The Cryptic Meaning of “3 Strange Days” by School of Fish

Los Angeles-based rock quartet School of Fish arrived at the dawn of the alternative rock revolution in America. Eighties aesthetics still lingered into the early ’90s, but by mid-1991 change was in the wind. This Southern California band made a splash with their first single “3 Strange Days,” which would eventually peak at No. 12 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks in Billboard magazine. While it would be their only hit, it’s still one of the most memorable tracks from that early ’90s era.

A Quick Start

Founded by vocalist/guitarist Josh Clayton-Felt and guitarist/vocalist Michael Ward in 1989, School of Fish secured a deal with Capitol Records in 1990 leading to the release of their self-titled debut album in 1991. It was produced by John Porter, who had worked with Bryan Ferry, Killing Joke, and The Smiths.

As legend has it, School of Fish reportedly got attention because famed L.A. rock radio station KROQ rock pitted them in an on-air battle of the bands against The Rolling Stones. The young upstarts won and gained more airplay as a result. 

Cryptic Writings

The song “3 Strange Days” had a chugging, off-kilter riff that made the song not quite feel like it was in 4/4 time even thought it was. The mostly wordless choruses had a quasi-Middle Eastern vibe to them, something that would become more common in ’90s rock. In fact, the sonic qualities of the song prefaced much of what was to come in the decade—drier guitar and drums sounds, shirking the use of glossy sounds and rerverb, and skipping the ’80s tendency towards fading out songs but letting them end naturally. The band also chose to place the guitar solo in the final chorus rather than the traditional break spot.

The lyrics for “3 Strange Days” explore a situation as encapsulated by the title in which the main character seems to have gone on a bender and just escaped from the world for a little while. It was an easily relatable song detailing what happens to him as he tries to sort out whatever is going on in his life.

For three strange days / I couldn’t put a smile on my face / So they dressed me up in all of their clothes / And took me somewhere else / Johnny Clueless was there / With his simulated wood grain / So I pulled up a chair / And started drinking by myself.

Songfacts offers an interesting interpretation of the above verse. They connected Johnny Clueless, by his initials, with frontman Josh Clayton-Felt and then Jesus Christ. The latter reference surfaces because JC has his “simulated wood grain” which could mean the Christian cross. Add in the fact that Jesus was resurrected three days after his crucifixion, and that the protagonist is coming back to life, as it were, after three strange days, and the song could interpreted as the character being reborn on a new path.

Check out this live acoustic version:

Moving Onward

“3 Strange Days” proved to be a popular radio hit for School of Fish. The song peaked at No. 12 on Billboard‘s Album Rock Tracks chart, now known as Mainstream Rock Tracks. Their debut album reached No. 5 on Billboard‘s Heatseakers album chart and No. 142 on the Top 200 album charts. The group released one more album, Human Cannonball, which did not chart. During their career they toured with artists including Lloyd Cole, The Divinyls, The Wonder Stuff, and Jesus Jones.

After School of Fish disbanded around 1994, Clayton-Felt released four solo albums and a live album and got to open for artists like Dishwalla, Del Amitri, and Tori Amos. Sadly, he passed away in January 2000 from testicular cancer at age 32. His bandmate Michael Ward went on to record with, among many others, John Hiatt, Ben Harper, Gavin Draw, and The Wallflowers, the latter on their quadruple-Platinum album Bringing Down the Horse, which won a Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal for the song “One Headlight.” The group’s live drummer Chad Fischer went on to form the band Lazlo Bane, who would write and record “Superman,” the theme song to the television show Scrubs.

Fischer reunited original School of Fish members in 2020 to record a fresh version of “3 Strange Days” under the Lazlo Bane name.

Although one could consign School of Fish to the endless list of one-hit wonders that emerged in the 1990s, they produced a memorable song with an instantly recognizable guitar riff. The song was covered live three years ago by Yungblud, Dave Navarro, and Tommy Lee—two different generations of rock musicians paying homage to one between them. So “3 Strange Days” is well-remembered, and now fans can revisit or discover their albums on streaming.

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Photo by Grunge_Bible on Instagram