"Inbetweener" is a song by English

Britpop Britpop was a mid-1990s British-based music culture movement that emphasised Britishness. It produced brighter, catchier alternative rock, partly in reaction to the popularity of the darker lyrical themes of the US-led grunge music and to the ...

band Sleeper, written by the band's vocalist and guitarist

Louise Wener Louise Jane Wener (born 30 July 1966, Gants Hill, London, England) is an English writer, singer, songwriter and guitarist of the band Sleeper. She is the younger daughter of Donald Wener, an Inland Revenue tax inspector from East Ham who had se ...

. It was the third single to be released from their debut album ''

Smart Smart or SMART may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Smart'' (Hey! Say! JUMP album), 2014 * Smart (Hotels.com), former mascot of Hotels.com * ''Smart'' (Sleeper album), 1995 debut album by Sleeper * ''SMart'', a children's television ser ...

'' in 1995. It was their breakthrough single, crashing daytime radio playlists and reaching number 16 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 ...

. Louise Wener stated that "Inbetweener" was a reference to her upbringing in an English commuter town; "it's about where people live and what they do in

suburbia A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separate ...

, and it's about unfulfiled dreams".

Release

Indolent released "Inbetweener" across four single formats on 9 January 1995. A week later, "Inbetweener" debuted at number 16 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 ...

and spent a further three weeks on the charts. According to Louise Wener, the record label had not pressed enough copies, so when the demand for the single was higher than expected, they could not restock record shops fast enough, resulting in a substantially lower chart position than indicated by the midweeks. Indolent reported to ''Billboard'' that the single sold 34,000 units in three weeks. The album release of ''Smart'' followed on 13 February. 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 "Inbetweener" was notable for featuring UK daytime television presenter

Dale Winton Dale Jonathan Winton (22 May 1955 – 18 April 2018) was an English radio DJ and television presenter. He presented the shows ''Dale's Supermarket Sweep'' from 1993 until 2001 and again in 2007, the National Lottery game show ''In It to Wi ...

(then of ''

Supermarket Sweep ''Supermarket Sweep'' is an American television game show. The format combines an ordinary team-based quiz show with the novel concept of a live, timed race through a supermarket. In the timed race, cameras follow the teams with shopping carts t ...

'' fame) in a cameo appearance. He peers over shelves and shakes pipes of Pringles as if they're musical shakers, while the band perform in the supermarket aisles. For the North American market, Arista funded a second video shoot for the song.

Track listings

All tracks were written by

. *UK 12-inch single Indolent SLEEP 006T #"Inbetweener" – 3:02 #"Little Annie" – 2:49 #"Disco Duncan" – 3:30 #"Bank"– 1:28 *UK CD single Indolent SLEEP 006CD *European CD maxi BMG 74321 25835-2 #"Inbetweener" – 3:02 #"Little Annie" – 2:49 #"Disco Duncan" – 3:30 *UK 7-inch single Indolent SLEEP 006 *UK cassette single Indolent SLEEP 006MC #"Inbetweener" – 3:02 #"Little Annie" – 2:49

Charts

References

External links

"Inbetweener" music video

"Inbetweener" music video (U.S. version)

Sleeper @ BBC Music

Sleeper release discography @ We Heart Music
{{Authority control 1994 songs 1995 singles Sleeper (band) songs Songs written by Louise Wener