Spaceman (Babylon Zoo song)
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"Spaceman" is a song by British
rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
band
Babylon Zoo Babylon Zoo were an English Rock music, rock band formed in 1992 in Wolverhampton. Their song "Spaceman (Babylon Zoo song), Spaceman" gained considerable exposure through its use in a Levi's jeans television advert in the United Kingdom in late ...
, released on 15 January 1996 as the lead single from their debut album, '' The Boy with the X-Ray Eyes'' (1996). Featuring heavily distorted guitars and metallic, robotic sounding vocals, the song entered the
UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
at number one on 21 January 1996 following its use in a Levi's jeans television advertisement the previous year; "Spaceman" was the sixth song to reach number one in the UK after being featured in a Levi's advert.


Song history

Promotional copies of "Spaceman" had been distributed, and the Arthur Baker remix was chosen to tie in with the release of a new United Kingdom Levi's advertisement titled "Planet" on 1 December 1995, which was directed by Vaughan Arnell and
Anthea Benton Anthea Benton is a British television commercial and music video director, best known for her adverts for Stella Artois and Levi's. Career Benton began her career as a Fashion Designer and moved into directing in 1982 as half of the directing ...
. The advertisement concentrated on Baker's sped-up vocal section at the beginning and end of the song, featuring an alien neighbourhood inspired by the 1950s with alien parents awaiting the return of their teen daughter. There was a full version of the sped up vocals called "Spaceman (Zupervarian Mix)". Russian model Kristina Semenovskaya played the daughter, wearing Levi's jeans. The initial intro to "Spaceman" on the promotional copies, before it was used for the advert, featured Mann's whispering vocals of "I killed your mother, I killed your sister, I killed you all." These lyrics were later taken out of the song and replaced with the more radio friendly Arthur Baker introduction. The "I killed you all" lyric remains buried in the mix. There was a lower budget video made for this version. In 2006, "Spaceman" featured on trailers for
Ant and Dec Ant & Dec are a British television presenting duo, consisting of Anthony McPartlin (born 18 November 1975) and Declan Donnelly (born 25 September 1975), from Newcastle upon Tyne, England. Formed after their meeting as child actors on CBBC's dr ...
's film ''
Alien Autopsy The alien autopsy is a 17-minute black-and-white film supposedly depicting a secret medical examination or autopsy of an alien by the United States military.Barton, Steve (September 30, 2010)"Ray Santilli, Gary Shoefield Talk the Real Alien Auto ...
'', the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
's children's channel,
CBeebies CBeebies is a British free-to-air public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the brand used for all BBC content for children aged 6 years and under. Its sister channel CBBC is aimed at older childr ...
for the animated preschool series ''
Lunar Jim ''Lunar Jim'' is a Canadian animated science-fiction stop-motion television series that aired from January 2, 2006 to April 24, 2012. The series centered around Lunar Jim, an astronaut on the blue moon L22. The series, produced by Halifax Film ...
'', and Network Ten's advertisement for '' Battlestar Galactica''. "Spaceman" is also used in ''
Eesti otsib superstaari ''Eesti otsib superstaari'' ''(Estonia is Searching for a Superstar)'' is an Estonian reality-competition gameshow airing on TV3. It debuted on 11 March 2007 and it has since become one of the most popular shows in Estonia. Part of the Idol ...
'' (Pop Idol Estonia). "Spaceman" is also featured in E4's ''
My Mad Fat Diary ''My Mad Fat Diary'' is a British teen comedy-drama television series that debuted on E4 on 14 January 2013. It is based on the novel ''My Fat, Mad Teenage Diary'' by Rae Earl. The second series started on 19 February 2014 and ended on 31 Ma ...
'', in the episode "Ladies and Gentlemen", during the scene where Rae and Finn begin their drive to
Knebworth Knebworth is a village and civil parish in the north of Hertfordshire, England, immediately south of Stevenage. The civil parish covers an area between the villages of Datchworth, Woolmer Green, Codicote, Kimpton, Whitwell, St Paul's Walden ...
.


Music video

Following the release of the single a music video was produced, directed by
Mark Neale Mark Neale is a British documentarian and film director based in Los Angeles, California. His best-known work is the 1999 documentary ''No Maps for These Territories'', which profiled cyberpunk author William Gibson. Prior to ''No Maps'', Neale ha ...
. It features a black-and-white prologue with
Jas Mann Jasbinder Singh "Jas" Mann ( Punjabi: ਜਸਵਿੰਦਰ ਸਿੰਘ ਮੱਨ, born 24 April 1971) is a British songwriter, musician, singer, record producer and film producer. He was lead singer of Babylon Zoo, known for their 1996 UK cha ...
as a night driver who has a
close encounter In ufology, a close encounter is an event in which a person witnesses an unidentified flying object. This terminology and the system of classification behind it were first suggested in astronomer and UFO researcher J. Allen Hynek's 1972 book ''T ...
with aliens appearing from fog on the road, with the vocals sped up. When the vocals decelerate and return to normal pitch, the video alternates between the band playing in an underground place full of young people dancing with the band playing alone in a blue-colored desert landscape, with Mann singing to camera. Finally the vocals are sped up again, during a black-and-white epilogue that returns to the prologue's scene, where aliens go missing in the fog but one of them turns in front of the camera pointing to the night sky, showing that he's the night driver, turned into another alien. The song in the video (A♭ minor) is recorded a semitone lower than the record (A minor). The speeded up intro and outro sections are in the 'dominant' key: E♭ minor (video) and E minor (record).


Reception and legacy

Contemporary reception was generally favourable.
Chuck Eddy Chuck Eddy (born November 26, 1960) is an American music journalist. Life and career Chuck Eddy was born in Detroit, Michigan. After starting his journalism career with ''The Village Voice'' and ''Creem'', where he published one of the first nat ...
at ''
Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cu ...
'' described the song's "futuristic kitsch" as "both funny and seductive." '' Music & Media'' said it's "basically a good pop tune whose hooks grab you by the throat." ''
Music Week ''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future. History Founded in 1959 as '' Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music W ...
'' gave it four out of five, adding that "the energetic and distinctive guitar rock of Spaceman is featured on the new Levis ad, so expect big sales." Reviewing '' The Boy with the X-Ray Eyes'' in '' Select'', Ian Harrison described the song as a "bin-lid dancey metal effort with a weakness for vintage Bowie-isms (done like Bauhaus with synths) and a suspected humour deficiency". Also Helen Lamont of '' Smash Hits'' rated the song four out of five. She noted: "The intro sounds just like the ad – all high pitched and squeaky – but then everything takes a turn for the serious. Fear not, though – it is still good – but in a charming slit-your-wrists, top-of-the-rock charts kind of way." David Sinclair of ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...
'' wrote: "A heavily synthesised rocker, with an oddly lurching, varispeed intro, Spaceman is rich in futuristic imagery, with echoes of David Bowie and Gary Numan that extend well beyond its title... With its bright, icy appeal and a moody undercurrent, it sounds as if it should wear well. Like the jeans." Retrospectively, Noisey UK managing editor Daisy Jones found the song's verses to be lacklustre but the chorus reminiscent of "the sudden sickly swell of euphoria 20 minutes after popping a surprisingly pure pill". Stephen Thomas Erlewine of
AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...
called the track a "bizarre, tuneless collage of hip-hop rhythms, techno keyboards and alternative guitars", that despite sounding distinctive, lacks "any tangible
hook A hook is a tool consisting of a length of material, typically metal, that contains a portion that is curved or indented, such that it can be used to grab onto, connect, or otherwise attach itself onto another object. In a number of uses, one e ...
to make it memorable". ''The Boy with the X-Ray Eyes'' review. AllMusic./ref> Writer Tim Moore and a ''
Scotsman The Scots ( sco, Scots Fowk; gd, Albannaich) are an ethnic group and nation native to Scotland. Historically, they emerged in the early Middle Ages from an amalgamation of two Celtic-speaking peoples, the Picts and Gaels, who founded ...
'' journalist likened the song to a
dirge A dirge ( la, dirige, naenia) is a somber song or lament expressing mourning or grief, such as would be appropriate for performance at a funeral. Often taking the form of a brief hymn, dirges are typically shorter and less meditative than elegi ...
, and unfavourably compared it to the Arthur Baker (Zupervarian) remix ; Moore attributed the single's success to the Baker (Zupervarian) remix and its Levi's advert exposure.
Steven Wells Steven Wells (10 May 1960 – 24 June 2009) was a British journalist, author, comedian and punk poet born in Swindon, Wiltshire. He was best known for ranting poetry and his provocative, unapologetic music journalism. In June 2006, he wrote in t ...
of ''
NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...
'' recalled: "Millions of pop kids rushed down Woolies and bought the single – only to get it home to discover to their horror that it was 'good' (like in the advert) for about ten seconds, and then became rubbish. Very rubbish." Colleague Sarah Anderson wrote: "There can be few more crushing letdowns in pop than the full single mix of 'Spaceman'." Singer
Katie Melua Ketevan Katie Melua (; ka, ქეთევან "ქეთი" მელუა, ; born 16 September 1984) is a Georgian and British singer and songwriter. She was born in Kutaisi and raised in Belfast and London. Under the management of com ...
, who has performed the song live occasionally, has called it "ridiculously catchy" with "bloody weird" lyrics.
MTV UK MTV is a British pay television channel focusing on reality TV and music programming operated by Paramount Networks UK & Australia. The channel launched as part of MTV Networks Europe localisation strategy in 1997. MTV UK (previously MTV UK & ...
ranked "Spaceman" as the number-24 single of the 1990s. "Spaceman" was voted number 31 in a 2006
Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...
poll of the 50 best songs by one-hit wonders.


Commercial performance

The single charted at number one on the
UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
, registering first-week sales of 383,000. It became the fastest-selling debut single in British pop music history, and the best-selling single in the United Kingdom in over thirty years, since
The Beatles The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developmen ...
' "
Can't Buy Me Love "Can't Buy Me Love" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles that was released in March 1964 as the A-side of their sixth single. It was written by Paul McCartney and credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership. The song was included ...
". "Spaceman" became a number one chart hit in 23 countries. As of June 2013, "Spaceman" was the 79th best-selling single in the history of the United Kingdom, selling 1.15 million copies.


Track listings

UK CD1 # "Spaceman" – 4:41 # "Metal Vision" – 3:48 # "Blue Nude" – 2:09 # "Spaceman" (album version) – 5:42 UK CD2 # "Spaceman" (album version) – 5:42 # "Spaceman" (Electronic Information) – 7:43 # "Spaceman" (Arthur Meets the Spaceman) – 5:56 # "Spaceman" (E Before I) – 6:37 # "Spaceman" (Morbid Television Control) – 4:40 UK 12-inch single :A1. "Spaceman" (radio edit) – 4:08 :A2. "Spaceman the 5th (Dimension)" – 5:09 :B1. "Spaceman" (Arthur Meets the Spaceman) – 5:56 :B2. "Spaceman" (E Before I) – 6:37 UK cassette single :A1. "Spaceman" (radio edit) – 4:08 :A2. "Blue Nude" – 2:09 :B1. "Metal Vision" – 3:48 :B2. "Spaceman the 5th (Dimension)" – 5:09 US and Australian CD single # "Spaceman" (radio edit) – 4:08 # "Metal Vision" – 3:48 # "Blue Nude" – 2:09 # "Spaceman the 5th (Dimension)" – 5:09 US cassette single # "Spaceman" (radio edit) – 4:08 # "Blue Nude" – 2:09


Charts


Weekly charts


Year-end charts


Certifications


Release history


Notable cover versions

*
Katie Melua Ketevan Katie Melua (; ka, ქეთევან "ქეთი" მელუა, ; born 16 September 1984) is a Georgian and British singer and songwriter. She was born in Kutaisi and raised in Belfast and London. Under the management of com ...
has performed an acoustic version of this song live.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spaceman (Song) 1995 debut singles 1995 songs 1996 singles Babylon Zoo songs EMI Records singles European Hot 100 Singles number-one singles Irish Singles Chart number-one singles Number-one singles in Austria Number-one singles in Denmark Number-one singles in Finland Number-one singles in Germany Number-one singles in Norway Number-one singles in Scotland Number-one singles in Sweden Songs about outer space SNEP Top Singles number-one singles Song recordings produced by Steve Power UK Singles Chart number-one singles Ultratop 50 Singles (Flanders) number-one singles Ultratop 50 Singles (Wallonia) number-one singles