"Countdown" is a song written and performed by Lindsey Buckingham, released in 1992 from his third solo album Out of the Cradle. In the UK, "Countdown" was released in July as the album's first single,[2]: 6:23–6:27 although in North America, "Wrong" was released as the first single instead.[3]
Background
Buckingham recorded his guitar parts on a Fender Telecaster with fuzz and a variable speed oscillator (VSO).[4] Buckingham was inspired to make the guitar on "Countdown" sound like a violin after watching a classical concert.[2]: 1:55–3:02 After playing his guitar part, he used a VSO to slow down the speed of the tape recorder, which in Buckingham's estimation provided a "crystalline" quality to the guitar. During the mixing process, producer Tom Lord-Alge attempted to thicken the sound of the guitar, although Buckingham convinced him to abandon the idea and insisted that the instrument should "sting like a bee."[4]
On the week dated August 1, 1992, the UK publication Music Week listed "Countdown" at number 40 on its airplay chart. The song received the most airplay on BBC Radio 1 and the Chiltern Radio Network.[5] Later that month, a music video for "Countdown" was released, which Buckingham directed himself.[6] While the song did not appear on the UK Singles Chart or the US Billboard Hot 100,[7] it did reach the top 40 on Billboard'sMainstream Rock and Adult Contemporary charts. In Boston, the song was amongst the twenty most played songs on album-oriented rock stations for the week dated September 18, 1992.[8] Elsewhere, "Countdown" charted in Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, and the European Adult Contemporary charts.
Critical reception
Alan Jones of Music Week wrote that "Countdown" was "good, but unlikely to [be a] hit".[9] Jean Rosenbluth of the Los Angeles Times wrote that it was "hard not to be swayed by the singer’s practically palpable optimism" on "Countdown".[10] Writing for Yorkshire Evening Press, Steve Cowell said that the song was a "powerful AOR track with a lot of acoustic guitars" and concluded that it was "nothing special".[11] Randy Clark of Cashbox thought that the song demonstrated Buckingham's "powerful influence on [his] former band's pop sound."[12]
Mike DeGagne of AllMusic commented that "Countdown" possesses the "pop-catchy appeal of past hits like "Trouble" and "Go Insane" at one level, yet it maintains an enriched, dynamic feel, as if Buckingham has progressed and bettered himself as a solo artist. "Countdown" is an excellent delegate to the kind of music Buckingham is capable of, and it contains a lot of the same constituents that made him such an integral part of the second wave of Fleetwood Mac."[13]
