Belter Of The Day: The Boo Radleys - Wake Up Boo!

25 March 2020, 13:22 | Updated: 25 March 2020, 13:26

The Boo Radleys - Wake Up Boo!

"Wake up, it's a beautiful morning, the sun shining for your eyes." TUNE.

Recorded by Merseyside band The Boo Radleys, Wake Up Boo! is one of the perennial favourites from the Britpop era. No other song has encapsualted the optimism of the time in quite the same way. And, of course, it gave countless radio stations a big tune to play every morning.

The caught the mood of the nation and made Number 9 in the UK charts following its release on 27 February 1995, remaining in the Top 100 for another 10 weeks. Very nice.

The Boo Radleys in 1993: Martin Carr, Rob Cieka, Tim Brown and Sice Rowbottom
The Boo Radleys in 1993: Martin Carr, Rob Cieka, Tim Brown and Sice Rowbottom. Picture: David Tonge/Getty Images

The Boos' songs were written by guitarist Martin Carr, and the group released two albums at the start of the 1990s: Ichabod And I 1990 and Everything's Alright Forever (1992). However, it was the ambitious Giant Steps in 1993 that caught the ear of the music press critics.

So the stage was set for Wake Up Boo! The accompanying album - also titled Wake Up! - topped the charts, but the band struggled to follow up its success. The next single, Find The Answer Within, only scraped to Number 37.

"We probably started breaking up the day Wake Up Boo charted," Carr later explained. Between the release of Wake Up! in March 1995 and the band's final outing, Kingsize, in October 1998, Oasis had become the biggest band in the country - and they were on Creation Records alongside the Boos. The Liverpool lads called it a day the following year.