"Beautiful Day" was the first single from 3 Colours Red's second album, Revolt. It was released on Creation Records in 1999.
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The song was written by frontman/bassist Pete Vuckovic and recorded at Westside Studios in London. It surprised many, showing a more sensitive and epic side to the band's previously punk/pop-dominated sound (although their debut album featured 'Fit Boy and Faint Girl' and 'Copper Girl' which were both in a similar vein). It went on to become the band's biggest commercial hit, reaching number 11 in the UK charts in January 1999, throwing them further into the media spotlight at a time when the talk surrounding the band was of them being dropped. It also paved the way for the band's American campaign where the song received considerable radio airplay, even entering the charts. The band toured the US with Silverchair, and Vuckovic subsequently did an acoustic promotional tour of radio stations on the back of the song's success.
It was later perhaps incorrectly and naively blamed for splitting the band up, having allegedly distanced Vuckovic from his bandmates and fuelled a creative power struggle between him and his co-writer, Chris McCormack. However, the band reformed three years later and went on to play the song at every gig. The video for the song can be found on youtube.com where it has currently enjoyed 6 times as many 'hits' as anything else the band recorded or released, and played a massive part in procuring the band the opening slot at Wembley Stadium in 1999 (opening for Aerosmith).
'Beautiful Day' was later used on Channel 4's 2003 dating show Boys & Girls. The song was also used in the USA Network show White Collar – it can be heard in the background inside the beach house in the episode 'Hard Sell'.