40 Fun Facts About Savage Garden

Which teenage actress plays the subway love interest in Savage Garden's I Knew I Loved You video?

Kirsten Dunst was still a teenager when she shot the clip in 1999, three years before Spider-Man made her a household name.

Savage Garden took their name from a phrase in The Vampire Chronicles by which novelist?

Anne Rice launched the series with Interview with the Vampire in 1976. The duo adopted her phrase after first working under two other names.

Savage Garden wrote The Animal Song for the soundtrack of which 1999 Garry Marshall film?

The Other Sister features Diane Keaton and Giovanni Ribisi. Darren Hayes later described it as the film that flopped, while the single reached No. 3 in Australia.

Savage Garden's Darren Hayes auditioned for which film series whose memorabilia he collects?

Star Wars has been his obsession since childhood, and the part he tried out for was in Episode III – Revenge of the Sith.

Savage Garden's Truly Madly Deeply ended the 14-week US No. 1 run of a 1997 single by which artist?

Elton John's Candle in the Wind 1997, his tribute to Princess Diana, finally gave way in January 1998, when the Australian duo held the top spot for two weeks.

Asked in 2007 about reuniting Savage Garden, Darren Hayes said he would only do it if it did what?

Cured cancer was his condition, and he repeated it in 2020, comparing a reunion to going back to a relationship he had been glad to survive.

Savage Garden formed in which Australian state capital, the home city of singer Darren Hayes?

Brisbane is where Hayes answered a street-press ad placed by Daniel Jones, who needed a singer for his covers band.

In the video for Savage Garden's The Animal Song, Darren Hayes sings while walking through what?

A parade swirls around Hayes in the Jim Gable-directed clip, which cuts in scenes from the film the single was written for.

Savage Garden's Break Me Shake Me recalls Darren Hayes arguing with a Madonna fan over which idol?

Michael Jackson was the hero a teenage Hayes defended at school and saw live on the 1987 Bad Tour, a night he credits with pushing him towards a career in entertainment.

After Savage Garden's I Knew I Loved You, which Australian act next topped the Billboard Hot 100?

Gotye ended a wait of more than 12 years in 2012 with Somebody That I Used to Know, a duet with New Zealand singer Kimbra.

Savage Garden's international Truly Madly Deeply video follows two lovers through which city?

Paris provides the backdrop, from the Gare de l'Est to Montmartre, and the couple finally reunite at the foot of the Tour Saint-Jacques.

In 1997 Savage Garden won a record ten trophies in one night at which Australian music ceremony?

ARIA Awards night in September 1997 brought the duo ten wins from 13 nominations, including Album of the Year, Single of the Year and Best Group.

Savage Garden's Daniel Jones moved to Queensland as a baby after being born in which country?

England was his birthplace: Jones was born in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, the youngest of three boys, and the family emigrated when he was a year old.

Savage Garden's The Animal Song stalled at No. 19 in the US but topped the singles sales chart in which country?

Canada sent it to number one on its singles sales chart in March 1999, while Australia and New Zealand both took it to number three.

At the Sydney 2000 Olympics, Savage Garden's Darren Hayes wore a T-shirt showing which flag?

The Aboriginal flag shirt appeared as the duo performed Affirmation at the closing ceremony, where Midnight Oil played in outfits bearing the word Sorry.

Savage Garden filmed the I Knew I Loved You video on a subway set earlier used by which sitcom?

Seinfeld had used the same mock subway carriage. In the clip's story a power cut stops the train and the passengers all join hands.

Which talk-show host helped break Savage Garden in the US by playing I Want You on her show?

Rosie O'Donnell played the debut single on several episodes of her daytime show in 1997, and it climbed to No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Which German Eurodance act took a cover of Savage Garden's Truly Madly Deeply to No. 4 in the UK?

Cascada recorded it as a ballad for the album Everytime We Touch, then released an up-tempo version as the single, which first charted on downloads alone.

Around 2010 Savage Garden's Daniel Jones quit music and moved to Las Vegas to work in what?

Real estate became his second career: with a small team he bought, renovated and sold properties, before moving back to Australia in 2023.

Savage Garden's Truly Madly Deeply spent ten weeks at No. 2 on US radio behind which film's theme?

Titanic's theme, sung by Celine Dion, held the Australian ballad off on the Mainstream Top 40 chart in early 1998 before it climbed back to No. 1 that April.

Which producer, famed for his Mariah Carey hits, first worked with Savage Garden on The Animal Song?

Walter Afanasieff went on to produce the whole Affirmation album, and then oversaw most of Darren Hayes's first solo record.

Darren Hayes says his love of which sci-fi film shaped Savage Garden's To the Moon and Back?

Blade Runner and its question of what it means to be human gave Hayes his angle, and the single became the duo's first Australian No. 1.

The Animal Song video intercuts Savage Garden's Darren Hayes with film scenes of which actress?

Juliette Lewis plays Carla Tate, the young woman at the centre of the film the single was written for, so her scenes run through the clip.

After Savage Garden split, which ballad did Darren Hayes release as his first solo single?

Insatiable reached No. 3 in Australia and topped the New Zealand chart, launching his debut solo album Spin.

Savage Garden's Truly Madly Deeply logged a record 123 weeks on which Billboard chart?

Adult Contemporary radio kept the ballad on its chart for more than two years, a record the duo broke themselves when I Knew I Loved You lasted 124 weeks.

Which American record label signed Savage Garden for release outside Australia in late 1996?

Columbia executive Don Ienner later challenged the duo to write a ballad to match their biggest hit, and I Knew I Loved You was the result.

Which Californian city names a Savage Garden song released as a single only in Japan in 1998?

Santa Monica drew on Darren Hayes's own observations of the place, and its video came from a live performance at the Hard Rock Cafe.

Savage Garden wrote Affirmation by phone, with Daniel Jones at home and Darren Hayes in which city?

New York was Hayes's base while Jones stayed in Queensland, and the long-distance album went on to sell more than 8 million copies worldwide.

Savage Garden wrote much of their debut album while living for eight months in which Sydney area?

Kings Cross was where the label installed the pair, and a homesick Darren Hayes wrote Truly Madly Deeply during the stay.

Sandy & Junior, who covered Savage Garden's Truly Madly Deeply in Portuguese, came from which country?

Brazil's sibling duo Sandy & Junior retitled it No Fundo do Coração, and the live album carrying it sold more than 1.8 million copies at home.

Which Australian dance act remade Savage Garden's I Want You in 2023 with new Darren Hayes vocals?

Peking Duk's remake features a freshly recorded Hayes vocal, almost 27 years after the original became the duo's debut single.

Which Savage Garden concert film from the Affirmation tour includes the documentary Parallel Lives?

Superstars and Cannonballs takes its title from a line in The Animal Song and was filmed with 11 cameras at the duo's hometown shows.

Darren Hayes met Daniel Jones by auditioning for which covers band, the forerunner of Savage Garden?

Red Edge was a five-piece that played pubs and clubs from southern Queensland to northern New South Wales. Hayes and Jones left in June 1994 to work as a duo.

Darren Hayes's first gig with Daniel Jones, before Savage Garden, drew just four people in which city?

Toowoomba supplied that tiny crowd for a five-piece whose covers set included Cold Chisel's Khe Sanh and INXS's Don't Change.

Which producer, known for Air Supply and Moving Pictures, made Savage Garden's self-titled debut?

Charles Fisher, nicknamed The Song Doctor, won Producer of the Year and a Special Achievement Award on the night the album swept ten trophies.

Before The Animal Song, Savage Garden declined to record a song for which 1999 romantic comedy?

Runaway Bride was directed by Garry Marshall, who also made the film the duo chose instead, the one Hayes later said had flopped.

Savage Garden's Truly Madly Deeply was reworked from an earlier Hayes and Jones song called what?

Magical Kisses was written during sessions for the debut album; the rewrite came as Hayes, away from home for the first time, missed his family.

Savage Garden's Darren Hayes sang 'O Sole Mio at a 2000 benefit concert hosted by which opera tenor?

Luciano Pavarotti invited pop guests to his annual Pavarotti and Friends charity concerts, and Hayes took on the Neapolitan standard there in June 2000.

Performing Chained to You on Savage Garden's final tour, Darren Hayes did an impression of which singer?

Elvis Presley was the model as Hayes strode out in a white jacket, silver shirt and sunglasses, and the footage later doubled as the song's video.

Besides Australia, Savage Garden's two studio albums both reached No. 1 in which Scandinavian country?

Sweden had already put I Want You in its top 20, and both albums went on to top its chart and earn double platinum awards there.