"ROckWrok" is a single by the

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and non-r ...

band

Ultravox! Ultravox (earlier styled as Ultravox!) were a British new wave band, formed in London in April 1974 as Tiger Lily. Between 1980 and 1986, they scored seven Top Ten albums and seventeen Top 40 singles in the UK, the most successful of which was ...

, released on 7 October 1977 by

Island Records Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in 1959 by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in Jamaica, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, an ...

. It was the last British non-free single (the next, " Quirks", came free along initial copies of the album) released from the '' Ha! Ha! Ha!'' album and featuring

Stevie Shears Stevie Shears (born 1954/1955) is an English musician known for playing in the rock bands Tiger Lily and Ultravox! (later Ultravox), as well as being part of the bands Faith Global and Cowboys International. Biography Tiger Lily and Ultravox! ...

as guitarist. The next non-free single was '' Frozen Ones'', released only in Germany shortly afterwards. "ROckWrok" features a punk sound derived from Warren Cann's drums and Stevie Shears' guitar alongside

John Foxx John Foxx (born Dennis Leigh; 26 September 1948) is an English singer, musician, artist, photographer, graphic designer, writer, teacher and lecturer. He was the original lead singer of the new wave band Ultravox, before leaving to embark on a ...

's hard vocals. It was regularly performed live until Ultravox's U.S. and Canadian tour in 1979, when Foxx decided to go solo. The song was performed live by

Massive Attack Massive Attack are an English trip hop collective formed in 1988 in Bristol by Robert "3D" Del Naja, Adrian "Tricky" Thaws, Andrew "Mushroom" Vowles and Grant "Daddy G" Marshall. The debut Massive Attack album '' Blue Lines'' was rele ...

on their 2019 tour. They had previously sampled "ROckWrok" for their 1998 song ''

Inertia Creeps "Inertia Creeps" is a song by English electronic music band Massive Attack, released on 19 October 1998. It was the fourth and final single released off their third album, ''Mezzanine'' (1998). It is the least commercially successful of the four ...

''. The B-side is an early version or demo,ULTRAVOX - THE STORY Pt 2, WARREN CANN INTERVIEWED BY JONAS WÅRSTAD: 14 Oct 1977 - Third single 'ROckwrok/Hiroshima mon amour (early version)'
/ref> or alternate version of "Hiroshima Mon Amour" (named after the famous French movie), written by John Foxx and Billy Currie. It has a punkier sound than the album version of the song. A third version of the song was performed live on the

Old Grey Whistle Test ''The Old Grey Whistle Test'' (sometimes abbreviated to ''Whistle Test'' or ''OGWT'') is a British television music show. The show was devised by BBC producer Rowan Ayers, commissioned by David Attenborough and aired on BBC2 from 1971 to 1988. ...

the next year, with

Robin Simon Robin Simon (born 12 July 1956) is a British guitarist who was a member of Ultravox, Magazine and Visage. Biography Early career Robin Simon played guitar in a number of local Halifax based bands in the early to mid-1970s. The bands include ...

replacing Shears as guitarist; it was quieter than the "ROckWrok" single version but maintained the rock style, also differing from the synthpop oriented version on ''Ha!-Ha!-Ha!''. This single, like all the ''Ha!-Ha!-Ha!''-era releases, didn't perform well in the charts.

Track listing

7" version

# "ROckWrok" – 3:33 # "Hiroshima Mon Amour" – 4:54

Personnel

: vocals *

Chris Cross Chris Cross (born Christopher Thomas Allen, 14 July 1952, Tottenham, London) is an English musician, best known as the bass guitarist in the new wave band Ultravox. Biography Early years Cross went to Belmont Secondary Modern School, ...

: bass, vocals *

: guitar *

Warren Cann Warren Reginald Cann (born 20 May 1950 in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada) is a Canadian drummer, drum machine programmer and songwriter, best known as a founding member of the British new wave band Ultravox, for which he was one of the ma ...

: drums, vocals *

Billy Currie William Lee Currie (born 1 April 1950Ultravox.org.uk
) is a ...

: keyboards, synthesizer, violin

References

1977 singles Ultravox songs Songs written by John Foxx 1977 songs Island Records singles {{1970s-single-stub