Joe Diffie was born into a musical family in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1958. His first musical performance came at age four, when he performed in his aunt's country music band. Diffie's father, Joe R., played guitar and banjo, and his mother sang. Following in his mother's footsteps, Diffie began to sing at an early age, often listening to the albums in his father's record collection.

Third Rock from the Sun was Diffie's highest-charting Top Country Album (where it reached number six), as well as his second consecutive platinum album. It was also the first album that he co-produced, doing so with Johnny Slate. The album included two consecutive number one singles in its title track and in "Pickup Man". The latter of those two songs was Diffie's longest-lasting number one, at four weeks. Both songs also entered the Hot 100, respectively peaking at 84 and 60. In 2005, "Pickup Man" was repurposed by the Applebee's restaurant chain for use in its television commercials. The album's next single, "So Help Me Girl", peaked at number two on the country charts and 84 on the pop charts, in addition to topping the RPM country charts. The song was covered in 1997 by English singer Gary Barlow. Diffie followed the song with "I'm in Love with a Capital 'U'" and "That Road Not Taken", which respectively reached country peaks of 21 and 40. Third Rock from the Sun received critical praise for adding more rock and up-tempo material. Thom Owens wrote that he began "adding more rock flourishes" on this album, and Nash said that Diffie "not only understands the blue-collar ethic from the inside out - he's also familiar with its humorous underbelly." In mid-1995, he recorded the title track for Columbia Records's Runnin' Wide Open, an album comprising NASCAR-themed songs by various artists. He issued two albums later in the year. The first was a Christmas project titled Mr. Christmas, which comprised covers of traditional Christmas songs as well as newly written songs. One of these original songs, "LeRoy the Redneck Reindeer", was issued as a Christmas single late in the year, peaking at number 33 upon its initial release and re-entering the country music charts for the next two years based on Christmas airplay. Of this album, Stephen Thomas Erlewine said, "it's pleasant, but it's not particularly distinguished." His other release that year was the studio album Life's So Funny. It was led off by "Bigger Than the Beatles", the last number one single of his career. The album's other two singles were "C - O - U - N - T - R - Y" and "Whole Lotta Gone" (previously the b-side of "Bigger Than the Beatles"), both of which peaked at 23 on the country music charts in 1996. Country Standard Time critic George Hauenstein praised the album for containing "songs that are slightly different from [what] those other artists sing." Owens thought that it was a "varied collection of ballads and midtempo rockers", but said that it was not "as consistently engaging" as Third Rock from the Sun. Nash gave "Bigger Than the Beatles" a C-minus rating, calling it "just a lame device to evoke the names of beloved rock heroes." CANNOTANSWER

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