Belter Of The Day: Supernaturals - Smile

24 March 2020, 20:15

This Glaswegian band took their optimistic hit into the Top 30 on its re-release in 1997.

Smile

"I've become so cynical these days / I don't know how it started but it won't go away...."

Well, there's only one way to kick out the blues - and that's to Smile!

It's a classic feel-good anthem from the Britpop era and has appeared in a number of commercials in its time - even if the chorus claims that smiling is "All you've got left"....

The Supernaturals were a quintet from Glasgow who were signed by Andy Ross of Food Records, home of Blur, in the autumn of 1995, just as the Britpop wave peaked. The following year was spent supporting the likes of The Bluetones, Ash and Dodgy, while recording their debut album, It Doesn't Matter Anymore.

It was an impressive first outing for the group, as it spawned four hit singles: Lazy Lover, The Day Before Yesterday's Man, Love Has Passed Away and Smile, which initially only dragged itself to Number 98, but bettered that by hitting #23 on re-release in the Spring of 1997 and even bagged an Ivor Novello award nomination.

Heady days for the group - hey, they were even interviewed on The Big Breakfast by Melanie Sykes. It was the 90s, after all.

The Supernaturals Big Breakfast British TV Interview

The Supernaturals' second album, A Tune A Day, was also pretty successful on its arrival in 1998, but by the time of their third outing (2002's What We Did Last Summer), the musical landscape had changed and the group went on hiatus.

However, they returned in 2015 for a further album, 360, and issued Bird Of Luck in the summer of 2019 off the back of successful appearances at the travelling Star Shaped Festival tour of Britpop alumni.