Savage Garden

Savage Garden is the debut studio album by Australian pop duo Savage Garden. It was released on 4 March 1997 in Australia by Columbia Records and Roadshow Music. The album won the award for Highest Selling Album at the 12th Annual ARIA Music Awards, selling more than 12 million copies worldwide, according to Billboard magazine. In September 1997, Savage Garden won a record ten ARIA Awards from 13 nominations for the album and associated singles. As of 2005, Savage Garden had been certified diamond in Canada, 12× platinum in Australia, 7× platinum in the US, 2× platinum in New Zealand, Singapore, and in the UK. Background The band had formed in June 1994, consisting of multi-instrumentalist and producer Daniel Jones and vocalist Darren Hayes. In 1995, they entered the studio to work on their debut album with producer, Charles Fisher (Air Supply, Moving Pictures, 1927). After the success of "I Want You", a deal was struck with Columbia Records. The record label's executives sent Darren Hayes and Daniel Jones to Sydney for 8 months, tasking them with writing material. It was there that they would come up with most of the songs for their debut album, including "Truly Madly Deeply", for which Darren Hayes wrote the chorus while dining out in Kings Cross. The album's track listing varies depending on territory. The original Australian version of the album includes the tracks "Mine" and "All Around Me", which were removed from the international track listing. "Mine" was removed due to concerns held by the record company over the line "crosses and crucifixes", and "All Around Me" was removed for being overtly sexual. The international version adds the track "Promises", which had previously been released in Australia as the B-side to "Truly Madly Deeply". Also, the international version of "Truly Madly Deeply" has a new live drum track, compared to the original Australian version, which has a drum machine. Thus, this became the hit single version released outside Australia. The track order was also changed to give prominence to the three hit singles, which open the album. The Japanese version of the album uses the international track listing, however, includes "Mine" as a bonus track between "Promises" and "Santa Monica". In support of the group's Asian tour in 1998, a special double-album package was released in the region. The first disc features the international version of the album, and the second disc includes B-sides, remixes and rare tracks.