"Just a Day" is a song by Feeder, released as the band's final single of 2001, notable for being their last with drummer Jon Lee. The Alan Moulder remix is featured as the theme song for the UK version of '. It was first released on the "Seven Days in the Sun" single as a B-side. It was released as a single and was included as part of the ' soundtrack. Despite having already appeared in the top 20 earlier in the year as a B-side, the single A-side release stayed in the UK top 20 for four weeks, peaking at number 12. It also peaked at number 47 in Ireland. It instantly became a regular to end the band's live sets, but has been occasionally rested from this position for a cover of "Breed" by Nirvana, while never used as one of the "Feeder covers" at Renegades gigs. "Just a Day" has sold over 100,000 downloads and physical copies combined, with an additional 100,000 sales-equivalent streams bringing this up to 200,000 domestic consumption figures, enabling it to be certified Silver in the process. Feeder's performance of "Just a Day" on in December 2001 was Feeder's last with Jon Lee. After filming for the performance wrapped, Lee left the studio premises on the back of a moped to travel to an airport, as he would spend Christmas and indeed his final days at his Miami home. This would be the last time frontman Grant Nicholas would see Lee. The week Jon Lee died, the band were due to appear on Top of the Pops performing "Can't Stand Losing You", a cover of The Police which appears on CD1 of this EP. Their place was taken by Ash performing "There's a Star". Before the release of the single, Feeder had already appeared on Later... with Jools Holland for the first time. This would be the last time Jon would perform with the band in a live setting as CD:UK was not fully live, they ended the show with the aforementioned "Can't Stand Losing You".
History
Feeder had already enjoyed a successful 2001 by the time "Just a Day" was released as a stand-alone single in December of that year. "Buck Rogers" had given them their first top 10 single and had then repeated the success with the attendant album Echo Park. "Just a Day" stayed in the UK top 20 for four uninterrupted weeks and featured on "Seven Days in the Sun", as a B-side after being originally planned for their 1999 album Yesterday Went Too Soon. It later was included on their 2006 compilation albumThe Singles, making it the first time the radio edit version of the track was on an album. The song describes the loneliness of alcoholism and depression The single was also released as an orange vinyl, with a Brian Serper mix of the main track as its A-side although the differences are hardly noticeable. The single is especially notable as it was released as an EP, Just a Day E.P.. This makes the release Feeder's sixth EP.
Critical reception
Drowned in Sound rated the single 7/10, with reviewer James Westfox saying that although readers might dislike Feeder, the song is "a difficult record to dislike." NME also reviewed the EP, although reviewer Christian Ward focused his attention on the B-side "Can't Stand Losing You". Sputnikmusic said that "Just a Day" was an "almighty radio single" and "really worth having".
Music video
The video shows various fans miming to the song in their bedrooms. It started off as a competition on the band's website, in which fans had to send in an unedited video of themselves and the director chose the best ones. After being notified that they were successful, they were then advised to refrain from posting on any public internet forum until the release of the video. Despite the mixed reception the video has within the fanbase, it gained cult classic status. It also became an inspiration to Jetplane Landing and Canadianrock band the Barenaked Ladies, for their videos to "Brave Gravity" and "Wind it Up" respectively. Fans critical of the video often mention that the fans' voices singing over the track makes the video hard to enjoy. The idea of this was inspired by the idea of the song playing on a small 2-speaker tape player with the fan in question singing along to it. Almost 19 years since the video’s original release, the band announced that after the reaction to the original video, they decided never to attempt such a video again. However, due to the 2020 Coronavirus Pandemic, it was decided to invite fans to contribute towards a remake of the video to support front line workers during the said pandemic. Two of the original cast returned and gained near to 200,000 views on YouTube within its first calendar week of uploading. The new version of the video, was also streamed live on the band’s YouTube channel with the selected participants videos not informed of before the premiere, unlike in 2001. This therefore meant having to watch the live stream.
