Alright/Time

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Alright"/"Time"

Single by Supergrass
from the album I Should Coco
Released	1995
Format	CD, 7"
Recorded	1994
Genre	Britpop, Rock, Pop
Length	"Alright": 3.01 "Time": 3.10
Label	Parlophone
Producer(s)	Sam Williams
Chart positions
#2 (UK Singles Chart)
Supergrass singles chronology
"Lenny" (1995)	"Alright"/"Time" (1995)	"Going Out" (1996)

"Alright"/"Time" is a 1995 double A-side by British rock band Supergrass, released at the height of the Britpop movement. Both tracks were taken from their #1 debut album I Should Coco.

"Alright"/"Time" was the 5th release from I Should Coco. While "Caught By The Fuzz", "Mansize Rooster", "Lose It" and "Lenny" all charted (with "Lenny" even scraping the Top Ten in the UK Singles Chart) and were warmly received by the critics, it was "Alright"/"Time" - the final release from the album - which proved to be their breakthrough single, largly due to the popularity of the song "Alright" which still receives airplay in the UK. "Alright"/"Time" reached #2 in the UK Singles Chart, making it Supergrass' highest charting single to date, along with "Richard III". It remained in the top three for a month.

"Alright" received a great deal of air-play in the UK. The "bona fide teen anthem"^[1] with its upbeat lyrics and cheerful piano tune seemed to epitomise the feeling in Britain at the time, when Britpop was at its height. The band's youthful appearance (lead singer Gaz Coombes had only just turned 19 when it was released) added weight to the lyrics.

The success of the record was helped by a lively promotional video featuring the band joyfully messing around on bicycles and a bed on wheels. Having seen the video, Steven Spielberg approached the band and proposed that they make work together on a television series in the style of The Monkees. The group turned him down, preferring to work on their second album In It For The Money. Troy Carpenter, co-director of Nude as the News claims "the gesture says a lot about the band's personality — one which has stuck with the group throughout its career — which is basically that of a fun-loving rock group whose undeniable musical talent is sometimes overshadowed by the sheer ebullience of its music.^[2]

Though it is one of their most popular songs, the band rarely play "Alright" in their live sets anymore, not because they dislike it, but because it would be wrong for a band whose members are now all in their 30s to sing a song of such youthful exuberance. In a 1999 interview, Coombes joked "We don't play "Alright" anymore. We should play it in a minor key, and in the past tense."^[3]

The B-side, "Condition" is a cover of "Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)" by Mickey Newbury and originally a hit for Kenny Rogers. "Je Suis Votre Papa Sucre" is a short instrumental.