"Neighbourhood" | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Single by Space | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
from the album Spiders | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Released | 25 March 1996 21 October 1996 (re-issue) |
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Format | CD, 12" | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Recorded | 1995-1996 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Genre | Rock | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Length | 3:28 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Label | Gut Records | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Songwriter(s) | Tommy Scott, Franny Griffiths, Space | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Producer(s) | Stephen Lironi | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Space singles chronology | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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"Neighbourhood" is a song by Space, written by band members Tommy Scott and Franny Griffiths, and released as the second single (though the band prefer it to be the first, as they consider "Money"/"Kill Me" to be a "test" release) from their debut album Spiders, and their third single altogether. It was originally released on 25 March 1996 and peaked at #56 in the UK charts, but it was later re-released on 21 October that year, this time peaking at #11. In Australia, "Neighbourhood" entered the ARIA top 100 singles chart on 9 February 1997 at #90, its peak. "Neighbourhood" peaked at #22 in New Zealand in March 1997.
The lyrics to "Neighbourhood" were partially inspired by frontman Tommy Scott's upbringing in the Liverpool housing estate Cantril Farm (which has since been reestablished as ), yet it stays true to the band's twisted sense of humour by depicting a variety of somewhat warped personalities including a man who thinks he's Saddam Hussein, Mr Miller, a "local vicar and a serial killer," a "big butch queen" who's "bigger than Tyson and twice as mean," and others. The lyrical style has eighties dub reggae & sound system deejay influences.
In September 2004, "Neighbourhood" was used by the BBC in an ident for their short-lived series Fat Nation. The line "Who lives in a house like this?" is thought to be a reference to Through the Keyhole, another BBC programme. The song is also on the soundtrack from the 1997 movie "Shooting Fish".