Ī video uploaded by Girl Talk's Gregg Gillis titled "Collective Soul Cat" became popular in 2012 which featured the cat singing the famous "Yeah!" in the song's exact key. Corgan lost a lawsuit in the mid-1990s to Ed Roland after Roland was able to produce a demo tape featuring "Shine" that preceded the Smashing Pumpkins' release. Billy Corgan has expressed his hatred of the song and noted its similarities to the Smashing Pumpkins' song "Drown". The Smashing Pumpkins played parts of "Shine" during their 2010 tour. Pillar recorded a cover of "Shine" for their 2009 album Confessions. The Holmes Brothers recorded a cover of "Shine" for their 2004 album Simple Truths.Ĭharity Von recorded a cover of "Shine" for her eponymous 2004 album. Parton's recording of the song earned her a Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance. This version can be found on the live album Phish: New Year's Eve 1995 – Live at Madison Square Garden.ĭolly Parton recorded a cover of "Shine" for her 2001 album Little Sparrow with members of the alt and bluegrass band Nickel Creek. Phish poked fun at the song with their short version of "Shine" in the middle of "Fly Famous Mockingbird" at Madison Square Garden on New Year's Eve 1995 with the band's lyricist Tom Marshall on vocals. Live versions have been included on the Woodstock '94 and Much at Edgefest 1999 compilations.
Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic regarded the song "a tremendous guilty pleasure, built on a guitar riff so indelible you swear it's stolen, blessed by a sighing melody that makes this a fine album-rock single that would have sounded as good in '74 as it did in '94." ĭue to its popularity among 1990s music, "Shine" has been included on various era-themed compilation albums including VH1: I Love the '90s, Whatever: The '90s Pop and Culture Box, Big Shiny '90s, and The Buzz. "Shine" has remained a symbol of 1990s alternative rock. Its chorus pounds with staccato riffs before brightening up with the lyrics "Heaven let your light shine down." Later, the song's bridge modulates into double-time behind a hard rock guitar solo played by Ross Childress before returning to its previous state of calmness. "Shine" features guitar with a slight distortion and mellow atmosphere throughout the verses. He noted that despite the song's unique feel, this circumstance wrongfully pigeonholed the band as being grunge. Roland did note, however, his religious background and the fact that his father is a Southern Baptist minister, but that this does not justify a Christian label.Ĭollective Soul rhythm guitarist Dean Roland has called the song's chorus "basically a prayer" and noted that the uplifting single was released during an odd time amidst heavy grunge. I don't remember anyone saying they were a Christian band.'" He went on to stress that such classification would unite the bandmates' beliefs and that a particular doctrine cannot speak for all its members. Ed Roland elaborated, "I remember around the time getting into an argument with a writer who said, 'You're a Christian band.' I said, 'No, we're not.' 'Well, you have the word heaven in your song.' And I said, 'Well, so does Led Zeppelin.
ĭue to the song's lyrical themes, particularly the mention of "heaven", Collective Soul was often early on regarded as a Christian band. I probably wrote it in 1989, and it wasn't out until 1994. I just showed him the riff, and I was like, "I need to finish this." So, I literally just wrote it right there, with Dean, sitting in my parents' living room. So he was playing guitar, and I joined in. But I always had the "Shine" riff, and I thought, "That's a cool riff." Then I came home and spent the night with my parents and Dean, who is 10 years younger than me – I didn't even know he played guitar. So, I had a bunch of them that the band I was in at the time were playing. I called it "drone," where you either drone the A or the E, and play a melody under it. I had riffs – this was the late '80s and I was writing a lot of songs. In a December 2017 interview with Songfacts, lead singer Ed Roland explained the origin of "Shine":