Robbed hit of the week 6/21/21 - Fuel's "Shimmer"...

 

 

"Shimmer" - Fuel

from the album Sunburn (1998)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #42 (two weeks)

 

This week's "robbed hit" comes from the alternative hard-rock band Fuel, who came together in Tennessee before moving to Pennsylvania's capital city of Harrisburg in the mid 1990s. After putting out a few indie EPs the group, led by guitarist Carl Bell, was signed by Epic Records, releasing an EP Hazleton two weeks before their debut full-length effort Sunburn in the spring of 1998. The first single promoted to radio was the brooding rocker "Shimmer". Written by Bell, the song was initially from their indie release Porcelain from 1996 that he produced himself, redone with producer Steven Haigler and featuring lead vocals from Brett Scallions. Recounting an ex who wanted to confide about their new love troubles while under the ruse of reuniting, the song seethes bitterness as he realizes her intentions but can't fight the flame still flickering in his heart, the "shimmering" in question.

 

While "Shimmer" was a big rock radio hit, spending a week at #2 on Billboard magazine's Alternative Rock chart, and just missing the top ten on the Mainstream Rock list at #11, the track stalled a couple notches from the pop top-40 in September of 1998. The song also spent a month on Billboard's Adult Top-40 format tally, cresting at #37. Internationally, the single made the top-40 in Australia at #16. The Sunburn album, released in March of 1998, didn't go higher than #77 on the Billboard 200 sales tally in America, but still sold over a million copies.

The next song from the album sent to radio, "Bittersweet", reached the top-20 on both the Mainstream (#15) and Alternative (#17) Rock radio charts, followed by the adrenaline-fueled "Jesus Or A Gun", which got to #24 at Mainstream rock stations and #26 on Alternative ones. Lastly, the title track "Sunburn" climbed to #31 on the Alternative Rock list, but none of these three made a dent on the pop Hot 100 on Billboard. 

(7/10)

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Here's the band appearing live on Australian TV promoting the single...

 and lastly, live in concert...