"Thrill Me" is a song by British

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun '' soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest atte ...

and pop band

Simply Red Simply Red are a British soul and pop band formed in Manchester in 1985. The lead vocalist of the band is singer and songwriter Mick Hucknall, who, by the time the band initially disbanded in 2010, was the only original member left. Since th ...

. Written by lead singer

Mick Hucknall Michael James Hucknall (born 8 June 1960) is an English singer and songwriter. Hucknall achieved international fame in the 1980s as the lead singer and songwriter of the soul-influenced pop band Simply Red, with whom he enjoyed a 25-year career ...

and

Fritz McIntyre Fritz Gerald McIntyre (2 September 1958 – 23 August 2021) was a British musician, most famous for his tenure as keyboard player in the original line-up of Simply Red. Early life McIntyre was born in Birmingham in 1958. His father was not ...

, it was released in April 1992 as the fourth single from their fourth album, ''

Stars A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma held together by its gravity. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night, but their immense distances from Earth ma ...

'' (1991). The song reached number 33 on the UK chart in May 1992. It also reached number five in Zimbabwe, number 30 in Ireland and number 58 in the Netherlands, as well as number six on the

European Dance Radio Chart The European Dance Radio Chart (also known as European Dance Radio Top 25) was a weekly chart compiled by pan-European magazine '' Music & Media''. After dance music had played a more dominant role on the magazine's Eurochart Hot 100 in the beginn ...

. It was later included on the band's compilation albums, ''

Greatest Hits A greatest hits album or best-of album is a type of compilation album that collects popular and commercially successful songs by a particular artist or band. While greatest hits albums are typically supported by the artist, they can also be crea ...

'' in 1996, '' Simply Red 25: The Greatest Hits'' in 2008 and '' Song Book 1985–2010'' in 2013.

Critical reception

Adam Sweeting from ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' remarked the "rough-terrain sway" of "Thrill Me". A reviever from ''

Liverpool Echo The ''Liverpool Echo'' is a newspaper published by Trinity Mirror North West & North Wales – a subsidiary company of Reach plc and is based in St Paul's Square, Liverpool, Merseyside, England. It is published Monday to Sunday, and is Liver ...

'' stated that on the song,

Hucknall Hucknall, formerly Hucknall Torkard, is a market town in the Ashfield district of Nottinghamshire, England. It lies 7 miles north of Nottingham, 7 miles south-east of Kirkby-in-Ashfield, 9 miles from Mansfield and 10 miles south of Sutton-i ...

's voice "can still turn your spine to jelly". Caroline Sullivan from '' Melody Maker'' said, "A sluicing surrender to lust,

he song He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...

is insidiously good." Pan-European magazine '' Music & Media'' wrote that the singer is "again gently shaking his red dreadlocks in a sensual dance rhythm." Alan Jones from ''

Music Week ''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future. History Founded in 1959 as '' Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music W ...

'' named it Pick of the Week, adding that the song is "bound for the upper reaches of the chart. After the Granada documentary on the band on Sunday, it should also ensure that ''

'' continues to sell like hotcakes for the foreseeable future." In an retrospective review, Pop Rescue said it "feels much less structured and slower, and Mick's vocals and lyrics here are weaker", noting its saxophone solo. Karla Peterson from ''

The Press-Courier ''The Oxnard Press-Courier'' was a newspaper located in Oxnard, California, United States. It ceased publication in June 1994 after 95 years.

'' described it as a "atmospheric

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or ''ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...

". Al Walentis from '' Reading Eagle'' viewed the song as "high-spirited". Johnny Dee from '' Smash Hits'' gave it three out of five and described it as a "seriously jazzy meandering, that snoozes along in a relaxing Sunday lay-in fashion." Another editor, Polly Birkbeck, felt the song is "quite a stonker with plinky plonky Elton John piano".

Music video

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 promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...

was produced to promote the single. It was directed by Steven Lock and shows the band performing at a concert.

Track listing

Charts

References

1992 singles Simply Red songs Songs written by Mick Hucknall 1991 songs Songs written by Fritz McIntyre {{1990s-pop-song-stub