In the 1980s, "Reality" became an instant hit in some countries in Europe, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong and the Philippines. It has been released in various forms. Some of them were remixed or mashed up, and released on one of Sanderson's compilation albums and/or played on radio stations.
Single The single version of the song omits some verses on the second repetition of the chorus (
Maybe my foolishness is past, and maybe now at last, I see how the real thing can be), and ends with a fade effect. This version can be found on the singles released between 1980 and 1987, normally with another song from
La Boum (most original copies had "Gotta Get a Move On" (Instrumental) by
Karoline Krüger on the B-side, although some came with "I Can't Swim" or "Swingin' Around") and on
The Best of Richard Sanderson.
Album The album version of the song has the omitted lines and ends with a defined musical melody. This is the most common version. It can be found on
La Boum Original Soundtrack (old and new editions and the English edition), Sanderson's studio album
Reality and compilation albums of his.
Instrumental An instrumental version appears on some vinyl editions of the single, the new edition of
La Boum Original Soundtrack and
The Best of Richard Sanderson. This version has a synth sound replacing Sanderson's voice, and a different guitar solo.
Extended There's an extended version of the song whose duration is about eight minutes and which repeats the verses and the chorus, as well as the guitar solo three times. It appears on
The Best of Richard Sanderson.
The Special Mix Finally, there's a version called The Special Mix, which is a mashup of the album version and the instrumental version. It appears on some of Sanderson's EPs and compilation albums.
2009 In 2009, Cosma and Sanderson made a new version of the song – this one having an orchestra style instead of synthesized sounds, and replacing the guitar solo. Sanderson's vocals were rerecorded for this version, except for the first verses.
2010 There's also a 2010 version of the song with new synthesized sounds made by Sanderson.
Instrumental or orchestral versions In the film, the song's main melody is heard repeatedly with different sounds. Here are the songs that have the main melody and appear on the new edition of
La Boum Soundtrack: • La rentrée • Poupette harpiste • Retrouvailles sentimentales • Vic et Mathieu au ralenti ==Chart positions==