When the Lights Go Out

Updated on Dec 01, 2023

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Recorded 1997 Length 4:11		Genre Dance-pop, pop-rap
B-side "Slam Dunk Da Funk" (Extended Mix) (UK) "Straight Up Funk" "Shake" (US) Released 2 March 1998 (1998-03-02) (UK) 26 May 1998 (1998-05-26) (US) Format CD single, Cassette single

"When the Lights Go Out" is the second single released from British group Five's debut studio album (music), Five. It was released in early 1998. The song was co-written by Eliot Kennedy, Tim Lever and Mike Percy (from the band Dead or Alive), and John McLaughlin. It was co-produced by Eliot Kennedy, Tim Lever and Mike Percy.

"When the Lights Go Out" is the band's only top ten hit in the United States. An alternate version of the song, in which J Brown's rap is replaced by Abs Breen's rap, was made especially for the US release; there are separate videos for each version. Five's biggest hit to date internationally, "When the Lights Go Out" is considered somewhat to be their debut single in most countries (except in the UK), peaking at number two in Australia, reaching the Top 30 in the US on 23 June 1998 and eventually spending seven nonconsecutive weeks at its peak of number 10, starting 21 July 1998. The song also spent six months on the US Billboard Hot 100, and sold 800,000 copies in the US alone.

Music videos

The UK version (directed by duo Liam & Grant) starts with a woman using a VR machine and sees the members as they dance together and in separate rooms with each getting a distinct color: Abs in teal, Scott in orange, Ritchie in purple, Sean in blue and J in red. Through the woman's perspective, the viewers sees the members with a given number and their horoscope sign respectively.

The US version (directed by Nigel Dick) takes place at night in a closed bowling alley, where Abs takes control of the place and allows the other members and himself to hang out with a couple girls they brought along with them. One of the girls is played by Bethany Joy Lenz of Guiding Light and One Tree Hill fame.