"Orange Crush" is the second single from R.E.M.'s sixth studio album, Green, in 1989. It failed to chart on the Billboard Hot 100 despite reaching #1 on both the Mainstream and Modern Rock Tracks. It peaked at #28 on the UK Singles Charts, easily making it the band's then-highest chart in Britain. It was the sixth song to reach number one on the then-new Modern Rock chart, and was the first single to spend eight weeks in the chart's top position. This record was next matched in 1991 by another R.E.M. song, "Losing My Religion."
The song was placed on R.E.M.'s Warner Bros. Records compilation In Time - The Best of R.E.M. 1988-2003 in 2003, and a live version appears on the R.E.M. Live album recorded in Dublin in 2005. The song is also featured in the 2007 video game Rock Band.
Although Orange Crush is the name of a soft drink that predates the song's release by over eighty years, the title may refer to Agent Orange, the defoliant/herbicide used by U.S. forces during the Vietnam War. As a guest on the late-night show Last Call with Carson Daly, Michael Stipe explained that the song was about a young football player leaving the comforts of home for the war in Vietnam. Also, Stipe opens the song on R.E.M. Live by singing the famous U.S. Army recruiting slogan, "Be all you can be... in the army."
British indie rock band Editors recorded a cover of "Orange Crush" as the B-side for the re-issue of the "Blood" single. This remake of the song was also featured in "The Metamorphosis," a fourth-season episode of The OC. Lastly, this song appears on the video game Rock Band.
The song is included on R.E.M. Live.
