"Electric Youth" is a song by American singer-songwriter-actress

Debbie Gibson Deborah Ann Gibson (born August 31, 1970) is an American singer-songwriter, record producer and actress. Gibson released her debut album '' Out of the Blue'' in 1987, which spawned several international hits, later being certified triple plati ...

, released as the second single from her second album, '' Electric Youth'' (1989). Produced by

Fred Zarr Frederick I. Zarr (born September 26, 1955) is an American musician, record producer, composer and arranger based in Brooklyn, New York. The CEO of BiZarr Music, Inc., he works alongside numerous artists, singers, songwriters, musicians, & audi ...

and engineered by Phil Castellano for BiZarr Music, Inc. and released in 1989, it became one of her most famous songs, peaking at number 11 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and 14 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

. Douglas Breitbart was the single's executive producer. Gibson had written the song as a statement about how young people of that era were seen and how their ideas were often ignored. As a teenager herself, she was a firm believer that the beliefs and ideas held by young people were just as important as those held by adults and the song reminded people of this. It also reminded them that the current youth would become the next generation of adults. In 2012, Gibson re-recorded the song as "Electric Youth Reloaded", featuring arrangement and rap lyrics by

Jace Hall Jason "Jace" Hall is an American film, television and video game producer. Career Hall was one of the founders of Monolith Productions and is CEO of record keeping platform Twin Galaxies. His music video "I Play W.O.W" was featured on IGN's Y ...

Critical reception

Bryan Buss from

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

described the song as "a bouncy, frenetic song that is ridiculously sing-alongable, but at the same it is time hard to really identify with it unless you're 12 (or at least young at heart)." The Daily Vault's Christopher Thelen noted that it "capture the playfulness of Gibson's music and the carefree feeling of youth." Pop Rescue said it is "by far the best song" on the album.

Music video

The

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

for the song was directed by Gibson and Jim Yukich and was nominated for a moonman at the

1989 MTV Video Music Awards The 1989 MTV Video Music Awards aired live on September 6, 1989, honoring the best music videos from April 2, 1988, to June 1, 1989. The show was hosted by Arsenio Hall at the Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles. This year four new "genre" cat ...

for Best Art Direction in a video. In 2006, elements of the music video (particularly the silhouette dance clips) were parodied by

Cobie Smulders Jacoba Francisca Maria "Cobie" Smulders (born April 3, 1982) is a Canadian actress. She is known for her starring role as Robin Scherbatsky in the CBS sitcom ''How I Met Your Mother'' (2005–2014) and as S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Maria Hill in the Ma ...

in the sitcom ''

How I Met Your Mother ''How I Met Your Mother'' (often abbreviated as ''HIMYM'') is an American sitcom, created by Craig Thomas and Carter Bays for CBS. The series, which aired from September 19, 2005 to March 31, 2014, follows the main character, Ted Mosby, and his ...

'' for her character Robin Sparkles' own 1990s ("The 80's didn't come to Canada 'til like '93.") hit single, "

Let's Go to the Mall "Let's Go to the Mall" is a song written by Craig Thomas and Carter Bays for the CBS television series '' How I Met Your Mother''. The song was performed by Canadian actress Cobie Smulders in the role of Robin Scherbatsky, who has a secret past ...

Track listing

All songs are written by

Deborah Gibson Deborah Ann Gibson (born August 31, 1970) is an American singer-songwriter, record producer and actress. Gibson released her debut album '' Out of the Blue'' in 1987, which spawned several international hits, later being certified triple plati ...

;Other Version * 7th Heaven Club Mix - 6:49

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Electric Youth (Song) 1989 singles 1989 songs Debbie Gibson songs Songs written by Debbie Gibson Song recordings produced by Fred Zarr Atlantic Records singles