared to the original Australian version, which has a drum machine. Thus, this became the hit single version released outside Australia. The track order was also changed to give prominence to the three hit singles, which open the album. The Japanese version of the album uses the international track listing, however, includes "Mine" as a bonus track between "Promises" and "Santa Monica". In support of the group's Asian tour in 1998, a special double-album package was released in the region. The first disc features the international version of the album, and the second disc includes B-sides, remixes and rare tracks. Darren Hayes has noted that the international track listing was not what the band wanted (particularly because Mine was one of his favourite tracks, and because the band had laboured over the track order), but the US record label insisted. It was thought by many that an arrangement of "A Thousand Words" was later used as the installation music for Microsoft's Windows XP, however that track was actually written by linear media composer Stan LePard around the same time.

Chart performance

In March 1997, the album, Savage Garden, entered the Australian charts at No. 1 and peaked there for a total of 19 weeks. The album was released internationally two weeks later. The album reached No. 3 on the US Billboard 200 and was certified gold by RIAA. After the album was reissued on vinyl in 2023, Savage Garden charted at number 16 on the UK Vinyl Albums Chart Top 40 on 16 June 2023.

Singles

Additionally, "All Around Me" was released as a radio-only promotional single in Australia in January 1998, although around 3,000 physical copies were given away via a radio competition and at the band's second massive concert in Brisbane.

Accolades

This album fetched the duo a record of 10 awards at the ARIA Awards 1997, grabbing Best Album, Best Single, Best Group, Song of the Year, Best Debut Album, Best Independent Release, Best Pop Release and Highest Selling Single award—the most awards ever won by a single act in one year. The following year at the ARIA Awards 1998, the album won two more awards—Highest Selling Album award and Outstanding Achievement Award. In October 2010, Savage Garden was listed in the top 40 in the book, 100 Best Australian Albums. In December 2021, the album was listed at no. 9 in Rolling Stone Australia’s ‘200 Greatest Albums of All Time’ countdown.

Track listing

All tracks are written by Darren Hayes and Daniel Jones; all tracks are produced by Charles Fisher and Chris Lord-Alge, except where noted

B-sides

Personnel

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Decade-end charts

Certifications and sales