"Heads Will Roll" is a song by American
indie rock
Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term was originally used to describe rock music released through independent reco ...
band
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Yeah Yeah Yeahs are an American indie rock band formed in New York City in 2000. The group is composed of vocalist and pianist Karen O (born Karen Lee Orzolek), guitarist and keyboardist Nick Zinner, and drummer Brian Chase. They are compleme ...
, released as the second single from their third studio album, ''
It's Blitz!
''It's Blitz!'' is the third studio album by American indie rock band Yeah Yeah Yeahs, released on March 6, 2009, by Interscope Records. It was originally set for release on April 13, 2009. However, after being leaked to the Internet on Februar ...
'' (2009). The CD and 7-inch singles were released in the United Kingdom on June 29, 2009.
[Amazon.co.uk - Heads Will Roll (Single)]
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A remix by Canadian DJ A-Trak
Alain Macklovitch (born March 30, 1982), known professionally as A-Trak, is a Canadian DJ, record producer, and record executive. He came to prominence in the late 2000s as an international club DJ and remix artist, known for incorporating highl ...
appeared in the film '' Project X''. The remix was placed at number 124 of ''Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason.
The magazine was first known fo ...
''s list of the 200 Greatest Dance Songs.
Composition
The song is built around a vintage sounding string riff, which was sampled from a 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 ...
sound card: "Roxy SFX 2" from the Mellotron M4000D Sound Card 02.
Music video
The music video for "Heads Will Roll" was directed by Richard Ayoade
Richard Ayoade ( ; born 23 May 1977) is a British comedian, actor, writer, director and presenter. He played the role of socially awkward IT technician Maurice Moss in Channel 4 sitcom ''The IT Crowd'' (2006–2013), for which he won the 2014 Br ...
, and premiered on NME.com on May 26, 2009. It features the band playing in a (presumably) underground venue when a dancing werewolf
In folklore, a werewolf (), or occasionally lycanthrope (from Ancient Greek ), is an individual who can shapeshifting, shapeshift into a wolf, or especially in modern film, a Shapeshifting, therianthropic Hybrid beasts in folklore, hybrid wol ...
whose dancing is reminiscent of Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Michael Jackson, one of the most culturally significan ...
(who died four days before the single was released and 30 days after the music video premiered) appears on stage. A light flashes halfway through the music video and the werewolf transforms. He then proceeds to chase after the audience and kills most of them. The video then ends with the band having been murdered while Karen O
Karen Lee Orzolek (born November 22, 1978) is a South Korean-born American singer, musician, and songwriter. She is best known as the lead vocalist of the indie rock band the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
Early life
Karen Lee Orzolek was born in Seoul, So ...
continues singing, her head severed from her body. The music video contains some mockery of horror in general; instead of blood, there is red glitter and confetti and Karen O keeps singing while decapitated. In the UK, there are two different versions of this video, the second replacing the violent conclusion with repeated clips from the previous section of the video, but it shows the confetti falling onto the band.
It was nominated for a MTV Video Music Award for Breakthrough Video.
Track listings
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
Other versions
The song was performed by Scarlett Johansson
Scarlett Ingrid Johansson (; born November 22, 1984) is an American actress and singer. The List of highest-paid film actors, world's highest-paid actress in 2018 and 2019, she has been featured multiple times on the Forbes Celebrity 100, ''F ...
in 2021 for Universal's computer animated feature ''Sing 2
''Sing 2'' is a 2021 American animated jukebox musical comedy film produced by Universal Pictures and Illumination (company), Illumination, and distributed by Universal. The sequel to ''Sing (2016 American film), Sing'' (2016), it was written ...
'' as a porcupine named "Ash".
"Heads Will Roll" was Amber Glenn
Amber Elaine Glenn (born October 28, 1999) is an American figure skater. She is the 2024–25 Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final, 2024–25 Grand Prix Final champion, the 2024 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, 2024 & 2025 U.S. Figure Skating Cha ...
's short program music for the 2023-2024 Figure Skating Season. Glenn won the 2024 U.S. Figure Skating Championships
The 2024 U.S. Figure Skating Championships were held January 22–28, 2024, at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio. Medals were awarded in single skating, men's singles, women's singles, pair skating, and ice dance at the senior and junior lev ...
with this performance.
References
External links
Yeah Yeah Yeahs Leave Heads Rolling On The Road
at Billboard.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Heads Will Roll (Yeah Yeah Yeahs Song)
2009 songs
2009 singles
Yeah Yeah Yeahs songs
Dance-rock songs
American new wave songs
DGC Records singles
Interscope Records singles
Music based on Alice in Wonderland
Song recordings produced by Nick Launay
Songs written by Brian Chase
Songs written by Karen O
Songs written by Nick Zinner
Ultratop 50 Singles (Flanders) number-one singles
Halloween songs
Music videos directed by Richard Ayoade
Songs about werewolves