"Electron Blue" is a song by American

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

band

R.E.M. R.E.M. was an American alternative rock band formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1980 by drummer Bill Berry, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills, and lead vocalist Michael Stipe, who were students at the University of Georgia. One of the fir ...

It was released as the third single from their thirteenth studio album ''

Around the Sun ''Around the Sun'' is the thirteenth studio album by American alternative rock band R.E.M., released on October 5, 2004 on Warner Bros. Records. The album was supported by several singles and a world tour. It was commercially successful but recei ...

'' on February 28, 2005. Written by group members

Peter Buck Peter Lawrence Buck (born December 6, 1956) is an American musician and songwriter. He was a co-founder and the lead guitarist of the alternative rock band R.E.M.; he played the banjo and mandolin on several R.E.M. songs. Throughout his caree ...

Mike Mills Michael Edward Mills (born December 17, 1958) is an American multi-instrumentalist, singer, and composer who was a founding member of the alternative rock band R.E.M. Though known primarily as the bass guitarist and backing vocalist of R.E.M., hi ...

and

Michael Stipe John Michael Stipe (; born January 4, 1960) is an American singer, songwriter and artist, best known as the lead singer and lyricist of the alternative rock band R.E.M. Stipe was born in Metro Atlanta in January 1960. Due to his father's militar ...

, the song features a

synthesizer A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...

-heavy arrangement. Its lyrics describe an electric

hallucinogenic drug Hallucinogens, also known as psychedelics, entheogens, or historically as psychotomimetics, are a large and diverse class of psychoactive drugs that can produce altered states of consciousness characterized by major alterations in thought, moo ...

made of light, a concept which was developed from a recurring dream of Stipe's. Upon release as a single, "Electron Blue" peaked at numbers 43 and 26 on the singles charts of Ireland and the United Kingdom respectively. Michael Stipe performed on the ''Around the Sun'' tour with a blue band painted across his eyes as a reference to the song, his personal favorite from ''Around the Sun''.

Background and composition

Written and recorded for the album ''Around the Sun'' (2004), R.E.M. lead singer

described "Electron Blue" as one of his more future-themed songs. "Electron Blue" features prominent use of the

and has been compared by Stipe to the work of English musician

Brian Eno Brian Peter George Jean-Baptiste de la Salle Eno (, born 15 May 1948), also mononymously known as Eno, is an English musician, songwriter, record producer, visual artist, and activist. He is best known for his pioneering contributions to ambien ...

. Its lyrics, which consist almost entirely of rhyming

couplet In poetry, a couplet ( ) or distich ( ) is a pair of successive lines that rhyme and have the same metre. A couplet may be formal (closed) or run-on (open). In a formal (closed) couplet, each of the two lines is end-stopped, implying that there ...

s, describe a

made of light. Stipe has referred to "Electron Blue" as his favorite song on ''Around the Sun'', as well as one of his all-time favorite R.E.M. songs. It also inspired his stage appearance for the subsequent ''Around the Sun'' tour: a blue band painted across his eyes. The song "Sing for the Submarine", from the band's fourteenth studio album ''

Accelerate In mechanics, acceleration is the rate of change of the velocity of an object with respect to time. Acceleration is one of several components of kinematics, the study of motion. Accelerations are vector quantities (in that they have magnit ...

'' (2008), references "Electron Blue" and explores the same concept.

Commercial performance

"Electron Blue" was released as the third single from ''Around the Sun'' on February 28, 2005. It debuted at its peak position of number 26 on the UK Singles Chart on the issue dated March 12, 2005, remaining on the chart for an additional week. The single also peaked at number 43 on the

Irish Singles Chart The Irish Singles Chart is the Republic of Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA) and compiled on their behalf by the Official Charts Company. Chart rankings are ...

Formats and track listings

* CD single 1 (United Kingdom) : 7-inch single (United Kingdom) # "Electron Blue" – 4:12 # "

What's the Frequency, Kenneth? "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?" is a song by American alternative rock band R.E.M. from their ninth studio album, '' Monster'' (1994). The song's title refers to an incident in New York City in 1986 in which two then-unknown assailants attack ...

" (live in Atlanta, October 23, 2004) – 3:50 * CD single 2 (United Kingdom) # "Electron Blue" – 4:12 # " Sweetness Follows" (live in Cincinnati, October 27, 2004) – 4:05 # "

Leaving New York "Leaving New York" is a song by American alternative rock band R.E.M. It was released as the lead single from the band's 13th studio album, ''Around the Sun'' (2004). Although it was not as heavily promoted as earlier singles, it reached number ...

" (live video, Helsinki January 29, 2005) – 4:48

Charts

References

Bibliography

* {{authority control 2005 singles R.E.M. songs Songs about drugs Songs written by Peter Buck Songs written by Mike Mills Songs written by Michael Stipe Warner Records singles Song recordings produced by Pat McCarthy (record producer) Song recordings produced by Michael Stipe Song recordings produced by Mike Mills Song recordings produced by Peter Buck 2004 songs