Ready for the Floor
| "Ready for the Floor" | |
|---|---|
| Song | |
| B-side | "Bubbles They Bounce", "My Brother Is Watching Me" |
"Ready for the Floor" is the Grammy Award-nominated second single by the British Electronic group Hot Chip from their 2008 album Made in the Dark. It was released on 28 January 2008 and reached number six in the United Kingdom.[1]
Lyrics
Alexis Taylor gave an explanation about the use of the line, "You're my number one guy" in the song, and also explained how it visually impacted the music video (Taylor is dressed as the Joker):
"I really like this line in the first Batman film, not the very first one that was made, but the first Tim Burton Batman film. Jack Palance tells Jack Nicholson, 'You are my number one guy.' And it's a completely false statement. The very next scene is Jack Nicholson being set up and about to be killed off by Jack Palance's character. Then he survives all of this and he comes back as the Joker and he kills Jack Palance. And later on he quotes Jack Palance, he says it to his goon, Bob the Goon, 'You are my number one guy.' He says it in a really funny, mimicking way. I quite like it. He's not only mimicking the character in the film, he's also mimicking Jack Palance as an actor. He's mimicking his melodramatic style. That line has always stuck with me."[2]
Music video
The music video for "Ready for the Floor", directed by Nima Nourizadeh, was described by Pitchfork Media as being "all about duality", showing Alexis Taylor "going back and forth (and sometimes split down the middle) between mild-mannered tech wiz and, basically, the Joker." [3]
Critical reception
"Ready for the Floor" was generally well received by music critics and charted well in the United Kingdom, where it reached number six.[1] Drowned in Sound gave the single a score of 9/10 and described it as one that "might not sell a million records" but that it could make "'household name' an achievable status".[4]
Drowned in Sound said that it had "a chord change that uplifts the soul" and that the song was "a slice of sweetly insistent ‘80s Italo-house lite" but also said it could also be described "as a piece of sophisticated mainstream pop".[4] MusicOMH said that "Ready For The Floor" bore an "undoubted resemblance [...] at first glance" to "Boy From School" but said it was "more subtle in its use of brushed electro beats and clever countermelodies".[5]
A number of reviews discussed the style of Alexis Taylor’s vocals. MusicOMH described his vocals as "quietly dreamy" whilst Drowned in Sound said there was "something incredibly sweet about the way that Alexis Taylor croons 'you’re my number one guy'" and described his vocals as "full of nerdy sexual chocolate."[4][5]
Boomkat.com said that "Ready for the Floor (Smoothed Out on an R&B Tip version)", sounded "more in line with Morr-ish poptronica than R. Kelly" and was "undoubtedly tinted with a slightly more downbeat hue than the album and radio edits." Boomkat.com also commented on the B-side, "My Brother Is Watching Me", describing it as "a slow burning, exceptionally quiet electronic ballad".[6]
The song was also well received in the United States, where it was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording in December 2008.[7]
Pitchfork Media named it as the third best track of 2008 & 76th best song of the 2000s.[8]
Collaboration with Kylie Minogue
Some media reports incorrectly asserted that Hot Chip had originally written the song "Ready for the Floor" for the Australian singer Kylie Minogue.[9] Alexis Taylor explained: "It started because someone asked me if we would ever write for Kylie. I said that we'd been asked to write for her but we'd never got round to it. And I said if we had to give her one of our songs, Ready for the Floor would probably be the most suitable. From that, I got misquoted. We didn't write Ready for the Floor for Kylie, didn't send it to her and she never heard it."[3]
Track listings
- Enhanced CD
- Ready for the Floor
- Shake a Fist (Diplo's Noise of Art Remix)
- Bubbles They Bounce
- Ready for the Floor (Soulwax Dub)
- Ready for the Floor (music video)
- 7" single 1
- A: Ready for the Floor (radio edit)
- B: Bubbles They Bounce
- 7" single 2
- A: Ready for the Floor (Smoothed Out on an R&B tip Version)
- B: My Brother Is Watching Me
Chart positions
| Chart (2008) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Austrian Singles Chart[10] | 73 |
| UK Singles Chart[1] | 6 |
| UK Download Chart[11] | 9 |
| Irish Singles Chart[12] | 22 |
References
- ^ a b c "Ready for the Floor - UK chart position". The Official Charts. Retrieved 2008-08-19. [dead link]
- ^ "Video: Hot Chip: "Ready for the Floor"". The Fader. Retrieved 2008-05-05.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ a b Hogan, Marc. "Hot Chip's "Ready For Floor" Video Explained, Kind Of!". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved 2008-02-16. Cite error: The named reference "Manchester" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
- ^ a b c Dobson, Gareth. "Hot Chip: Ready For The Floor". Drowned in Sound. Retrieved 2008-04-27.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ a b Hogwood, Ben. "Hot Chip - Ready For The Floor". MusicOMH.com. Retrieved 2008-04-27.
- ^ "Hot Chip - Ready For The Floor". Boomkat.com. Retrieved 2008-05-13.
- ^ http://content.grammy.com/grammy_awards/51st_show/list.aspx#02
- ^ http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/feature/147998-the-100-best-tracks-of-2008?page=10
- ^ "Kylie Minogue writes song for Hot Chip". NME. Retrieved 2008-02-16.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ Template:De icon "Made in the Dark - Austrian chart position". Austrian-charts.com. Retrieved 2008-07-03.
- ^ "Ready for the Floor UK Download chart position". The Official Charts. Retrieved 2008-05-05. [dead link]
- ^ "Made in the Dark - Irish chart position". Irma.ie. Retrieved 2008-07-03.