Out of the Blue (System F song)

Ferry Corsten had been releasing music under various aliases since 1991,[4] many of which were not trance releases. In 1996, he began releasing trance music under the aliases of Ferr and Moonman. He also began releasing trance with other people as a group, typically with Robert Smit, who had co-founded the Tsunami record label with him.[5]

Trance music was becoming hugely popular throughout Europe in 1998, with releases entering the top 5 in many countries, and some singles reaching number 1.[6] Up to this point, Ferry Corsten had not had much success in the charts, but had entered the UK Singles Top 100 with 'Air', under his alias Albion and 'Don't Be Afraid', under his alias Moonman. He also produced a remix for 'La' by Marc Et Claude in 1997, which entered the Top 40 in the UK the following year when it was released in that region.[7]

The track was produced by Ferry Corsten in a couple days, stating that the idea for the song came "out of the blue".[8] The main melody used the supersaw technology from the Roland JP-8000,[8] which Corsten would use in many of his releases following the track.[9] The drums were programmed with a Roland TR-909, with many of the sounds being sampled using an Akai sampler, and the bass with a Yamaha DX-100,[8] which he would also use in the production of the bass for 'Gouryella'.

Corsten realised during the production that the track would be a huge success, and other people that he asked agreed.[8] Because of this, the promotion releases of the track were made to be deliberately mysterious, by releasing it on single-sided white label with the name of the song and a phone number for the label stamped on it and no other information on the record, including Matrix number, which was scratched out using a blade in order to stop people from tracing the release.[10] The black sleeve was deliberately damaged, and by cutting out letters from newspapers and splicing them together, a stick was sticker on the front of the sleeve with the text 'Something to blow your brains out'.

The white label was sent to various DJs in the UK, some who worked with A&R at major dance labels in the UK. Various labels called the Tsunami to sign the track, including Red Jerry of Hooj Choons, who hadn't been sent the release but had heard it from Nick Warren, who had received the release and called Jerry to talk to him about it. Pete Tong, who founded and owned Essential Recordings, told them to meet at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, where they would sign the record to Essential.[8]

The promo would be re-released on a second white label,[8] and after around 6 months of the track only being available on the promo release, it was released throughout Europe in early 1999. Pete Tong would start playing the song in November and after its release on his Essential Selection radio show, which was a major source of dance music throughout the UK. He declared the song the 'Essential New Tune of the Week' on his radio show on 13 November 1998.[11]

It received several remixes upon release from Angelz, Lucien Foorta, Ferry Corsten, Mauro Picotto and others.[1] Corsten would produce a 'Second Edition' as a B-Side to the System F track, 'Solstice' in 2002.[12] It would be released digitally in 2010,[13] alongside many new remixes which would be included in a 2x12" single.[14]