 Despite spending only nine nonconsecutive weeks on the UK Singles Chart and peaking at number 31, it became a top ten hit in the United States; it topped the "Billboard" Modern Rock Tracks chart and reached number two on the "Billboard" Hot 100 in July 1991, only behind "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You" by Bryan Adams.The single sold over 1 million copies, won a BMI award, and was the song most performed on college radio in 1991.The song was inspired by events in Europe of the late 1980s, particularly Perestroika in the Soviet Union; Mike Edwards has since noted some of the lyrics were influenced by the band's experiences playing in Romania in February 1990 right after the overthrow of Ceauşescu.