Products in Song Titles Top Ten: Orange Crush (#5)

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Into the top five we go! This may be cheating a little today, but hey, it’s my countdown, my rules! Actually, you might not know this is a product name, so I’m doing a service as well as working a favorite band into the countdown. #5: Orange Crush - R.E.M. The “cheating” is that this song is about Agent Orange, the stuff they sprayed in Vietnam to kill the foliage (and, in the process, it’s now killing Vietnam veterans with cancers). But the song — in typical R.E.M. fashion — is deceptively named for a brand of soft drink. Orange Crush is now just “Crush,” because it has so many different flavors. Back in the old days, though, it was Orange Crush because that was the only flavor. Fruit flavored drinks were popular (still are, I guess), with Orange Crush and grape Nehi being the two most popular drinks in that subculture (the latter because of Radar O’Reilly’s affection for it in the TV show M*A*S*H). Orange Crush originated in 1911 and became distributed by another company we’ve already visited in this countdown, R.C. Cola. Today the brand is owned by Dr. Pepper; and, there’s a lot more than just orange flavor. I’ll stick to eating oranges. But the song is magnificent. Orange Crush Written by Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills, and Michael Stipe Recorded by R.E.M. From Green, 1988 Product: Orange Crush soft drink Comin’ in fast over me: