"Electricity" is the first single from the albumHead Music by Suede, released on 12 April 1999 on Nude Records. It reached number five on the UK Singles Chart and in Finland and Norway. It was also a top-twenty hit in Iceland, Ireland, Spain and Sweden and reached number 39 in New Zealand.
Background
The band re-emerged with this successful electronic-rock tune after nearly two years away from the public eye. For the first time, synthesizers are used as a primary part of a song, working in parallel with the distorted guitar as opposed to just providing backing. The single helped guide the band's new direction, as evident in the fact that synths were also heavily used on Head Music. According to the song's co-writer Neil Codling, it is "hard-edged, spiky and more like the last album than anything else on this one." According to singer Brett Anderson, it is just a "simple love song." On the choice of the album's lead single, he said: "it was either going to be this or ‘Savoir Faire’. There are about five singles on the album, so in the end I couldn’t really tell which one should be first. It was pretty much flip a coin or roll some dice." However, there was in fact another contender for first single. Both "Electricity" and the title track "Head Music" were played to Sony A&R personnel around the world, who voted in favour of what they felt was the "safer" choice in "Electricity". The latter track ultimately was not chosen as a single from the album. "Electricity" was produced by Steve Osborne, "Popstar" and "See That Girl" were produced by Ben Hillier while "Waterloo" was produced by Bruce Lampcov.
Release and promotion
The song was first performed live at a fanclub gig on 22 March 1999 at the Glasgow Garage; the band's first show since their Reading Festival appearance in 1997. Suede played at another fanclub show on 27 March at the London Astoria, with Black Box Recorder as the warm-up act. At the interval, the music video was premiered to a large gathering of the music media in attendance. To promote the single, the band performed the song on several TV shows, including: the Pepsi Chart, Top of the Pops, . The single received exposure on Radio One's A-list four weeks in advance of release. On the day after its April 12 release, "Electricity" was holding up well at number two on the UK Singles Chart, behind Martine McCutcheon's "Perfect Moment". By the end of the week it had slipped to its official peak of number five, and it went on to spend a total of seven weeks on the chart. "Electricity" would be Suede's last top-ten single in the United Kingdom. As part of a major marketing push for the 3 May album release, the single was chosen as the first ever MiniDisc single to be released in the UK.
Music video
The video shoot for "Electricity" took place on 10 March and was directed by Mike Lipscombe. One of the band's few big budget videos, it features the band performing in the back alley Falconberg Court behind the London Astoria venue, ghosting in and out of view as electrical power lines surge and shower sparks over scene. The director made use of miniature models, rotoscoping and heavy post-production to achieve the final, big production look. Alluding to the comparisons in Suede’s music to David Bowie, a New Zealand Herald writer noted the similarity of the video's setting to the cover of Bowie’s 1972 Ziggy Stardust album; which also features a W1 London cul-de-sac.
Critical reception
Reviews to the highly-awaited single were mixed. The Mirror and Music Week declared it ‘Single of the Week’. The former said "The boy wonder clearly hasn't lost his eye for a glam-trash chorus,” while the latter called it "a rock-charged stomper that compromises on nothing and promises everything for the album." In a more mixed assessment, NME felt that Suede were displaying familiar music and lyrical ideas from the previous album, however they said the "recycled cut-and-paste Suede is still a fair old mince ahead of most other singles you'll hear this year." However, some Scottish critics felt that the single was lacking creativity. The Daily Record wrote: "Loyal Suede fans have put Brett Anderson's band back in the Top 10, but 'Electricity' lacks the energy of previous hits." Likewise, The List wrote: "'Electricity' finds Suede treading water when they should be breaking new ground."
