Music | Joan Osborne - One of Us

I first saw the music video of this song in on MTV, on this awesome show titled 120 Minutes. It was 1995, and the music scene was booming with cool artists who were not afraid to experiment with new genres--120 Minutes was a showcase for those artists, airing videos that were not classified as mainstream pop.


The music video for One of Us was kinda strange, like some old, faded home movie interspersed with scenes of people in Coney Island having their photos taken using a cutout of God that's based on a Michelangelo painting, along with shots of singer Joan Osborne wearing a nose ring.

But I immediately liked One of Us the first time I heard it, and this was long before it became an unexpected hit by crossing over to the pop charts, peaking at number 4 on Billboard's Hot 100. The lyrics, which seemed funny to me at first because of the way they rhymed, are actually somewhat sad and profound at the same time.

Unfortunately, the song's massive popularity overshadowed Joan Osborne's succeeding releases, and people now perceive her as a one-hit wonder. Osborne, however, is still very much active, and continues to release albums that go back to her jazz & blues roots.