Behind The Song: PUSA’s Chris Ballew Talks ‘Peaches,’ Madonna and Disorientation

Chris Ballew, frontman for the Seattle-born band, The Presidents of the United States of America, remembers the super-tornado that sprung from his band’s self-titled 1995 album and its smash, worldwide hit, “Peaches.” It was in 1996 some 25 years ago when “Peaches” really took over the airwaves, playing seemingly every 30 minutes on commercial rock stations around the country (and, likely, globally, too).

“Peaches,” which hit No. 1 in Iceland and reached the top 20 in a handful of other countries, peaked at No. 29 on Billboard and No. 8 on its Modern Rock Tracks chart in the U.S. In the mind of many teenagers at the time, though, it was surely a domestic No. 1 hit. The song, itself, is cartoonish, fun: Peaches come from a can, Ballew sings. They were put there by a man. In a factory downtown”

But the story behind the hit is both drug-filled (in a good way) and full of coincidence. Here, we catch up with Ballew to learn the origins of the song and how it changed his life dramatically. Ballew, who recently put out a new solo project, I Am Not Me, under his own name is a true dynamo of creativity.