"Snow (Hey Oh)" (occasionally stylized as "Snow ((Hey Oh))") is a song by American band

Red Hot Chili Peppers The Red Hot Chili Peppers are an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1982, consisting of Anthony Kiedis (vocals), Flea (musician), Flea (bass), John Frusciante (guitar), and Chad Smith (drums). Their music incorporates elements of a ...

from their 2006 double album, ''

Stadium Arcadium ''Stadium Arcadium'' is the ninth studio album by American rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers. It is a double-album, first released in Germany on May 5, 2006, and released on May 9, 2006 in the United States on Warner Bros. Records. It produced f ...

''. The song was released as the follow-up single to " Tell Me Baby" in 2006, and became the band's third straight number one hit on the ''Billboard'' Modern Rock chart, a spot it held for five straight weeks. The single was their 11th to top that chart, setting a record they still hold, extended in 2016 to 13 number ones. Vocalist

Anthony Kiedis Anthony Kiedis ( ; born November 1, 1962) is an American musician and lead vocalist of the rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers. Kiedis and his fellow band members were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012. Kiedis spent his youth in ...

states that the track is "about surviving, starting fresh. I've made a mess of everything, but I have a blank slate—a canvas of snow—and I get to start over."

Composition

"Snow (Hey Oh)" is a characteristically soft, melodic song, much like those from the band's prior album ''

By the Way ''By the Way'' is the eighth studio album by the American rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers, released July 9, 2002, on Warner Bros. Records. It sold more than 286,000 copies in its first week, and peaked at number two on the ''Billboard'' 200. S ...

''. The song is driven by a rapid

guitar riff A riff is a short, repeated motif or figure in the melody or accompaniment of a musical composition. Riffs are most often found in rock music, punk, heavy metal music, Latin, funk, and jazz, although classical music is also sometimes based on ...

John Frusciante John Anthony Frusciante ( ; born March 5, 1970) is an American musician and the guitarist of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, having been with the band across three iterations. He has released 11 solo albums and 7 EPs, ranging in style from acoustic gu ...

, and makes use of

double stop In music, a double stop is the technique of playing two notes simultaneously on a stringed instrument such as a violin, a viola, a cello, or a double bass. On instruments such as the Hardanger fiddle it is common and often employed. In performin ...

s on the bass by

Flea Flea, the common name for the order (biology), order Siphonaptera, includes 2,500 species of small flightless insects that live as external parasites of mammals and birds. Fleas live by hematophagy, ingesting the blood of their hosts. Adult f ...

. The song is written in the key of

G♯ minor G-sharp minor is a minor scale based on G, consisting of the pitches G, A, B, C, D, E, and F. Its key signature has five sharps.Tapper, Thomas. First Year Musical Theory (rudiments of Music)'. United States, A. P. Schmidt, 1912. Its ...

and is at a moderate

tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian for 'time'; plural 'tempos', or from the Italian plural), measured in beats per minute, is the speed or pace of a given musical composition, composition, and is often also an indication of the composition ...

of 105 BPM.

Reception

Frusciante.net revealed that this was going to be the third of seven songs released as a single from ''

''. Before even being released as a single, it climbed to #53 in the UK

iTunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...

top 100 on May 13. Like its predecessor " Tell Me Baby", it peaked at #16 in the UK Singles Chart. On January 17, 2007, "Snow (Hey Oh)" became the band's record-breaking 11th number-one

Modern Rock Modern rock is an umbrella term used to describe rock music that is found on college and commercial rock radio stations. Some radio stations use this term to distinguish themselves from classic rock, which is based in 1960s–1980s rock music. ...

single in the United States and is the third consecutive chart-topping Modern Rock single from ''Stadium Arcadium''. In Germany, it was the band's most successful song, reaching #5, making it the band's only Top-10-song there.

Music video

In an interview, Tony Kaye, who also directed the video for "

Dani California "Dani California" is a song from American rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers' ninth studio album, ''Stadium Arcadium'' (2006). The single was first made available at the iTunes Music Store and was officially released on April 28, 2006. The internati ...

", told

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

he would be directing the video for the song. However, his footage wasn't used. Instead,

Warner Warner can refer to: People * Warner (writer) * Warner (given name) * Warner (surname) Fictional characters * Yakko, Wakko, and Dot Warner, stars of the animated television series ''Animaniacs'' * Aaron Warner, a character in '' Shatter M ...

commissioned director Nick Wickham to shoot a new video showing the band at the October 17 and 18, 2006 shows at the

Continental Airlines Arena Meadowlands Arena (formerly Brendan Byrne Arena, Continental Airlines Arena and Izod Center) is a closed indoor sports and concert venue located in the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, New Jersey, United States. Since closing, ...

East Rutherford, New Jersey East Rutherford is a Borough (New Jersey), borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is an inner suburb, inner-ring suburb of New York City, located west of Midtown Manhattan. As of the 2020 Unit ...

, along with black and white film of fans at the parking lot and lines at the live show.

Live performances

"Snow (Hey Oh)" has been the second most performed song from ''Stadium Arcadium'' and has been performed over 250 times since 2006. On June 28, 2012, at the band's concert at Goffertpark in Nijmegen, Netherlands during the I'm with You Tour, the band performed the song for the first time since the end of the Stadium Arcadium Tour nearly five years earlier. As of 2023, the song is still featured regularly in the band's setlists.

Appearances and samples

In 2008 "Snow (Hey Oh)" was used as one of the official themes of

WWE World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is an American professional wrestling promotion. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority-owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. A global integrated media and entertainment company, ...

WrestleMania XXIV WrestleMania XXIV was a 2008 professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) List of WWE pay-per-view events, event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It was the 24th annual WrestleMania and took place on March 30, 2008, at the Camping Wo ...

. It was also used in ''

Scrubs Scrub(s) may refer to: * Scrub, low shrub and grass characteristic of scrubland * Scrubs (clothing), worn by medical staff * ''Scrubs'' (TV series), an American television program * Scrubs (occupation), also called "scrub tech," "scrub nurse," ...

'' in the two-part episode "

My Finale "My Finale" is the 40-minute-long eighth season finale and 168th and 169th overall episodes of the American television sitcom '' Scrubs''. It was originally broadcast as episodes 18 and 19 of season eight on May 6, 2009 on ABC, and was intend ...

" and during the end credits in '' Death Note: The Last Name''. The song can be heard in a flashback scene in the ''

Cold Case ''Cold Case'' is an American police procedural crime drama television series. It ran on CBS from September 28, 2003, to May 2, 2010. The series revolved around a fictionalized Philadelphia Police Department division that specializes in invest ...

'' episode "

Sabotage Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening a polity, government, effort, or organization through subversion, obstruction, demoralization (warfare), demoralization, destabilization, divide and rule, division, social disruption, disrupti ...

". It was in a scene from Brothers and Sisters season 1 episode 23. The song was sampled in the 2024 track " Thick of It" by British rapper and internet personality

KSI Olajide Olayinka Williams "JJ" Olatunji (born 19 June 1993), better known by his online alias KSI, is an English influencer, professional boxer and musician. He is a co-founding member of YouTube group the Sidemen, the CEO of Misfits Boxing a ...

Track listings and formats

;CD single #"Snow (Hey Oh)" – 5:34 #"Permutation" (Live) – 3:43 ;Maxi single 9362 42983-2 #"Snow (Hey Oh)" – 5:34 #"Funny Face" – 4:46 #"I'll Be Your Domino" – 3:54 ;International CD single/7" picture disc 5439 15624-2 #"Snow (Hey Oh)" – 5:34 #"Funny Face" – 4:46 ;iTunes version single #"Snow (Hey Oh)" – 5:34 #"Funny Face" – 4:46 #"I'll Be Your Domino" – 3:54 #"Permutation" (Live) – 3:43

Personnel

Credits adapted from AllMusic. Red Hot Chili Peppers *

– lead vocals *

– guitars, backing vocals,

mellotron The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical musical instrument developed in Birmingham, England, in 1963. It is played by pressing its keys, each of which causes a length of magnetic tape to contact a Capstan (tape recorder), capstan, which pulls i ...

– bass guitar *

Chad Smith Chad Smith (born October 25, 1961) is an American musician who is the drummer of the rock band the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Smith has played with the Chili Peppers since 1988, appearing on ten of the band's studio albums and becoming the band's lo ...

- drums, percussion Additional musicians * Greg Kurstin - Organ on "Funny Face" Recording personnel *

Rick Rubin Frederick Jay Rubin (, ; born March 10, 1963) is an American record producer. He is a co-founder of Def Jam Recordings, founder of American Recordings, and former co-president of Columbia Records. Rubin helped popularize hip hop by produci ...

–

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stat ...

Andrew Scheps Andrew Scheps is an American mix engineer, recording engineer, record producer, and record label owner based in Los Angeles and the United Kingdom. He has received Grammy Awards for Best Rock Album for his work on Red Hot Chili Peppers' '' Stadi ...

– mixing and

engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

* Ryan Hewitt – mixing and engineering * Dana Nielsen – engineering * Kevin Gray and Steve Hoffman – mastering (vinyl) *

Vlado Meller Vlado Meller (born in 1947 in Humenné as ''Vladimír Meller'') is a Slovak audio mastering engineer, currently with Vlado Meller Mastering in Charleston, South Carolina. Meller works across many genres of music, with credits on rock, hip-hop, p ...

– mastering (CD) * Matt Taylor – design and

art direction Art director is a title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, live-action and animated film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to super ...

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications and sales

References

{{Authority control Red Hot Chili Peppers songs Songs written by Flea (musician) Songs written by John Frusciante Songs written by Chad Smith Songs written by Anthony Kiedis 2006 singles Song recordings produced by Rick Rubin 2005 songs Number-one singles in Hungary Warner Records singles