| "Sex and Candy" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by Marcy Playground | ||||
| from the album Marcy Playground | ||||
| B-side |
| |||
| Released | September 15, 1997 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 2:52 | |||
| Label | Capitol | |||
| Songwriter(s) | John Wozniak | |||
| Producer(s) |
| |||
| Marcy Playground singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Music video | ||||
| "Sex and Candy" on YouTube | ||||
"Sex and Candy" is a song by American alternative rock group Marcy Playground, a single from their 1997 self-titled debut album. It is a post-grunge song with psychedelic elements. Lead singer John Wozniak was inspired to write the song after a woman told him that a room smelled like "sex and candy." The song's abstract lyrics refer to the disco era and include hippie lingo. In 1997, Wozniak said that "Sex and Candy" is an unorthodox love song; later, he said he does not know what the song means. It was released to radio on the week of September 15, 1997.
Music critics mostly praised the song. Some found it sensual; many compared it to the music of Nirvana. Some critics interpreted the track as a love song, and others thought its lyrics were nonsensical. Commercially, "Sex and Candy" peaked at number 2 on the Canadian RPM 100 Hit Tracks chart, number 8 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number 1 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart, staying there for a then-record-setting 15 weeks. Worldwide, the single reached the top 20 in Australia, Iceland and Norway; it is the band's only hit song. A music video was directed and conceptualized by Jamie Caliri, depicting Wozniak's head protruding from a hole inside of a mountain and a crawling spider; it has been interpreted in Freudian terms and compared to the work of Salvador Dalí. "Sex and Candy" remains popular on rock radio and has been covered by Maroon 5 and Slothrust.