Orange Crush (song)

{{Short description|Song by R.E.M.}}

{{about|the R.E.M. song|the Stefy song|The Orange Album{{!}}The Orange Album}}

{{Infobox song

| name = Orange Crush

| cover = R.E.M. - Orange Crush.jpg

| alt =

| type = single

| artist = R.E.M.

| album = Green

| B-side = "Ghost Rider", "Dark Globe"

| released = December 1988

| recorded = 1988

| studio =

| venue =

| genre = *Alternative rock{{Cite web|url=https://www.spin.com/2018/09/rem-at-the-bbc-orange-crush-live/|title=R.E.M. Release Live Version of "Orange Crush" From 'R.E.M. at the BBC'|date=September 20, 2018}}

• power pop{{Cite web|url=https://www.loudersound.com/features/orange-crush-how-rem-wrote-the-song-that-kickstarted-their-career|title=Orange Crush: How REM wrote the song that kickstarted their career|first=Rob|last=Hughes|website=loudersound|date=June 18, 2018}}

| length = 3:51

| label = Warner Bros.

| writer = {{hlist|Bill Berry|Peter Buck|Mike Mills|Michael Stipe}}

| producer = {{hlist|Scott Litt|R.E.M.}}

| prev_title = Finest Worksong

| prev_year = 1988

| next_title = Stand

| next_year = 1989

}}

"Orange Crush" is a song by the American alternative rock band R.E.M. It was released as the first single from the band's sixth studio album, Green, in 1988. It was not commercially released in the U.S. despite reaching number one as a promotional single on both the Mainstream and Modern Rock Tracks (where, at the time, it had the record for longest stay at number one with eight weeks, beating U2). It peaked at number 28 on the UK Singles Chart, making it the band's then-highest chart hit in Britain, where they promoted the song by making their debut appearance on Top of the Pops.{{cite book |last=Gittins |first=Ian |date=2007 |title=Top of the Pops: Mishaps, Miming, and Music - True Adventures of TV's No. 1 Pop Show |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IWr5r2CPOtgC&q=rem+orange+crush+top+of+the+pops&pg=PT51 |location=London |publisher=Random House |page=126 |isbn=9781846073274 |access-date=April 9, 2014}}

The video for the song, directed by Matt Mahurin, won the band its first VMA, for Best Post-Modern Video. "Orange Crush" was also the first song to win in the category. The video, shot exclusively in black and white, does not feature the band at all.

The song was placed on R.E.M.'s Warner Bros. Records compilation In Time: The Best of R.E.M. 1988–2003 in 2003, and a live version appears on the R.E.M. Live album recorded in Dublin in 2005.

The song's title refers to the chemical defoliant Agent Orange manufactured by Monsanto Corporation and Dow Chemical for the U.S. Defense Department and used in the Vietnam War.{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/r-e-m-s-brave-new-world-2-191585/|title=R.E.M.'s Brave New World|first1=Anthony|last1=DeCurtis|magazine=Rolling Stone|date=April 20, 1989}}{{cite web|url=https://ew.com/article/2004/10/11/we-pick-rems-top-five-political-songs/|title=We pick R.E.M.'s top five political songs|website=EW.com}}"...the barbed-wire edge of "Orange Crush." This song, about the use of Agent Orange in Vietnam,..." [http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=BG&p_theme=bg&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EADEED283A1373D&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM "R.E.M. FINALLY EMERGES AS HARD-EDGED, FEROCIOUS" Boston Globe, April 10, 1989] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121019193747/http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=BG&p_theme=bg&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EADEED283A1373D&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM |date=October 19, 2012 }}"Guitarist Peter Buck has said that "Orange Crush," the first single from "Green" (Warner Bros., all formats), is about Agent Orange..." [https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/access/73643212.html?dids=73643212:73643212&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Nov+09%2C+1988&author=Mark+Jenkins&pub=The+Washington+Post+%28pre-1997+Fulltext%29&desc=Records%3BUninspired+Folk-Rock+Routine+Releases+From+R.E.M.+and+the+Bangles&pqatl=google "Records;Uninspired Folk-Rock Routine Releases From R.E.M. and the Bangles" Washington Post, Nov 9, 1988] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121021132716/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/access/73643212.html?dids=73643212:73643212&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Nov+09,+1988&author=Mark+Jenkins&pub=The+Washington+Post+(pre-1997+Fulltext)&desc=Records%3BUninspired+Folk-Rock+Routine+Releases+From+R.E.M.+and+the+Bangles&pqatl=google |date=October 21, 2012 }}

Stipe opened the song during the Green World Tour by singing the U.S. Army recruiting slogan, "Be all you can be... in the Army."{{Citation |last=Gray |first=Marcus |title=It Crawled from the South: An R.E.M. Companion |type=Paperback |edition=2nd |date=March 21, 1997 |publisher=Da Capo Press |isbn=0-306-80751-3 |page=57}} Stipe's father served in the Vietnam War.{{cite web|url=http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/24/entertainment/vietnam-anthems-the-seventies/index.html |title=5 songs you didn't know were about the Vietnam War |work=CNN Entertainment|publisher=Cable News Network, Turner Broadcasting System |date=June 24, 2015|access-date=June 28, 2017|first=Ryan|last=Bergeron}}