“Place Your Hands” by Reef

Reef came barrelling out with "Place Your Hands," the first single from their second album, Glow, released by Sony Soho Square in October 1996. Under the swagger it's about loss: the grief Gary Stringer felt after his grandfather died, and easing the pain a death leaves. The writing credit goes to Stringer, Kenwyn House, John Bessant and Dominic Greensmith.

It climbed to number six in the UK, still their biggest single and best-known song, and it made their name, winning over the lads and the older rock crowd at once. It also gave Glow a push on its way into the UK albums chart at number one. In America the young cable channel M2 hammered David Mould's video until MTV made it a Buzz Clip. Billboard's Larry Flick loved the guitar-and-bass intro but found the words a bit rough.

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