Shiny Happy People

Shiny Happy People

"Shiny Happy People" is a song by American rock band R.E.M. from their seventh studio album, Out of Time (1991). The song features guest vocals by Kate Pierson of fellow Athens band the B-52's, who also appears in the music video. The lyrics for the song were allegedly written as a satirical translation of the Chinese government's propaganda used after the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests. The song was released as a single in May 1991 in the United Kingdom, but did not go on sale in the United States until four months later. "Shiny Happy People" peaked at No. 10 on the US Billboard Hot 100, the fourth and last R.E.M. single to reach the top 10. It also peaked at No. 6 on the UK Singles Chart, becoming the first R.E.M. song to reach the top 10 in the UK and the only one to reach the top 10 in both countries. It is R.E.M.'s most successful song in Ireland, where it reached No. 2, and in Germany, where it peaked at No. 10. The band was ambivalent about being known for a pop song that lacked gravitas. Singer Michael Stipe said in 2016: "It's a fruity pop song written for children ... 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'".R.E.M. performed the song with Pierson on Saturday Night Live on April 13, 1991. It was used as the theme song to the unaired pilot for the sitcom Friends, known at that time as Friends Like Us. It was replaced by the Rembrandts' "I'll Be There for You," but it was later briefly used in the first season's 10th episode, "The One with the Monkey".

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