"F.E.A.R." is the first single from Ian Brown's third solo album, Music of the Spheres. Released on 17 September 2001, it placed No. 13 on the UK Singles Chart and was both a commercial and critical success. In late 2002, it won a Muso Award for best single, as voted by his peers in the British music industry. In October 2011, NME placed it at number 67 on its list "150 Best Tracks of the Past 15 Years".

The song incorporates a creative lyric scheme where each verse forms the acrostic "F.E.A.R." (For example, "For each a road" and "Fallen empires are ruling"). In an interview with Clash magazine, Brown indicated that a main influence for "F.E.A.R." was The Autobiography of Malcolm X, which preached the study of etymology, so that one could have "control over people through the use of language." Brown proceeded to create hundreds of acronyms from the word "fear".

Brown revisited the concept in the title of the Solarized track, "Time Is My Everything", which is often abbreviated by with the acronym "T.I.M.E." on concert setlists.

Remixed and instrumental versions of "F.E.A.R." also appeared in the remix album, Remixes of the Spheres. A 30-second clip of the instrumental version appears at the end of the LP version of Music of the Spheres; this is a tribute to Marvin Gaye's What's Going On which also featured a clip of the lead track at the end of the album.

The song has influenced a fan-made banner on the Stretford End at English football club Manchester United's home stadium Old Trafford. The sign reads "For Everymanc A Religion", a take on the lyric "For everyman a religion".

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