Throwback Thursday – Fiona Apple ‘Criminal’ (1997)

Fiona Apple had the biggest hit of her career in 1997 with "Criminal." It was off of her debut album, Tidal. It was actually the third single.

Apple has been quoted as saying that "Criminal" is about, "feeling bad for getting something so easily by using your sexuality."

"Criminal" performed very well on the charts and went on to win many awards. According to Wikipedia:

"...peaking at #21 on the Billboard Hot 100, as well as #4 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart. The song won the Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance at the 40th Grammy Awards and was nominated for Best Rock Song. The song was listed at number 71 on Blender magazine's 2005 list of "The 500 Greatest Songs Since You Were Born".^[1] It reached #55 on VH1's "100 Greatest Songs of the 90's.

In 1998, the video won an MTV Video Music Award for Best Cinematography.

I remember the video being controversial for a couple reasons. One, Fiona Apple seemed to be half naked most of the time and two, there were concerns that she was too thin. Of course, the 90s was the era of the 'heroine chic' model.

Fiona Apple also was part of the Lilith Fair concert tour in the Summer of 1997.