"Countdown" is a song written and performed by

Lindsey Buckingham Lindsey Adams Buckingham (born October 3, 1949) is an American musician, record producer, and the lead guitarist and co-lead vocalist of the Rock music, rock band Fleetwood Mac from 1975 to 1987 and 1997 to 2018. In addition to his tenure with ...

, released in 1992 from his third solo album '' Out of the Cradle''. In the UK, "Countdown" was released in July as the album's first single, although in North America, "

Wrong A wrong or wrength (from Old English – 'crooked') is an act that is illegal or immoral. Legal wrongs are usually quite clearly defined in the law of a state or jurisdiction. They can be divided into civil wrongs and crimes (or ''criminal of ...

" was released as the first single instead.

Background

Buckingham recorded his guitar parts on a

Fender Telecaster The Fender Telecaster, colloquially known as the Tele (), is an electric guitar produced by Fender (company), Fender. Together with its sister model the Fender Esquire, Esquire, it was the world's first mass-produced, commercially successfulLes ...

with fuzz and a variable speed oscillator (VSO). Buckingham was inspired to make the guitar on "Countdown" sound like a violin after watching a classical concert. After playing his guitar part, he used a VSO to slow down the speed of the tape recorder, which in Buckingham's estimation provided a "crystalline" quality to the guitar. During the mixing process, producer

Tom Lord-Alge Tom Lord-Alge (born January 17, 1962) is an American music engineer and mixer. He began his career at Unique Recording in New York. Subsequently, he was the resident mixer at what used to be known as "South Beach Studios", located on the ground ...

attempted to thicken the sound of the guitar, although Buckingham convinced him to abandon the idea and insisted that the instrument should "sting like a bee." On the week dated August 1, 1992, the UK publication ''

Music Week ''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future. History Founded in 1959 as ''Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music We ...

'' listed "Countdown" at number 40 on its airplay chart. The song received the most airplay on

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and Contemporary hit radio, current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including ...

and the

Chiltern Radio Network Chiltern Radio may also refer to Chiltern Voice FM: Chiltern Radio Network was the parent group of several Independent Local Radio stations in the 1980s and 1990s. These were divided across two networks: ''The Hot FM'' and ''SuperGold''. His ...

. Later that month, a music video for "Countdown" was released, which Buckingham directed himself. While the song did not appear on the UK Singles Chart or the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100, it did reach the top 40 on ''Billboard's''

Mainstream Rock Mainstream rock (also known as heritage rock) is a radio format used by many commercial radio stations in the United States and Canada. Format background Mainstream rock stations represent a cross between classic rock, active rock and alternativ ...

and

Adult Contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul ...

charts. In Boston, the song was amongst the twenty most played songs on

album-oriented rock Album-oriented rock (AOR, originally called album-oriented radio) is an FM radio format created in the United States in the late 1960s that focuses on the full repertoire of rock albums and is currently associated with classic rock. US rad ...

stations for the week dated September 18, 1992. Elsewhere, "Countdown" charted in Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, and the European Adult Contemporary charts.

Critical reception

Alan Jones of ''

'' wrote that "Countdown" was "good, but unlikely to e ahit". Jean Rosenbluth of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' wrote that it was "hard not to be swayed by the singer’s practically palpable optimism" on "Countdown". Writing for ''

Yorkshire Evening Press ''The Press'' is a newspaper covering North and East Yorkshire, England It is published daily in the City of York by Newsquest Media Group Ltd, a subsidiary of Gannett Company Inc. History The ''Yorkshire Evening Press'' was established in 1 ...

'', Steve Cowell said that the song was a "powerful AOR track with a lot of acoustic guitars" and concluded that it was "nothing special". Randy Clark of '' Cashbox'' thought that the song demonstrated Buckingham's "powerful influence on isformer band's pop sound." Mike DeGagne of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

commented that "Countdown" possesses the "pop-catchy appeal of past hits like "

Trouble Trouble may refer to: Film and television * ''Trouble'' (1922 film), an American silent comedy-drama film directed by Albert Austin * ''Trouble'' (1933 film), a British comedy film * ''Trouble'' (1977 film), a Soviet drama film * ''Trouble'' ...

" and " Go Insane" at one level, yet it maintains an enriched, dynamic feel, as if Buckingham has progressed and bettered himself as a solo artist. "Countdown" is an excellent delegate to the kind of music Buckingham is capable of, and it contains a lot of the same constituents that made him such an integral part of the second wave of

Fleetwood Mac Fleetwood Mac are a British-American Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1967 by the singer and guitarist Peter Green (musician), Peter Green. Green named the band by combining the surnames of the drummer, Mick Fleetwood, and the bassis ...

Track listing

*Mercury CD 371 / Mercury 7" 371 #"Countdown" – 3:48 #"This Nearly Was Mine" – 1:38 #"Surrender the Rain" – 3:39 #"

" – 3:53

Personnel

– guitars, keyboards, drum programming, vocals *

Larry Klein Larry Klein is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer. He is based in Los Angeles. He began his career as a bassist, playing with jazz artists Willie Bobo, Freddie Hubbard, Carmen McRae, Joe Henderson, Bobby Hutcherson, Way ...

– bass guitar *

Alex Acuña Alejandro Neciosup Acuña (born December 12, 1944), known professionally as Alex Acuña, is a Peruvian–American jazz drummer and percussionist. He has also worked as an educator at University of California, Los Angeles, and Berklee College of ...

– percussion

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{Lindsey Buckingham 1992 songs Lindsey Buckingham songs Songs written by Lindsey Buckingham Reprise Records singles