Song · Super Furry Animals
“Northern Lites” by Super Furry Animals
From the album Guerrilla (1999)
“Northern Lites” by Super Furry Animals appears on 1 radio countdown from 1 station in 1999. It was first released in 1999 on the album Guerrilla. Its best result is #24 on the John Peel's Festive Fifty of 1999. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #241 alternative song of 1999.
Watch
Video from YouTube (SFAVEVO). Pressing play loads YouTube's player. Watch on YouTube
"Northern Lites" was the first single off Super Furry Animals' Guerrilla in 1999, and it is gloriously daft: a calypso sparked by El Niño and named for the aurora borealis, which the band swore they'd glimpsed before writing it. Gruff Rhys carried the melody for years, only settling on the island lilt once the words were done.
Keyboardist Cian Ciaran played the steel drums on a whim after the band found a set lying about at Real World Studios, and trumpets, trombone and flute brighten the rest; the band produced it and mixed it with Chris Shaw. Melody Maker and NME both made it Single of the Week, yet it stalled at 11 in the UK, which Rhys blamed on the lack of a real video. The clip, made with Martin McCarthy, was archive film of curling and Irish road bowling.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
All Rock Formats
Year-end countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | 24 | John Peel (BBC Radio 1) | John Peel's Festive Fifty of 1999 | 50 |
Comments
Log in or create a free account to join the conversation about "Northern Lites" by Super Furry Animals.
No comments yet. Be the first to share your thoughts.