"Go Robot" is the second single from '' The Getaway'', an album by American rock 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 ...

. The band's label had originally wanted "Go Robot" to be the album's first single, though they ended up going with " Dark Necessities", which became another chart-topping hit for the band. The music video for the song was released on September 8, 2016.

Music video

A music video directed by Tota Lee was confirmed by

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 ...

to be in production on July 26, 2016. Various teaser clips for the video were released starting on August 29, 2016, with the video being released through the band's

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page on September 8, 2016. The video is heavily inspired by the movie ''

Saturday Night Fever ''Saturday Night Fever'' is a 1977 American Dance in film, dance Drama (film and television), drama film directed by John Badham and produced by Robert Stigwood. It stars John Travolta as Tony Manero, a young Italian Americans, Italian-America ...

'', and was shot along 86th Street in the Italian-American neighborhood of

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. The band plays various characters imitating the opening scenes of the film.

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 ...

, who portrays the robot (and imitating

John Travolta John Joseph Travolta (born February 18, 1954) is an American actor. He began acting in television before transitioning into a leading man in films. List of awards and nominations received by John Travolta, His accolades include a Primetime Em ...

's character), wears nothing but white paint, a bowler hat and a large codpiece. The band ends up at a disco dance contest where Kiedis in robot form interacts with a female robot played by Stephanie Crousillat. Each band member is credited under different names. Kiedis is credited as Cole Dammett, his actual screen name for movies when he was a child, Flea is credited as Michael Peter, his real first and middle names, Chad Smith is credited as Chadwick Gaylord, which are also his first and middle names, and

Josh Klinghoffer Josh Adam Klinghoffer (born October 3, 1979) is an American musician best known for being the guitarist for the rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers from 2009 to 2019, with whom he recorded two studio albums, '' I'm with You'' (2011) and '' The Geta ...

is credited as J.K. Dashwood. Director Tota Lee is credited in the video as Thoranna Sigurdardottir.

Record Store Day exclusive

On April 22, 2017 to celebrate

Record Store Day Record Store Day is a semi-annual event established in 2008 to "celebrate the culture of the independently owned record store". Held on one Saturday (typically the third) every April and every Black Friday in November, the day brings together f ...

, the band released an exclusive 12" version of "Go Robot" / "Dreams of a Samurai" picture disc that is limited to 4,750 copies. Both songs were recorded live during The Getaway World Tour. Each 12" contains a spelling error for "Dreams of a Samurai" with Samurai spelled Sumurai. Warner Bros. offered a corrected version of the 12" to fans that bought the original with the spelling error.

Live performances

"Go Robot" was performed at almost every show on the band's The Getaway World Tour. Though Flea was initially forced to combine both bass parts himself, later dates would feature the song performed live with two basses like the studio track, with the band's assistant tour manager Samuel Bañuelos III providing the slap bass for the song. A live version recorded in 2016 at

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studios in

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, can be found on the EP '' Live in Paris''.

Personnel

Red Hot Chili Peppers *

– lead vocals *

– guitar *

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 ...

– bass guitars *

– drums Additional musicians * Brian "Danger Mouse" Burton –

synthesizer A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...

s * Mauro Refosco – percussion

Charts

Having peaked at number 12 on the

Alternative Songs Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks between 1988 and 2009, and Alternative Songs between 2009 and 2020) is a music chart published in the American magazine ''Billboard'' since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-play ...

chart, "Go Robot" became the band's first single to miss the top 10 since " Dosed" peaked at number 13 in 2003.

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{Authority control 2016 singles 2016 songs Red Hot Chili Peppers songs

Danger Mouse Danger Mouse is a British action cartoon which has had two incarnations: * ''Danger Mouse'' (1981 TV series), a 1981 British animated television series * ''Danger Mouse'' (2015 TV series), a 2015 reboot of the British animated television series ...

Warner Records singles Songs about robots Songs written by Anthony Kiedis Songs written by Flea (musician) Songs written by Chad Smith Songs written by Josh Klinghoffer