“Open Your Eyes” by Guano Apes

"Open Your Eyes" was the first single Guano Apes ever released, a 1997 debut that also landed on their first album, Proud Like a God. The song won VIVA's Local Heroes contest over more than a thousand rivals, and the heavy play VIVA gave the video is what got them signed to GUN Records.

Sandra Nasić wrote the words and sings them over music she built with guitarist Henning Rümenapp, bassist Stefan Ude and drummer Dennis Poschwatta, and Wolfgang Stach's production makes room for Smoke's cello, Afam on turntables and Geo Schaller's keyboards. The video strands the band in an empty hotel lobby, playing away while bored staff ignore them and vacuum around them. It went to No. 5 in Germany, stayed in the Top 100 for 30 weeks and went gold there in 1999, and AllMusic's Steve Huey counted it among the album's strong moments.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.