01 - CD Single - D:Ream - Things Can Only Get Better

Things Can Only Get Better (D:Ream song)

1993 single by D:Ream

"Things Can Only Get Better” is a song by Northern Irish musical group D:Ream, released in 1993 by Magnet Records and FXU as the second single from the group’s debut album, D:Ream On Volume 1 (1993). It was written by Peter Cunnah and Jamie Petrie, and was a sleeper hit. The single was remixed and re-released in December 1993, to coincide with the band being a support act for Take That’s UK tour, spending four weeks at number one. The song also reached the top 10 in eight countries. In the US, it peaked at number seven on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart. Its accompanying music video was directed by James Lebon and was nominated for the International Viewer’s Choice Award at the 1994 MTV Europe Music Awards. At the same award, D:Ream earned a nomination for Best Dance Act.[5] "Things Can Only Get Better” was also nominated in the category for Tune of the Year at the International Dance Awards 1995.[6]

and alternative, D:Ream hits a home run."[17]

Iestyn George from NME found that D:Ream’s "Hammond-driven lead track ’Things Can Only Get Better’ is supremely uplifting stuff, crossing melody lines from Elton John’s ’Song for Guy’, Yello’s ’The Race’ and (gulp) The Farm’s ’All Together Now’. More, please."[18] Another NME editor, Mandi James, praised its "hallelujah chorus of good vibrations, positive power and disco magic gift wrapped in gospel glory."[4] In a retrospective review, Pop Rescue complimented its "funky saxophone, a relentlessly thumping bass drum, house piano and Peter’s strong vocals.” The reviewer stated that "it’s still a bloody good song”.[19] James Hamilton from the Record Mirror Dance Update described it as a "infectious” and "jiggly chugger” in his weekly dance column.[20] Adam Higginbotham from Select deemed it a "perfect feelgood pop-dance record”.[2] Leesa Daniels from Smash Hits gave it a full score of five out of five, stating that D:Ream "are the best dance act this side of the moon and it’s a crime that they’re not as big as M People already with all their fab dancey tunes. Stick it on, stick it out and let ’em down. Just watch the elastic on your knickers burst with the sheer excitement of it all. Bloomin’ marvellous."[21]

Music video

The music video for "Things Can Only Get Better” was directed by British film and music video director James Lebon. It depicts the band performing the song in front of a backdrop of various scenes and images, such as art, burning flames and skies, prominently including Hieronymus Bosch’s "The Garden of Earthly Delights”.[22] In between, they are performing on stage in front of a dancing audience. A young female sometimes appears. The chorus scenes shows Cunnah in front of a large white-clad choir in a heaven-like setting, singing and clapping in unison. Both the opening and the closing depicts a stage curtain that opens and closes in front of Cunnah. The video was A-listed on Germany’s VIVA in March 1994[23] and was nominated for the International Viewer’s Choice Award for MTV Europe at the 1994 MTV Europe Music Awards, where D:Ream also was nominated for Best Dance Act.[5] "Things Can Only Get Better” was later made available by Vevo on YouTube in 2018, having generated more than 5.4 million views as of June 2025.[24]

D:Ream

1993

36

745099496326

United Kingdom

CD

4509-94963-2

3

Roundhouse Recording Studies

6

Single

320 kbit/s

1

2018-06-28 16:26:55

Slimline Case

~$5.90

2024-11-06

2018-06-28 16:26:55