Marcy Playground

Alternative rock band Marcy Playground is synonymous with its left-field 1998 pop smash "Sex and Candy."

Lead vocalist and guitarist John Wozniak is the sole constant member of Marcy Playground, whose name is inspired by the alternative grade school he attended growing up in Minneapolis. Wozniak's melodic guitar riffs, introspective lyrics and laconic vocal style are hallmarks of the Marcy Playground sound, which slotted easily into modern rock playlists during the mid-to-late 1990s.

The sultry, psychedelia-influenced "Sex and Candy," culled from Marcy Playground's self-titled 1997 debut LP, unexpectedly became a massive hit, spending a then-record 15 weeks at the top of the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart and peaking at number eight on the Billboard Hot 100. When the 1999 follow-up Shapeshifter tanked, Marcy Playground split, although Wozniak reformed the band on multiple occasions in the years to come.