Music writer Tom Breihan revisits Third Eye Blind's 1997 hit "Semi-Charmed Life" in his "Alternative Number Ones" column, which chronicles every number one on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks/Alternative Songs chart since 1988. He recalls hearing the song constantly as a 17-year-old working at a summer camp, and reflects on how its cheerful, poppy sound masked lyrics explicitly about crystal meth use, allowing it to escape the scrutiny given to other genres with "questionable" content at the time.

The song spent eight weeks at number one from 24 May 1997. Breihan notes that unlike earlier alt-rock songs about heroin, which typically emphasised the downsides of drug use, "Semi-Charmed Life" largely celebrates the frantic high without dwelling on consequences, despite radio edits blurring out the words "crystal meth". He admits that although he long dismissed the song as bad, he has gradually reconsidered that view over the years, even as it resurfaced through TikTok.