Rudebox (song)

For the album, see Rudebox (album).

"Rudebox"
Song

"Rudebox" is a 2006 single by English musician Robbie Williams, from the album of the same name. It is based around a sample from the song "Boops (Here To Go)" by Sly & Robbie.

The single was released on September 4, 2006, although download purchases allowed it to reach number 30 in the UK Charts on September 3. After the release of the CD single, it went up 26 places to number 4 selling 24,821 copies, beaten by Nelly Furtado feat. Timbaland's "Promiscuous", Justin Timberlake's "SexyBack" and Scissor Sisters' "I Don't Feel like Dancin'".

Although the single charted relatively high, Williams was mocked by sections of the tabloid press who said the single was a failure, due to his radical change in direction on the song, with The Sun claiming it was the "worst song ever". Williams responded to the criticism by joking about it, telling an audience at his concert in Leeds on September 8th that the song was "number one... in Germany". However, the song reached the same chart position in the UK as most of Williams' well known hits, such as Angels, Millennium, and Kids. The track was also nominated for the 2006 Ivor Novello Award.

Unlike the disappointing performance in the UK, the song had huge success in Latin America, Mexico in particular. Rudebox accumulated astonishing airplay and sales, reaching the Mexican Top 10, a rare feat for an English-language song. Later in 2007, the song was nominated for Song of the Year-International at the Premios Oye!, the Mexican Grammys and won.

Formats and track listings

UK 2-Track CD

1. Rudebox (Dirty Radio Edit)
2. Lonestar Rising

UK CD Maxi

1. Rudebox
2. Rudebox (Soul Mekanik Extended Dub)
3. Rudebox (Chicken Lips Malfunction)
4. Rudebox (Chicken Lips Malfunction Dub)
5. Rudebox (Video)

+ Robbie Interview Clip

UK 12"

1. "Rudebox" (Soul Melanik Extended Vocal)
2. "Rudebox" (Chicken Lips Malfunction)
3. "Rudebox" (Soul Melanik Dub)

Trivia

• The song was aired for the first time in the UK by Radio 1 DJ Scott Mills on Friday 7th July. The event caused some controversy, as the record label's embargo date was broken, although the artist himself later backed the presenter for doing so. This was the second time Scott Mills has broken a record label's embargo, the first being Justin Timberlake's "SexyBack".

• Rudebox further cemented Williams' profound impact upon popular and youth culture in Britain from its release in mid-2006, through to later developments in early 2007. The -box suffix used by Williams (initially in the "rude" context as conceptualised in the track) has mushroomed into a huge linguistic phenomenon in the northern heartlands of Williams' youth. -box can now be found in a multitude of situations to denote the essence or purest form of anything: from "workbox", to "boredbox", "sillybox", "cigbox" etc. These newly compounded terms are often employed in a jocular situation, most commonly in and around the Manchester area, where it initially gained popularity. "Robbiebox" will soon be releasing new material and rumours are rife of a performance at the Musicbox nightclub in Manchester in the autumn.