"1901" is a song by French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 alternative rock

Alternative rock

Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...

 band Phoenix

Phoenix (band)

Phoenix is a Grammy Award winning French indie rock band from Versailles, founded by Thomas Mars, Deck d'Arcy, Christian Mazzalai and Laurent Brancowitz.-Formation and early years:...

 and is featured on their fourth studio album

Album

An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...

, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix is the fourth studio album album by the French alternative rock band Phoenix. The album was released internationally by V2 Records on 25 May 2009....

. It was released in February 2009 as the album's lead single

Single (music)

In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...

, originally as a free download from the band's official website, but was issued as a retail single due to the song's popularity. A music video

Music video

A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...

 for the song was released in May.
In July, the song entered the U.S. Billboard

Billboard (magazine)

Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...

 Alternative Songs chart, where it later went on to peak at number one,
becoming only the fourth single released on an independent record label

Independent record label

An independent record label is a record label operating without the funding of or outside the organizations of the major record labels. A great number of bands and musical acts begin on independent labels.-Overview:...

 to achieve such a feat.
The single was re-issued in the UK in February 2010.
According to lead singer Thomas Mars, the song is about early 20th century Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

. Mars said, "Paris in 1901 was better than it is now. So the song is a fantasy about Paris."

Critical reception

The song has received very positive reviews from music critics, with Pitchfork Media

Pitchfork Media

Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock...

's Jason Crock saying it is "just as smooth and spirited and dementedly catchy as any of their best singles."
In October 2009, "1901" ranked number 228 in Pitchfork's list of "The Top 500 Tracks of the 2000's,"
the fifth-highest placement on the list amongst 2009 songs.
The NME

NME

The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...

s Gavin Haynes praised the song's "rave-like stop-go guitars,"
while Evan Sawdey of PopMatters

PopMatters

PopMatters is an international webzine of cultural criticism that covers many aspects of popular culture. PopMatters publishes reviews, interviews, and detailed essays on most cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, films, books, video games, comics, sports, theater,...

 said it might be Phoenix's "finest song to date."
Philadelphia Inquirer

The Philadelphia Inquirer

The Philadelphia Inquirer is a morning daily newspaper that serves the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, metropolitan area of the United States. The newspaper was founded by John R. Walker and John Norvell in June 1829 as The Pennsylvania Inquirer and is the third-oldest surviving daily newspaper in the...

 music critic Dan DeLuca described the song as "joyously exultant riff-happy pop."
The song was ranked number two on Spin

Spin (magazine)

Spin is a music magazine founded in 1985 by publisher Bob Guccione Jr.-History:In its early years, the magazine was noted for its broad music coverage with an emphasis on college-oriented rock music and on the ongoing emergence of hip-hop. The magazine was eclectic and bold, if sometimes haphazard...

 magazine's list of the "20 Best Summer Songs of 2009."

In popular culture

Phoenix performed "1901" on television programs such as The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien

The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien

The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien is an American late-night talk show that featured Conan O'Brien as host from June 1, 2009 to January 22, 2010 as part of NBC's long-running Tonight Show franchise...

,
Late Show with David Letterman

Late Show with David Letterman

Late Show with David Letterman is a U.S. late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on CBS. The show debuted on August 30, 1993, and is produced by Letterman's production company, Worldwide Pants Incorporated. The show's music director and band-leader of the house band, the CBS Orchestra, is...

,
Saturday Night Live

Saturday Night Live

Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...

,
and MTV

MTV

MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....

's It's On with Alexa Chung

It's On with Alexa Chung

It's On with Alexa Chung was an American live interactive talk and variety program that aired weekdays on MTV from June 15 to December 17, 2009...

. The song was also featured in episodes of Gossip Girl

Gossip Girl (TV series)

Gossip Girl is an American teen drama television series based on the book series of the same name written by Cecily von Ziegesar. The series was created by Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, and premiered on The CW on September 19, 2007...

, Melrose Place

Melrose Place (2009 TV series)

Melrose Place is an American television series broadcast on The CW Television Network from September 8, 2009 to April 13, 2010. The fifth series in the Beverly Hills, 90210 franchise, it is an updated version of the 1990s Fox prime time drama of the same name, featuring a group of young adults...

, The Vampire Diaries

The Vampire Diaries (TV series)

The Vampire Diaries is an American supernatural drama television series developed by Kevin Williamson and Julie Plec, based on the book series of the same name written by L. J. Smith. The series premiered on The CW Television Network on September 10, 2009, and is currently in its third season that...

 and Hellcats

Hellcats

Hellcats is an American cheerleading comedy-drama television series that originally aired on The CW in the United States from September 8, 2010 to May 17, 2011...

, the trailer for the film New York, I Love You

New York, I Love You

New York, I Love You is a 2009 romance film released in the United States on October 16, 2009. From the producer of Paris, je t'aime, it stars an ensemble cast, among them Bradley Cooper, Shia LaBeouf, Natalie Portman, Anton Yelchin, Hayden Christensen, Orlando Bloom, Irrfan Khan, Rachel Bilson,...

,
television advertisement

Television advertisement

A television advertisement or television commercial, often just commercial, advert, ad, or ad-film – is a span of television programming produced and paid for by an organization that conveys a message, typically one intended to market a product...

s for Playstation

PlayStation 3

The is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment and the successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series. The PlayStation 3 competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...

 and the 2010 Cadillac SRX

Cadillac SRX

Engine options include the High-Feature V6 and the 4.6 L Northstar V8. It is based on the GM Sigma platform and comes with a five or six-speed automatic transmission; rear-wheel drive and four-wheel drive are available....

, and appears on the soundtrack to the NHL 2K10

NHL 2K10

NHL 2K10 is an ice hockey simulation developed by Visual Concepts and published by 2K Sports, part of the NHL 2K series. It was released on September 15, 2009 for Wii, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation 2. Randy Hahn and Drew Remenda provide commentary as they did for NHL 2K9...

 video game.
The song was released for the Rock Band

Rock Band

Rock Band is a music video game developed by Harmonix Music Systems, published by MTV Games and Electronic Arts. It is the first title in the Rock Band series. The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions were released in the United States on November 20, 2007, while the PlayStation 2 version was...

 series on January 19, 2010 along with "Lisztomania

Lisztomania (song)

Lisztomania is a song by the French band Phoenix from their 4th album Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix. It is their 2nd single off this album, though a music video of this song came before "1901". It peaked at #11 on the "Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles" in the US and as well peaked at #56 in Belgium...

." It was released as part of a Phoenix Track Pack for Guitar Hero 5

Guitar Hero 5

Guitar Hero 5 is a music video game and the fifth main entry in the Guitar Hero series. The game was developed by Neversoft and published by RedOctane and Activision, and released internationally in September 2009 for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, 3 and Wii consoles...

 on April 8, 2010. It appears on the Test Drive Unlimited 2

Test Drive Unlimited 2

Test Drive Unlimited 2 is a racing video game developed by Eden Games and published by Atari. It is the sequel to Test Drive Unlimited and the tenth game in the series. The game was released on 8 February 2011 in North America and on 11 February in Europe.The game suffered from many bugs during...

 soundtrack. The song is also featured as the default music for the "Modern" template in the iOS version of iMovie

IMovie

iMovie is a proprietary video editing software application which allows Mac, iPod Touch 4th generation, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, and iPad 2 users to edit their own home movies. It was originally released by Apple in 1999 as a Mac OS 8 application bundled with the first FireWire-enabled consumer Apple...

. An edited version is also used as the theme tune for BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 Radio 5 Live's 6-0-6

6-0-6

6-0-6 is a football phone-in, broadcast on BBC Radio Five Live throughout the football season; when the programme started, it typically went on air at 6:06pm on a matchday . It covers topics relating to the current affairs of football in the United Kingdom. It currently airs on Saturdays and...

 football phone-in show. Samples from the song were also used for Girl Talk

Girl Talk (musician)

Gregg Michael Gillis , better known by his stage name Girl Talk, is an American musician specializing in mashups and digital sampling. Gillis has released five LPs on the record label Illegal Art and EPs on 333 and 12 Apostles....

's fifth studio album, All Day, on the track "Triple Double," and the free2play MMOTPS sandbox game APB Reloaded (All Points Bulletin Reloaded).

Cover Versions

1901 was covered by Birdy

Birdy (musician)

Jasmine van den Bogaerde, also known by her stage name Birdy, is an English musician known for winning the music competition Open Mic UK in 2008, at the age of 12. Her version of Bon Iver's "Skinny Love" was released in January 2011, peaking inside the top twenty of the UK Singles Chart and in...

 as the first track of her self-titled 2011 debut album Birdy

Birdy (Birdy album)

Birdy is the self-titled debut studio album by English folk solo artist Birdy, it was released on 4 November 2011 by 14thFloor Records/Atlantic Records...

.

Chart performance

For the week ending December 19, 2009, "1901" debuted on the Billboard Hot 100

Billboard Hot 100

The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...

 chart at number 90. It peaked at number 84 for the week ending January 23, 2010. The single also reached number 73 on the Canadian Hot 100

Canadian Hot 100

The Canadian Hot 100 is a music singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine which ranks songs in Canada. The chart debuted in the Billboard issue dated June 16, 2007 and was made available for the first time via their online services on June 7, 2007...

.

Chart (2009–2011)	Peak position
US Billboard Hot 100 Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...	84
US Alternative Songs (Billboard Billboard (magazine) Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis... )	1
US Rock Songs Rock Songs Rock Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine which ranks the airplay of songs on alternative, mainstream rock and triple A radio stations. The first chart was published in the issue dated June 20, 2009. "Know Your Enemy" by Green Day was the first number-one song. The Rock Songs...  (Billboard)	3
US Adult Pop Songs (Billboard)	34
Canada (Canadian Hot 100 Canadian Hot 100 The Canadian Hot 100 is a music singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine which ranks songs in Canada. The chart debuted in the Billboard issue dated June 16, 2007 and was made available for the first time via their online services on June 7, 2007... )	73

Certifications

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Country
! Certification

Music recording sales certification

Music recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies, where the threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory .Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories,...

(sales thresholds)
|-
| United States

Recording Industry Association of America

The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States...

| Gold

Accolades

{|class="wikitable"
|-
!Publication
!Country
!Accolade
!Year
!Rank
|-
|Spin

Spin (magazine)

Spin is a music magazine founded in 1985 by publisher Bob Guccione Jr.-History:In its early years, the magazine was noted for its broad music coverage with an emphasis on college-oriented rock music and on the ongoing emergence of hip-hop. The magazine was eclectic and bold, if sometimes haphazard...

|U.S.
|Best Songs of 2009
|2009
|align=center|2
|-
|Pitchfork Media

Pitchfork Media

Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock...

|U.S.
|Top 100 Tracks of 2009
|2009
|align=center|3
|-
|Slant Magazine

Slant Magazine

Slant Magazine is an online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New York Film Festival.- History :...

|U.S.
|Top 25 Songs of 2009
|2009
|align=center|3
|-
|Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...

|U.S.
|Best Songs of 2009
|2009
|align=center|5
|-
|Rolling Stone
|U.S.
|Best Songs of the Decade
|2009
|align=center|80
|-
|Pitchfork Media
|U.S.
|Top 500 Tracks of the 2000s
|2009
|align=center|228
|-
|Triple J

Triple J

triple j is a nationally networked Australian radio station intended to appeal to listeners between the ages of 18 and 30. The government-funded station is a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation...

|Australia
|Hottest 100 Countdown 2009
|2010
|align=center|13
|}

External links

• Watch the "1901" video on MySpace