Shimmer (song)

"Shimmer" is a song by American alternative rock group Fuel. It was released in August 1998 as lead single from their debut album Sunburn.

"Shimmer"
Single by Fuel
from the album Sunburn
ReleasedAugust 25, 1998 (1998-08-25)
StudioSouthern Tracks (Atlanta)
Genre
Length3:34
Label
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
Fuel singles chronology
"Shimmer"
(1998)		 "Bittersweet"
(1998)
Music video
"Shimmer" on YouTube

Written by Carl Bell, the single peaked at number two on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks charts, number 11 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, number 37 on the Adult Top 40 chart and at number 42 on the Billboard Hot 100.[1]

Critical reception

Dan Snierson of Entertainment Weekly cited "Shimmer" as one of the "mellowest cuts" from its parent album, commenting that the song is a "Dave Matthews-ish ditty".[2] Billboard wrote that "the best thing about 'Shimmer' is that it doesn't wallow in angst melodrama or reek of kiddie-pop sugar," and called it "vibrant, aggressive rock' n'roll for adults."[3]

Music video

The music video has the band performing the song (mostly centered on singer Brett Scallions) and has short flashes to things like a mother and infant child and a dog. Directed by Josh Taft, the film clip's theme of the past and the present draws quite heavily from the song's lyrics of a shimmering love that while starting off mesmerizing can and will eventually fade and be torn away through emotional distance and neglect. The visions concentrate on the position of a past potential family in the storyteller's life as wholesome visions of a woman post-pregnancy in a white dress, a faceless father holding a baby, a goldfish and a family dog come into focus but are rarely seen clearly as the camera blurs and we are drawn quickly away. As the lyrics grind on describing the prior engagements with the female antagonist Taft brings us quite suddenly to the realization that the goldfish is dead, the family dog blurs away and the baby ceases to move and recedes to a cold blackened shape. The arrival of a female antagonist with symbolic sands of time falling through her outstretched hands heralds the arrival of new life as the song reaches its climax. The protagonist's car ride slowly but surely drifts him along and possibly away from the dead home-life but the goldfish now risen is rejoined by a now clearer vision of the family dog and the squirming life of the baby in a man's arms returns. The director has hinted at an emotionally empty space; a dead home through his lack of furnishings, drained color and detached objectivity but seems to suggest that the storyteller singer becomes the one framed in the past while the others live on as suggested in the closing scene.

Use in media

The song was used in Charmed season one, episode 14 "Secrets and Guys".

Track listings and formats

Credits and personnel

Credits and personnel adapted from Shimmer CD single liner notes.[4]

Charts
Chart (1998) Peak
position
Australia (ARIA)[8] 16
US Billboard Hot 100[9] 42
US Adult Top 40 (Billboard)[10] 37
US Alternative Airplay (Billboard)[11] 2
US Mainstream Rock (Billboard)[12] 11
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References
  1. "Billboard Chart History". Retrieved June 28, 2010.
  2. Snierson, Dan (April 10, 1998). "Music Review: Sunburn (1998)". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved July 19, 2020.
  3. Reece, Doug; Smith, Shawnee; Flick, Larry (March 21, 1998), "Singles: Rock tracks". Billboard. 110 (12):98
  4. Shimmer (US CD Single liner notes). Fuel. 550 Music. 1998. 36K 79019.CS1 maint: others (link)
  5. Shimmer (EU Maxi CD Single liner notes). Fuel. Epic Records. 1998. FFM 666812 2.CS1 maint: others (link)
  6. Shimmer (AUS CD Single liner notes). Fuel. 550 Music. 1998. 666 420 2.CS1 maint: others (link)
  7. Shimmer (US 7" Vinyl liner notes). Fuel. 550 Music. 1998. BS7 5484-S1.CS1 maint: others (link)
  8. "Australian-charts.com – Fuel – Shimmer / Sunburn". ARIA Top 50 Singles. Retrieved April 30, 2019.
  9. "Fuel Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved April 30, 2019.
  10. "Fuel Chart History (Adult Pop Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved April 30, 2019.
  11. "Fuel Chart History (Alternative Airplay)". Billboard. Retrieved April 30, 2019.
  12. "Fuel Chart History (Mainstream Rock)". Billboard. Retrieved April 30, 2019.
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