Liner Notes · No. 004
"What's Up?" by 4 Non Blondes: the B-side
Quick hall pass: the song that never says its own title got a Sense8 singalong, a He-Man meme and a Dolly Parton cover. Here's the B-side.
📰 FAST FACTS
- The 1993 tour got its own live album, Hello Mr. President (Live in Italy 1993), out in 1994. One studio album, one live album. The tidiest discography in rock. (Wikipedia)
- DJ Miko’s Eurodance cover also reached #58 on the Billboard Hot 100. America heard the drum machine and politely went back to the original. (Wikipedia)
- The Masters of the Universe movie made about $114 million worldwide against a reported $170–200 million budget. He-Man got his song back. The studio did not get its money back. (Slashfilm)
- For September 2026, the band was booked at the Bourbon & Beyond festival. Thirty-plus years after the hat, still getting festival bookings. (ABC Audio)
On this record
TRACK 1
Sense8 sang it. He-Man got it back.
Sense8 had eight shared brains sing it in 2015. In 2026, He-Man heard it on a police radio, a nod to a 2005 internet classic.
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In 2015, Netflix's Sense8 gave the song its best TV moment: eight psychically linked strangers, scattered around the world, all end up singing "What's Up?" together in Season 1, Episode 4. It's the show's most-remembered scene, which is impressive for a show where people share brains.
Then on June 5, 2026, Amazon MGM's Masters of the Universe hit theaters, and He-Man, stuck in the back of a police car on Earth, hears the song on the police radio. It's a direct nod to a 2005 internet video we'll get to on Side B. Camila Mendes, who plays Teela, said that video was how she first knew He-Man.
The movie opened to $29.4 million in the US and dropped about 70% the next weekend. The song, as usual, was the best part.
That Sense8 episode has a title that's a sly joke on this song. What is it?
No Googling. We'll know.
That's Side A. Flip the tape.
Side B is where it gets weird:
- The reunion: 20 years apart, then the first real shows in 30 years.
- He-Man, a Eurodance cover and Dolly Parton, all taking a turn.
- Linda Perry's first solo album in more than 25 years.
Free, every Tuesday. One song, the story you never heard, and a 10-minute hall pass from the doomscroll. Already subscribed? Enter your email to unlock.
▶ SIDE B
TRACK 2
20 years apart, then 30
One reunion night in 2014, then their first official show in about 30 years at BottleRock 2025. Red Rocks and London were booked for 2026.
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Linda Perry left 4 Non Blondes in 1994 and went off to write hits for everybody else. In May 2014 she got the band back together for one night at An Evening With Women, the Los Angeles LGBT Center's fundraiser she had produced for years. It was the first time in 20 years they'd played "What's Up?" together. Drummer Dawn Richardson says the night raised a record amount for the center's programs for women and girls.
Then May 24, 2025: BottleRock Napa Valley, their first official show in about 30 years, with Perry, bassist Christa Hillhouse, guitarist Roger Rocha and Richardson. Original guitarist Shaunna Hall watched from the crowd, and Perry called her out from the stage. Thirty years between gigs. Most bands can't wait 30 seconds between encores.
December 2025 brought a surprise set at KROQ's Almost Acoustic Christmas, then club shows at the Roxy in LA and the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco. For 2026 they booked Red Rocks and their first UK headline show in more than 30 years, at London's Shepherd's Bush Empire on June 24.
TRACK 3
Eurodance, He-Man and Dolly
A UK Eurodance hit, the internet's favorite He-Man bait-and-switch, and Dolly Parton making it her own with Linda Perry singing along.
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- 1994 · DJ Miko, featuring Louise Gard. An Italian Eurodance cover that went to #6 in the UK. The original peaked at #2 there. Adding a drum machine did not help.
- 2005 · "Fabulous Secret Powers." Two animators set old He-Man cartoon footage to the song and posted it on the Something Awful forums. A 2010 YouTube cut, retitled "HEYYEYAAEYAAAEYAEYAA," passed 30 million views by 2013 and became the internet's favorite bait-and-switch link. Peak internet. We have not topped it.
- 2023 · Dolly Parton, featuring Linda Perry. Dolly gave it a country swing on her rock album Rockstar, with Perry singing along. Perry said Dolly's take made it feel like Dolly's song. Correct. Every song Dolly touched became Dolly's song. Dolly died in August 2026, at 80.
▶ WATCH THE CONTENDERS
Battle of the versions: which "What's Up?" wins?
Cast your vote. Results in the next issue. Choose carefully: we're judging you.
TRACK 4
Where Linda Perry and the band are now
Perry's first solo album in more than 25 years, a fall slot on the Indigo Girls' tour, and a second band album still on its way.
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On May 8, 2026, Perry released Let It Die Here, her first solo album in more than 25 years: 17 tracks, tied to a documentary of the same name. The first single was her own new version of "Beautiful," the song she wrote for Christina Aguilera. Taking your own song back after 24 years. Respect.
This fall she was booked as a guest on the Indigo Girls' tour, September 16 to October 4.
And the band's second album, their first since 1992, is called 1994. It was announced for 2026; the last word was early 2027. After 35 years, what's a few more months.
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