“Shiny Happy People” is a song by the American rock band R.E.M., released as the second single from their seventh studio album, Out of Time (1991). It features guest vocals by Kate Pierson of the B-52’s, who also appears in the music video.
“Shiny Happy People” was released as a single in May 1991 in the United Kingdom, and four months later in the United States by Warner Bros. Records. It reached number 10 on the US Billboard Hot 100, the fourth and last R.E.M. single to reach the top 10. It reached number six on the UK singles chart, becoming the first R.E.M. song to reach the top 10 in the UK and the only one to reach the top 10 in both countries. It is R.E.M.’s most successful song in Ireland, where it reached number two on the Irish Singles Chart, and in Germany, where it reached number 10. Its music video, directed by Katherine Dieckmann, was inspired by the 1948 movie Letter From an Unknown Woman.
R.E.M. performed the song with Pierson on a season 17 episode of Saturday Night Live on April 13, 1991. It was used as the theme song for the unaired pilot of the sitcom Friends, before it was replaced by the Rembrandts’ “I’ll Be There for You”. R.E.M. was ambivalent about being known for a pop song widely perceived as lacking gravitas.
