Oxygène (Part IV)

Oxygène (Part IV) (also known as "Oxygène IV", "Oxygene, Pt. 4", etc) is a single by French electronic musician and composer Jean-Michel Jarre from his third studio album, Oxygène released in 1976.

"Oxygène (Part IV)"
Single by Jean-Michel Jarre
from the album Oxygène
B-side"Oxygène (Part VI)"
Released1977 (1977)
Recorded1976
StudioJean-Michel Jarre's home studio, Paris
GenreElectronic music
Length4:14
LabelDisques Dreyfus/Polydor
Producer(s)Jean-Michel Jarre
Jean-Michel Jarre singles chronology
"Oxygène (Part IV)"
(1977)		 "Oxygène (Part II)"
(1977)

Composition

According to Jarre, the melody for "Oxygene Part IV" was composed in one night, without having been specially conceived with the idea of making a hit. At that time, Jean Michel, best known as a songwriter for Patrick Juvet and Christophe, composed numerous advertising songs for brands such as Nestle or Pepsi-Cola.[1]

During the creation of the album Oxygene, a friend asked him for a tune to make music to praise the extension of the A4, also known as the East Highway. "Oxygene Part IV" was Jarre's first piece to use the RMI Harmonic Synthesizer, an instrument introduced by Michel Geiss. In addition its tempo is at 12/8.[1]

Critical reception

After its release as a single, reached No. 1 on the Spanish charts and No. 3 on the Belgian, French and Dutch charts, in addition reached No. 4 on the UK Singles charts and No. 6 in New Zealand. The song was included in the position 5 of the list of "The 40 Greatest Synth Sounds of all Time" of MusicRadar,[2] the British newspaper The Guardian described it as «an instantly recognizable hook that rides on a bossa nova beat to explore the galaxies.»[3]

Charts

Weekly charts
Chart (1977–1978) Peak
position
Australia (Kent Music Report)[4] 26
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[5] 3
France (SNEP)[6] 3
Germany (Official German Charts)[7] 16
Ireland (IRMA)[8] 7
Netherlands (Single Top 100)[9] 3
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[10] 6
Spain (AFE)[11] 1
UK Singles (OCC)[12] 4

Year-end charts
Chart (1977) Rank
Dutch Charts (MegaCharts)[13] 71
UK Singles Chart (BMRB)[14] 38
  • The song is featured in Grand Theft Auto IV as one of the singles played by the radio station, The Journey.
  • The song is used as the introduction music to the Adventure Call sketches in the BBC Scotland sketch series Limmy's Show.
  • The song was used in many arcade grabbers distributed by Elaut, using a short clip of the 'chorus' that is played at random intervals while the machine is active but idle. The most recognisable is Mega Crane. Cosmic Cranes in Britain used this, but not in America.
  • The song was used for the credits of the newscast Antenne 2, presented by Jean-Pierre Elkabbach.[1]
  • The song was used in the closing scene of BBC Drama's Micro Men, a one-off docu-drama about the rise of the British home computer market.

References
  1. "Oxygène 4 : histoire d'un tube | Aerozone JMJ". aerozonejmj.fr (in French). Retrieved 24 September 2021.
  2. Music, Computer (25 May 2021). "The 40 greatest synth sounds of all time, No 5: Jean-Michel Jarre - Oxygene, Pt 4". MusicRadar. Retrieved 24 September 2021.
  3. Allen, Jeremy (5 October 2016). "Jean-Michel Jarre – 10 of the best". the Guardian. Retrieved 27 August 2021.
  4. Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. St Ives, New South Wales, Australia: Australian Chart Book. p. 153. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  5. "Jean-Michel Jarre – Oxygène IV" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50.
  6. "Les Chansons – Le Détail par Artiste: J" (in French). Infodisc. Retrieved 26 August 2018. Select "J-Michel JARRE" from drop-down menu and click "OK".
  7. "Jean-Michel Jarre – Oxygene IV" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts.
  8. "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Oxygene". Irish Singles Chart.
  9. "Jean-Michel Jarre – Oxygène IV" (in Dutch). Single Top 100.
  10. "Jean-Michel Jarre – Oxygène IV". Top 40 Singles.
  11. Salaverri, Fernando (September 2005). Sólo éxitos: año a año, 1959–2002 (1st ed.). Spain: Fundación Autor-SGAE. ISBN 84-8048-639-2.
  12. "Jean-Michel Jarre: Artist Chart History". Official Charts Company.
  13. "Jaaroverzichten – Single 1977". GfK Dutch Charts. Retrieved 1 February 2019.
  14. Hunter, Nigel; Scaping, Peter, eds. (1978). "Top 100 Singles in 1977". BPI Year Book 1978 (3rd ed.). British Phonographic Industry. pp. 216–17. ISBN 0-906154-01-4.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.