"Insomniac" is a song by the Britpop

Britpop

Britpop is a subgenre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom. Britpop emerged from the British independent music scene of the early 1990s and was characterised by bands influenced by British guitar pop music of the 1960s and 1970s...

 band Echobelly

Echobelly

Echobelly were a Britpop band, debuting in 1994 with their album Everyone's Got One. They were often compared to Blondie and were influenced by Morrissey, who himself was a fan of the group....

. It was released as a single in March 1994 and was included on the band's album, Everyone's Got One

Everyone's Got One

Everyone's Got One is the debut album from English alternative rock band Echobelly. Gaining a favourable response from critics, the album reached number 8 in the UK Albums Chart.-Tracklisting:All songs written by Sonya Madan and Glenn Johansson....

. The song, written by Sonya Madan and Glenn Johansson, is primarily about drug abuse.

The single received positive critical reviews and peaked at #47 on the UK music charts. It was featured on the soundtrack for the film Dumb and Dumber.

Background

"Insomniac" was composed by band members Sonya Aurora Madan and Glenn Johansson. It is based on a 4/4 alternating verse/chorus structure and may be a musical homage to one of Echobelly's major influences, Morrissey

Morrissey

Steven Patrick Morrissey , known as Morrissey, is an English singer and lyricist. He rose to prominence in the 1980s as the lyricist and vocalist of the alternative rock band The Smiths. The band was highly successful in the United Kingdom but broke up in 1987, and Morrissey began a solo career,...

.

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...

wrote that the song is a "gentle warning of the dangers of snorting too much speed". However, according to Britpop and the English Music Tradition, the song might be a "dig" at Britpop's cocaine

Cocaine

Cocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. The name comes from "coca" in addition to the alkaloid suffix -ine, forming cocaine. It is a stimulant of the central nervous system, an appetite suppressant, and a topical anesthetic...

-driven lifestyle at the time (which is highlighted by the lines "Whatever turned you on/You put it up your nose" and "No sleep at all/Carry me home").

Release

"Insomniac" was released as a single in March 1994 with the b-side "Talent". It was then included as the seventh track of Echobelly's debut album, Everyone's Got One, which was released in August 1994. The song was also included on the band's 2001 compilation album I Can't Imagine the World Without Me.

Critical reception

The single received positive reviews from music critics, who called it "stunning" and "one of the best singles of 1994". According to author John Harris

John Harris (critic)

John Rhys Harris is a British journalist, writer, and critic.-Early life:Harris was raised in Wilmslow in north Cheshire by a university lecturer and a teacher, daughter of a nuclear research chemist...

, "Insomniac" was one of Echobelly's two best songs, along with "Bellyache". Allmusic's Ned Raggett

Ned Raggett

Ned Raggett is a library assistant, freelance writer and music journalist. His work has been published in Allmusic, the OC Weekly, Plan B, Metal Edge and The Quietus, while pieces have also appeared in Dream, Arthur, as well as Stylus, The Broken Face, Fake Jazz, Freaky Trigger, Careless Talk...

 wrote that "at the band's best ... Madan grapples with personal politics and dreams full on -- "Insomniac" and "Close...But," with its pictures of relationships fracturing on all fronts and resolution to look beyond them for something better, make for entertaining blasts of inspiration."

Chart performance

"Insomniac" charted at #47 in the UK for the week ending on April 2, 1994. This was the single's only appearance on the music charts.

Music video

The song's music video features three performances by the band, with songwriter-vocalist Madan wearing three different outfits: black clothes and black make-up; a white Union Jack t-shirt; and a red sequined dress and blonde wig. The video "takes full advantage of Madan's dramatic presence", and she dances in front of the camera for the duration of the song in the three contrasting outfits, before taking the wig off at the end.

Charts

Chart	Peak position
UK Singles UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...	47