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Rockstar (Nickelback song)

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"Rockstar"
Song

"Rockstar" is the fifth U.S. single by the Canadian alternative rock band Nickelback from their fifth studio album, All the Right Reasons (2005). It was only released in the United States and Canada, and has since been re-released worldwide. The lyrics feature the pretentious, materialistic desires of a wannabe rockstar, who desires lots of money, cars and women. Spoken-word vocals between each verse are provided by Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top. This song used for Canadian version of TV series Galaxy World of Alisa, ending theme of episode "The Singing Battle".

"Rockstar" received overwhelmingly negative reviews from music critics and is considered one of the worst songs of all time, but went on to become Nickelback's most commercial successful single ever, peaking at number two in the United Kingdom and being certified Platinum. It has also sold 4.5 million copies in the United States.[2]

Critical reception

Rolling Stone ranked "Rockstar" at number 100 in their list of the 100 best songs of 2007.[3] Aside from its praise from Rolling Stone and popularity, the song is considered Nickelback's worst song, and some have even labeled it one of the worst songs of all time.[4][5] "Rockstar" was listed at number 2 in BuzzFeed's list of the 30 worst songs ever written. They said: "If aliens came to earth and asked why everyone hates Nickelback so much, this song would be a perfect explanation.[6] A 2008 Popjustice poll voted "Rockstar" as the worst single of the year.[7]

In August 2008, the song appeared in a "banned" advert for sofa retailer DFS in the United Kingdom. The advert featured actors miming "Rockstar" while playing air guitar in front of sofas. In December 2008, the advert was also given the distinction as one of the worst adverts of all time.[8][9]

Commercial performance

During the song's original release "Far Away" was more successful on the Billboard Hot 100 and U.S. Pop charts, while "Rockstar" instead found moderate success on the rock charts. It peaked at #4 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, and #37 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart. It entered the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at #54, during its original run.

The song was re-shipped to radio for ads on 5 June 2007, and a video was made to accompany the re-release. After its re-release, became active on most charts again, reaching new peaks on numerous charts like The Hot 100, the Adult Top 40, and Pop 100. It re-entered the Billboard Hot 100 at number forty-seven on week ending date July 7, 2007.[10] It also registered on charts it had previously failed to do on first release, such as the Pop 100 Airplay. "Rockstar" is now the band's best selling digital single to date in the United States, with digital sales there at 4,229,000 as of July 2013.[11] On 12 September 2007, "Rockstar" reached a new peak of #6 on the Billboard Hot 100, faring better than "Far Away"; becoming Nickelback's third Top 10 hit from All the Right Reasons, and their fifth career Top Ten on the Hot 100 overall. "Rockstar" reached its 3,000,000 downloads mark in the U.S. in May 2009 and became the best selling rock single of the 21st century before "How You Remind Me".[12] It reached 4 million in sales in the U.S. in June 2012, making it the band's best selling hit in that country.[13] As of January 2015, the song has sold 4.5 million copies in the US.[2]

"Rockstar" was a major success in the United Kingdom, and the most successful single overall of Nickelback's career there, peaking at number two on the UK Singles Chart and number one on the UK Singles Downloads Chart. The song was released in physical form there after becoming popular online and climbing into the top 50 on downloads alone. Over two years after the release of All the Right Reasons, it became the band's biggest hit in the country, selling 587,000 copies. "Rockstar" debuted on the UK Singles Chart on October 21, 2007 ― week ending date October 27, 2007 ― and lasted almost nine months on the chart. On August 10, 2008 ― week ending date August 16, 2008 ― the song re-entered the chart. The release of "Rockstar" also helped All the Right Reasons achieve a top 10 position in the UK Albums Chart for the first time, becoming their third top 10 album there. It also pushed sales of the album there from under 200,000 to over half a million. It became the United Kingdom's fifth biggest selling single of 2008.[14] In August 2008, the song re-entered the top 40 of the UK Singles Chart at number 27, and stayed there for an extra four weeks, taking its total of weeks in the top 40 up to 35. The song remained on the chart for 50 consecutive weeks, before falling off in October 2008.

Music video

When the song was first released in August 2006, a music video was not made for the single. Dori Oskowitz, who directed the band's "If Everyone Cared" video, returned to direct the music video for the song's re-release.[15]

Filming outside the Reichstag in Berlin on 23 July 2007

The video features celebrities and non-celebrities lip synching to the lyrics. The non-celebrities are filmed around the world, in front of iconic landmarks, such as Times Square in New York, Millennium Park in Chicago, Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles, St Pauls and Tower Bridge in London, the Opera House and Harbour Bridge in Sydney, and the Reichstag in Berlin. On screen celebrities include multiple shots of Billy Gibbons (who voices his lines in the song), Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Eliza Dushku, Dominique Swain, Gene Simmons, Wayne Gretzky, Erik Rowan, Big & Rich's John Rich, the cast of The Girls Next Door, Kid Rock, Lupe Fiasco, Twista, Nelly Furtado, the crew from American Chopper, Paul Wall, Ted Nugent, Grant Hill, Taryn Manning, Tom Petkos, Lindsey Shaw, Riki Lindhome and numerous others. Sometimes the lyric they are lip synching relates to themselves. At the end of the video Nickelback is shown playing live on stage; this shot was filmed on July 13, 2007 at the Comcast Center for the Performing Arts in Mansfield, Massachusetts.[16]

Track listing

Maxi-single

  1. "Rockstar" (Album Version) - 4:15
  2. "Rockstar" (Clean Version) - 4:15
  3. "Never Again" (Live in Atlanta) - 4:16
  4. "Photograph" (Live in Atlanta) - 4:38
  5. "Rockstar" (Video)

Pop culture references

The song makes several references to American popular culture: MTV Cribs (Chad Kroeger, the band's frontman, appeared on an episode of the show), the Playboy Mansion and Playmates, and a spot between James Dean and Cher on Hollywood's Walk of Fame (Nickelback is already on Canada's Walk of Fame[17]). The lyrics can be taken as generalization of the stereotypical rockstar lifestyle celebrating material success at the expense of artistic integrity. The material desires of the rockstar are listed, but the practice needed to become proficient at rock music is never mentioned. For example:

I want a brand new house
on an episode of Cribs
And a bathroom I can play baseball in...

I want a new tour bus full of old guitars
My own star on Hollywood Boulevard[18]

The song has been compared to earlier satirical odes to the rockstar lifestyle, including Dire Straits' "Money for Nothing" (1985), Joe Walsh's "Life's Been Good" (1978), Dr. Hook's "Cover of the Rolling Stone" (1973), The Jam's "To Be Someone" from their album All Mod Cons (1978), The Byrds' "So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star" (1967), AC/DC's "It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll)" (1975), Cypress Hill's "(Rock)" and "(Rap) Superstar" (2000) and most recently Weezer's "Beverly Hills" (2005).[citation needed]

Charts

Release history

Country Release date Version
United States August 21, 2006 (2006-08-21) Original
June 6, 2007 (2007-06-06) Re-release
United Kingdom November 12, 2007 (2007-11-12)

References

  1. ^ "All The Right Reasons". Rhapsody.
  2. ^ a b c Grein, Paul (January 31, 2015). "The 15 Most Downloaded Songs in Rock History". Yahoo! Music.
  3. ^ "The 100 Best Songs of 2007". Archived at Wayback Machine. Rolling Stone. 11 December 2007. Retrieved 6 June 2013. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |website= (help)
  4. ^ Robinson, Peter (9 February 2008). "How bad can Nickelback be? Phenomenally, says Peter Robinson". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 June 2013. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  5. ^ "To See or Not to See: Nickelback". Metro. 15 September 2008. Retrieved 2 June 2013. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  6. ^ Broderick, Ryan (12 June 2012). "These are the 30 of the worst songs ever written". BuzzFeed. Retrieved 2 June 2013.
  7. ^ "Popjustice Readers' Poll Results 2008". Popjustice. 1 January 2009. Retrieved 14 August 2013.
  8. ^ "10 of the best - worst adverts of all time". Daily Record. 12 December 2008. Retrieved 4 July 2013. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  9. ^ Sweney, Mark (11 December 2008). "The worst TV ads of 2008: Federer, Woods and Henry take a bow". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 July 2013. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  10. ^ Billboard Hot 100, Issue Date: Saturday July 7th, 2007 αCharts.us
  11. ^ Paul Grein (July 17, 2013). "Week Ending July 14, 2013. Songs: Seven For Jay-Z". Chart Watch. Yahoo.
  12. ^ "Yahoo Music".
  13. ^ "Week Ending June 10, 2012. Songs: No Maybes About It". 14 June 2012.
  14. ^ "Duffy and Burke top 2008 charts". BBC. 29 December 2008. Retrieved 4 July 2013.
  15. ^ Video Static: Music Video News: June 3, 2007 - June 9, 2007
  16. ^ Nickelback - Rockstar [OFFICIAL VIDEO]. 14 August 2007 – via YouTube.
  17. ^ MouthMedia. "Canada's Walk of Fame".
  18. ^ "Nickelback - Rockstar Lyrics - SongMeanings". SongMeanings.
  19. ^ [1] ARIA Report 918. Retrieved 2012-10-12
  20. ^ "Nickelback – Rockstar" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40.
  21. ^ "Nickelback – Rockstar" (in French). Ultratop 50.
  22. ^ "Nickelback Chart History (Canadian Hot 100)". Billboard.
  23. ^ "Nickelback – Rockstar". Tracklisten.
  24. ^ "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Rockstar". Irish Singles Chart.
  25. ^ "Nickelback – Rockstar" (in Dutch). Single Top 100.
  26. ^ "ČNS IFPI" (in Slovak). Hitparáda – Radio Top 100 Oficiálna. IFPI Czech Republic. Note: insert 200745 into search.
  27. ^ "Nickelback – Rockstar". Singles Top 100.
  28. ^ "Nickelback – Rockstar". Swiss Singles Chart.
  29. ^ "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company.
  30. ^ "Official Rock & Metal Singles Chart Top 40". Official Charts Company.
  31. ^ "Nickelback Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard.
  32. ^ "Nickelback Chart History (Mainstream Rock)". Billboard.
  33. ^ "Nickelback Chart History (Alternative Airplay)". Billboard.
  34. ^ "Nickelback Chart History (Pop Songs)". Billboard.
  35. ^ "Nickelback Chart History (Adult Pop Songs)". Billboard.
  36. ^ "Chart Plus Year End 2008" (PDF). Official Charts Company. Retrieved 6 August 2015.
  37. ^ Radio 1 Official Chart of the Decade, as broadcast on BBC Radio 1 on December 29, 2009, presented by DJ Nihal
  38. ^ "British single certifications – Nickelback – Rockstar". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved December 28, 2015. Select singles in the Format field. Select Platinum in the Certification field. Type Rockstar in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
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