Rocket (Goldfrapp song)
Encyclopedia
"Rocket" is a synthpop
Synthpop
Synthpop is a genre of popular music that first became prominent in the 1980s, in which the synthesizer is the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s by the use of synthesizers in progressive rock, electronic art rock, disco and particularly the "Kraut rock" of...

 song by English duo Goldfrapp
Goldfrapp
Goldfrapp are an English electronic music duo, formed in 1999 in London, England, that consists of Alison Goldfrapp and Will Gregory ....

 from their fifth studio album, Head First
Head First (Goldfrapp album)
Head First is the fifth studio album by English electronic duo Goldfrapp. It was released in the United Kingdom on 22 March 2010 by Mute Records. The album's lead single, "Rocket", was released on the iTunes Store on 5 March 2010...

. Written and produced by Alison Goldfrapp
Alison Goldfrapp
Alison Elizabeth Margaret Goldfrapp is an English singer-songwriter and record producer, best known as the lead singer of the electronic music duo Goldfrapp. Goldfrapp has a soprano vocal range.-Early life:...

 and Will Gregory
Will Gregory
William Owen Gregory is best known as a songwriter, and the lead keyboards/synthesizer player & producer of the electronic music group Goldfrapp. Originally a classical music student at the University of York, Gregory is the son of an actress and an opera chorus-line singer...

, with additional production by Pascal Gabriel
Pascal Gabriel
Pascal Richard Marcel Gabriel is a Belgian-born musician based in London. His musical career began in 1977 in the punk rock band The Razors...

, the song was released as the album's lead single
Lead single
A lead single is usually the first single released by a musician or a band before the release of its home album.During the era of the grammophone record, all music arrived in the marketplace as what is now termed a single, one potential hit song backed by an additional song of generally less...

 on 8 March 2010. To promote the single release, the duo performed the song on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross
Friday Night with Jonathan Ross
Friday Night with Jonathan Ross was a British comedy chat show presented by Jonathan Ross. It was first broadcast on BBC One on 2 November 2001. The programme featured Ross's take on current topics of conversation, guest interviews and live music from both a guest music group and the house band...

on 26 March 2010. The music video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...

 features Alison driving a truck hauling a rocket with someone entirely wrapped in duct tape who is then taped to the rocket when it is launched at the end.

The track was nominated for Best Dance Recording
Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording
The Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording is an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for works containing quality vocal performances in the dance music genre...

 at the 2011 Grammy Awards
53rd Grammy Awards
The 53rd annual Grammy Awards were held on February 13, 2011, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. They were broadcast on CBS with a rating of 26.6 million viewers. Barbra Streisand was honored as the MusiCares Person of the Year two nights prior to the telecast on February 11. Nominations were...

, but lost to Rihanna
Rihanna
Robyn Rihanna Fenty , better known as simply Rihanna, is a Barbadian recording artist. Born in Saint Michael, Barbados, Rihanna moved to the United States at the age of 16 to pursue a recording career under the guidance of record producer Evan Rogers...

's "Only Girl (In the World)
Only Girl (In the World)
"Only Girl " is a song by Barbadian recording artist Rihanna from her fifth studio album, Loud . The song was released as the album's lead single on September 10, 2010 through Def Jam. It was written by Crystal Johnson, Norwegian production duo Stargate and Sandy Vee, and produced by Stargate and Vee...

".

Critical reception

"Rocket" was met with positive reviews from music critics. Heather Phares of Allmusic said that the song's "driving minor-key verses and huge, shimmering choruses tap into the brain's pleasure center as efficiently as possible", dubbing it one of Goldfrapp's most irresistible songs yet. Barry Nicolson from the NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...

described it as "a sleek, synth-powered ballistic missile that's high on Pat Benatar
Pat Benatar
Pat Benatar is an American singer and four-time Grammy winner. She had considerable commercial success particularly in the United States...

's hairspray and in possession of a chorus so cheesy and ebullient." DJ Ron Slomowicz of About.com
About.com
About.com is an online source for original information and advice. It is written in English, and is aimed primarily at North Americans. It is owned by The New York Times Company....

 wrote that the track "represents the best of the 80's and Goldfrapp's take on glitzy power pop
Power pop
Power pop is a popular musical genre that draws its inspiration from 1960s British and American pop and rock music. It typically incorporates a combination of musical devices such as strong melodies, crisp vocal harmonies, economical arrangements, and prominent guitar riffs. Instrumental solos are...

. The energy is palpable and so is the vitriol as there is no mistaking Alison's intent, despite the soaring and beautiful melodies." Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock...

's Marc Hogan commented that "Rocket" "shows Head First at its best, but it's also a reminder of where some of the other songs fall short."

Several critics noted the song's heavy influence of '80s music and culture, with both The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...

and The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...

pointing out the similarity between the synths used for "Rocket" and those Van Halen
Van Halen
Van Halen is an American hard rock band formed in Pasadena, California, in 1972. The band has enjoyed success since the release of its debut album, Van Halen, . As of 2007 Van Halen has sold 80 million albums worldwide and has had the most #1 hits on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart...

 used for their 1984 chart-topper "Jump
Jump (Van Halen song)
"Jump" is a song by the American rock group Van Halen. It is the only single the group released in their career to reach number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. It was released in 1984 as the second track on the album 1984...

". BBC Music
BBC Music
BBC Music is a team working in the department of Audio and Music Interactive at the BBC. Responsible for the BBC Music website - the portal site to music content across the BBC website....

's Ian Wade felt that the song "couldn't be more 80s if it arrived sweaty from a Jane Fonda
Jane Fonda
Jane Fonda is an American actress, writer, political activist, former fashion model, and fitness guru. She rose to fame in the 1960s with films such as Barbarella and Cat Ballou. She has won two Academy Awards and received several other movie awards and nominations during more than 50 years as an...

 workout, dressed in a neon legwarmers and a fashionably ripped Van Halen t-shirt. If it doesn't knock the top ten for six, that'll be a mystery for future generations to mull." Digital Spy
Digital Spy
Digital Spy is a British entertainment and media news website. According to Alexa Internet traffic statistics, as of February 2011, Digital Spy is the 93rd most popular website in the United Kingdom, with an overall Alexa ranking of 2,088....

 music editor Nick Levine wrote that "'Rocket' finds [the duo] channelling early '80s radio pop—hands up who hears Van Halen?—while an empowered Alison gives her cheating ex the elbow." Alexis Petridis
Alexis Petridis
Alexis Petridis is a British journalist, head rock and pop critic for UK newspaper The Guardian, as well as a regular and contributor to the magazine GQ.Petridis began his career writing for Varsity whilst a student at the University of Cambridge...

 of The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...

stated that the song "carries the influence of Olivia Newton-John
Olivia Newton-John
Olivia Newton-John AO, OBE is a singer and actress. She is a four-time Grammy award winner who has amassed five No. 1 and ten other Top Ten Billboard Hot 100 singles and two No. 1 Billboard 200 solo albums. Eleven of her singles and 14 of her albums have been certified gold by the RIAA...

 and the Electric Light Orchestra
Electric Light Orchestra
Electric Light Orchestra were a British rock group from Birmingham who released eleven studio albums between 1971 and 1986 and another album in 2001. ELO were formed to accommodate Roy Wood and Jeff Lynne's desire to create modern rock and pop songs with classical overtones...

's 'Xanadu'. The kind of euphoric we've-just-won-the-World-Cup synthesiser fanfares that power both Van Halen's 'Jump' and PhD
Ph.D. (band)
Ph.D. is a British group that managed a UK Top 10 hit with "I Won't Let You Down" in April 1982, although the song had been a hit the previous year throughout Europe...

's 'I Won't Let You Down
I Won't Let You Down
I Won't Let You Down is a 1982 single by British band Ph.D.. It reached number 3 on the UK charts in April 1982. The band consisted of Jim Diamond who was the lead vocalist, Tony Hymas on keyboards and Simon Phillips on drums...

' abound, there's the occasional hint of Tango in the Night
Tango in the Night
Tango in the Night is the 14th studio album by the British-American band Fleetwood Mac. Released in April 1987, it is the fifth and final studio album from the line-up of Lindsey Buckingham, Stevie Nicks, Christine McVie, John McVie and Mick Fleetwood....

-era Fleetwood Mac
Fleetwood Mac
Fleetwood Mac are a British–American rock band formed in 1967 in London.The only original member present in the band is its eponymous drummer, Mick Fleetwood...

, and you're never that far from a conjunction of wobbling electronics and anthemic chorus that recalls Phil Oakey
Philip Oakey
Philip Oakey is an English composer, singer, songwriter and producer.He is best known as the lead singer, frontman and co-founder of the famous English synthpop band The Human League. He has also had an extensive solo music career and collaborated with numerous other artists and producers...

 and Giorgio Moroder
Giorgio Moroder
Hansjörg "Giorgio" Moroder is an Italian record producer, songwriter and performer based in Los Angeles. When in Munich in the 1970s, he started his own record label called Oasis Records, which several years later became a subdivision of Casablanca Records...

's 'Together in Electric Dreams
Together in Electric Dreams
"Together in Electric Dreams" is a song by the British singer and composer Philip Oakey and producer Giorgio Moroder. It was written by Oakey and Moroder and recorded for the original soundtrack of the 1984 film Electric Dreams....

'."

During an interview with music website Popjustice
Popjustice
Popjustice is a music website founded in 2000 and is the work of UK freelance music journalist Peter Robinson, who has worked for NME, The Guardian, Attitude and many others....

 based on questions made by fans, Alison commented on the comparisons drawn between "Rocket" and "Jump" by saying: "I'm not very familiar with Van Halen as a band, I'm afraid, but I think we were definitely inspired by that sound. It's not exactly the same sound as the sound but it's definitely been inspired by it."

Chart performance

"Rocket" debuted and peaked at number forty-seven on the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

 on 14 March 2010—the duo's first lead single not to debut within the UK top forty since their 2000 debut single "Lovely Head
Lovely Head
"Lovely Head" is an electronic song performed by British group Goldfrapp. The song was written and produced by Alison Goldfrapp and Will Gregory for the duo's debut album Felt Mountain . It was released as the album's first single in May 2000 but did not chart...

"—, falling to number seventy-six the following week. In its third week on the run, the same week its parent album Head First debuted in the top ten, the single made a sixteen-spot leap on the chart to number sixty. So far it has spent four weeks in the top one hundred. In Ireland, "Rocket" debuted at number forty on the Irish Singles Chart
Irish Singles Chart
The Irish Singles Chart is Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on behalf of the IRMA by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured...

 during the week of 11 March 2010, dropping off the chart the following week before making a re-entry at its peak position of number thirty-six the week after. The track also earned Goldfrapp their fourth chart-topper on the US Hot Dance Club Songs for the issue dated 1 May 2010. Elsewhere "Rocket" saw moderate success in Central Europe, peaking at number nineteen in Hungary, number thirty in Slovakia, number thirty-two in Germany, number thirty-eight in Austria and number fifty in Switzerland and on the European Hot 100 Singles chart.

Music video

The music video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...

 for "Rocket" was directed by Kim Gehrig and filmed in January 2010. The main idea behind the video is that Alison Goldfrapp is a truck driver
Truck driver
A truck driver , is a person who earns a living as the driver of a truck, usually a semi truck, box truck, or dump truck.Truck drivers provide an essential service to...

 who wants to send an ex-boyfriend
Ex (relationship)
In social relationships, an ex is someone with whom a person was once associated. As a prefix, ex- can refer to a variety of different relationships; for example, one might refer to a music group's ex-guitarist, or someone's ex-friend...

 into outer space
Outer space
Outer space is the void that exists between celestial bodies, including the Earth. It is not completely empty, but consists of a hard vacuum containing a low density of particles: predominantly a plasma of hydrogen and helium, as well as electromagnetic radiation, magnetic fields, and neutrinos....

.

The video begins with Goldfrapp driving a transport truck
Truck
A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport cargo. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, with the smallest being mechanically similar to an automobile...

 through a desert. She is accompanied by a male in a full-body cast
Orthopedic cast
An orthopedic cast, body cast or surgical cast, is a shell, frequently made from plaster, encasing a limb to hold a broken bone in place until healing is confirmed...

. As the chorus begins it is revealed that the truck is pulling a giant purple rocket. Alison stops the truck to dance in the desert and is joined by a group of females. Will Gregory makes a cameo appearance
Cameo appearance
A cameo role or cameo appearance is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the performing arts, such as plays, films, video games and television...

 in the video as a gas station
Filling station
A filling station, also known as a fueling station, garage, gasbar , gas station , petrol bunk , petrol pump , petrol garage, petrol kiosk , petrol station "'servo"' in Australia or service station, is a facility which sells fuel and lubricants...

 attendant. The video concludes with Alison and the dancers taping the male passenger to the rocket and launching it into outer space.

Track listing

  • UK CD single and iTunes EP
  1. "Rocket" – 3:51
  2. "Rocket" (Tiësto
    Tiësto
    Tijs Michiel Verwest, , known as Tiësto , is a Dutch musician, DJ and record producer of electronic dance music. Although he has used many aliases in the past, he is best known for his work as DJ Tiësto...

     Remix) – 6:53
  3. "Rocket" (Richard X
    Richard X
    Richard Philips, best known by his stage name Richard X, is a British songwriter and music producer. Gaining attention as a pioneer of the bootleg craze, Richard X has earned success as a producer and remixer. He has helmed hit singles for artists including Annie, Kelis, Liberty X, Rachel Stevens...

     One Zero Remix) – 7:00
  4. "Rocket" (Penguin Prison Remix) – 6:31
  5. "Rocket" (Grum
    Grum
    Graeme Shepherd, better known by his stage name Grum, is an electronic musician from Scotland.-Career:Grum's debut album, Heartbeats, was released in May 2010. A confident debut record, inspired by 1980s disco, it has been compared to Daft Punk's Discovery and Mylo's Destroy Rock & Roll...

     Remix) – 6:38

Personnel

  • Alison Goldfrapp
    Alison Goldfrapp
    Alison Elizabeth Margaret Goldfrapp is an English singer-songwriter and record producer, best known as the lead singer of the electronic music duo Goldfrapp. Goldfrapp has a soprano vocal range.-Early life:...

     – vocals
    Singing
    Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...

    , producer
    Record producer
    A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...

    , engineer
    Audio engineering
    An audio engineer, also called audio technician, audio technologist or sound technician, is a specialist in a skilled trade that deals with the use of machinery and equipment for the recording, mixing and reproduction of sounds. The field draws on many artistic and vocational areas, including...

    , art direction
    Art director
    The art director is a person who supervise the creative process of a design.The term 'art director' is a blanket title for a variety of similar job functions in advertising, publishing, film and television, the Internet, and video games....

  • Will Gregory
    Will Gregory
    William Owen Gregory is best known as a songwriter, and the lead keyboards/synthesizer player & producer of the electronic music group Goldfrapp. Originally a classical music student at the University of York, Gregory is the son of an actress and an opera chorus-line singer...

     – producer, engineer
  • Nick Batt – additional programming
    Programming (music)
    Programming is a form of music production and performance using electronic devices, often sequencers or computer programs, to generate music. Programming is used in nearly all forms of electronic music and in most hip hop music since the 1990s. It is also frequently used in modern pop and rock...

  • Greg Freeman – drum recording
  • Pascal Gabriel
    Pascal Gabriel
    Pascal Richard Marcel Gabriel is a Belgian-born musician based in London. His musical career began in 1977 in the punk rock band The Razors...

     – additional producer
  • Tim Goldsworthy
    Tim Goldsworthy
    Tim Goldsworthy is a British record producer, DJ and recording artist, living and working in New York City since 1999.Originally a musician/producer for UNKLE, Goldsworthy co-founded James Lavelle's Mo' Wax label...

     – additional programming
  • Matty Green – mixing
    Audio mixing (recorded music)
    In audio recording, audio mixing is the process by which multiple recorded sounds are combined into one or more channels, most commonly two-channel stereo. In the process, the source signals' level, frequency content, dynamics, and panoramic position are manipulated and effects such as reverb may...

     assistant
  • Shona Heath – cover image

  • Charlie Jones
    Charlie Jones (musician)
    Charlie Jones is a British bassist, songwriter and record producer. He has toured and recorded with Robert Plant, Page and Plant, The Strange Sensation, Goldfrapp and many others. He was married to Robert Plant's daughter Carmen Plant, they divorced in 2010....

     – bass
    Bass guitar
    The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

  • Serge Leblon – cover image
  • Alex Lee
    Alex Lee
    Alex Lee is an English musician. Lee is a multi-instrumentalist who has played guitar and keyboards for Goldfrapp, Strangelove, Suede, Placebo and The Blue Aeroplanes amongst others...

     – guitar
    Guitar
    The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

  • Ged Lynch – drums
    Drum kit
    A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....

  • Mat Maitland
    Mat Maitland
    Mat Maitland is an English art director and visual artist who lives in London.-Career:Born in St Albans, Hertfordshire, he studied design in his home town and then at Croydon College. He started his career at WEA in the early 1990s as a designer...

     – cover image, art direction
  • Davide Rossi
    Davide Rossi
    Davide Francesco Rossi , is a violinist, string arranger, composer and a record producer, perhaps best known for being the violinist, guitar and keytar-player for the British electronic music group Goldfrapp, and for his large contribution of electric violin parts and for all the string...

     – violin
    Violin
    The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....

  • Mark "Spike" Stent
    Mark Stent
    Mark 'Spike' Stent is a British record producer, and audio engineer who has worked with The KLF, Björk, Keane, Depeche Mode, Muse, Erasure, Hard-Fi, Massive Attack, Janet Jackson, Madonna, Christina Aguilera, Marilyn Manson, Pet Shop Boys, Dave Matthews, No Doubt/Gwen Stefani, CSS, Beth Orton,...

     – mixing


Weekly charts

Chart (2010) Peak
position
Austrian Singles Chart
Ö3 Austria Top 40
Ö3 Austria Top 40 is the name of the official Austrian singles chart, as well as the radio show which presents it, aired Fridays on Hitradio Ö3. The show presents the Austrian singles, ringtones and downloads chart. It premiered on 26 November 1968 as Disc Parade and was presented by Ernst Grissemann...

38
Belgian Tip Chart (Flanders) 19
Belgian Tip Chart (Wallonia) 9
European Hot 100 Singles 50
German Singles Chart
Media Control Charts
The official music charts in Germany are gathered and published by the company Media Control GfK International on behalf of Bundesverband Musikindustrie...

32
Hungarian Airplay Chart
Mahasz
Mahasz is the Hungarian music industry association, founded in 1992. Mahasz hands out the Hungarian Music Awards and maintains the music charts for Hungary....

19
Irish Singles Chart
Irish Singles Chart
The Irish Singles Chart is Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on behalf of the IRMA by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured...

36
Slovak Airplay Chart
Rádio Top 100 Oficiálna
Rádio Top 100 Oficiálna is the name of the Slovakian national airplay chart published by the IFPI Czech Republic on a weekly basis since the cancellation of the Slovakian national section on December 31, 2009....

30
Swiss Singles Chart
Swiss Music Charts
The Swiss Music Charts are Switzerland's main music sales charts. The charts are a record of the highest-selling singles and albums in various genres in Switzerland.The Swiss Charts include:* Singles Top 75...

50
UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

47
US Hot Dance Club Songs 1


Year-end charts

Chart (2010) Peak
position
US Hot Dance Club Songs 1
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