The single sold over 1 million copies, won a BMI award, and was the song most played on college radio in 1991.[3]
Content
The song was inspired by events in Europe of the late 1980s, particularly Perestroika in the Soviet Union;[4][5] Mike Edwards has since noted some of the lyrics were influenced by the band's experiences playing in Romania in February 1990 right after the overthrow of Ceauşescu.[6][7] Some of the lyrics were inspired by both Prince's 1987 song "Sign o' the Times" and a 1989 cover version of that song by Simple Minds, the latter of which the members of Jesus Jones disliked and had first heard during television coverage of the fall of the Berlin Wall.[7] Edwards' original demo for "Right Here, Right Now" featured samples of the Prince song, as well as guitar solos by Jimi Hendrix, but producer Martyn Phillips removed both elements from the song before the band recorded it.[7]
The official video for the song shows the band performing on stage mixed with various images from contemporary political events such as the fall of the Berlin Wall, and brief snippets of news footage of the collapse of the Soviet Union and speeches by American and Soviet leaders.[8]
The single is featured as a playable song in the video game Donkey Konga.
A cover version was recorded by New Zealand band The Feelers and released as a single in 2010 and on the album Hope Nature Forgives. It was chosen as the anthem to the 2011 Rugby World Cup advertising campaign.[20]
^Nielsen Business Media, Inc (December 21, 1991). "1991 The Year in Music & Video: Top Pop Singles". Billboard. 103 (51): YE-14. {{cite journal}}: |author1= has generic name (help)