Shiny Happy People
| "Shiny Happy People" | ||||||||
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| Single by R.E.M. | ||||||||
| from the album Out of Time | ||||||||
| B-side | "Forty Second Song" | |||||||
| Released | May 6, 1991 (UK) September 3, 1991 (US) |
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| Format |
UK: CD, 7", 12", cassette US: 7", cassette |
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| Recorded | September–October 1990 | |||||||
| Genre | ||||||||
| Length | 3:45 | |||||||
| Label |
Warner Bros. 7-19242 (US, 7") 4-19242 (US, cassette) W0027 (UK, 7") W0027C (UK, cassette) W0027CD (UK, CD) W0027CDX (UK, Collectors' Edition CD) W0027T (UK, 12") |
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| Writer(s) | Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills, Michael Stipe | |||||||
| Producer(s) | Scott Litt, R.E.M. | |||||||
| R.E.M. singles chronology | ||||||||
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"Shiny Happy People" is a song by the band R.E.M. The song appeared on their 1991 album Out of Time and was released as a single in the same year. The song features guest vocals by Kate Pierson of the B-52's, who also appears in the song's music video.
It peaked at No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100, the fourth and last R.E.M. single to reach the top 10 on the chart. It also peaked at No. 6 on the UK Singles Chart, becoming the first R.E.M. song to reach the top ten in the UK and the only one to reach the top ten in both countries.
It was recorded in mid-1990, performed (with Kate Pierson of The B-52's) on Saturday Night Live on April 13, 1991, and first released as a single in May 1991 in the UK. The single did not go on sale in the U.S. until four months later.
Despite the song’s success, band members were ambivalent about being known for a pop song that lacked gravitas. “It’s a fruity pop song written for children. It just is what it is,” Stipe told the BBC’s Andrew Marr in 2016. “If there was one song that was sent into outer space to represent R.E.M. for the rest of time, I would not want it to be Shiny Happy People.”
All songs written by Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills, and Michael Stipe unless otherwise stated.
In its 2006 "Song of the Summer" countdown, CBC Radio's Freestyle named "Shiny Happy People" 1991's "Song of the Summer". By contrast, in 2006, the song received the No. 1 position on AOL Music's list of the "111 Wussiest Songs of All Time".Blender magazine also ranked the song No. 35 on its list of the "50 Worst Songs Ever", and Q magazine included it in a list of "Ten Terrible Records by Great Artists" in 2005. When Michael Stipe made an appearance on Space Ghost Coast to Coast in 1995, he simply stated "I hate that song, Space Ghost." Due to the band's dislike of the song, it was one of their few Warner-released singles not included on their 2003 greatest hits album In Time. It was later included on their 2011 greatest hits album Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage 1982–2011.
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