Rock DJ (single)

"Rock DJ" is a song by English singer and songwriter Robbie Williams, featured on his third studio album, ''Sing When You're Winning'' (2000). The song was released on 31 July 2000 as the lead single from the album. It samples Barry White's song " It's Ecstasy When You Lay Down Next to Me", "Can I Kick It?" by A Tribe Called Quest and has a quote from "La Di Da Di" by Slick Rick and Doug E. Fresh. In his 2023 Netflix series, Williams jokingly stated that he was trying to write "Karma Police" and ended up writing "Karma Chameleon".

"Rock DJ" reached number one in Costa Rica, Estonia, Iceland, Ireland, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom whilst reaching the top 10 in 16 other countries. It was the fourth-best-selling song of 2000 in the UK. In the United States, it peaked at number 24 on the ''Billboard'' Dance Club Play chart. The music video features Williams trying to impress a female DJ by stripping naked and eventually resorting to removing his skin and muscles, ending up as a skeleton. The song won British Single of the Year, and the video won British Video of the Year at the 2001 Brit Awards.

Chart performance

The song became Robbie Williams' third number-one solo single in the United Kingdom, going on to sell over 1.2 million copies and being certified 2× platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). The song also became a hit around Europe, charting inside the top 10 in several countries and becoming his first number-one single in New Zealand. The song also became a top-five hit in Australia, where it went on to sell over 70,000 copies, being certified platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). In the United States, the track reached number 24 on the ''Billboard'' Dance Club Play chart. "Rock DJ" was named the Best Song of 2000 at the MTV Europe Music Awards and Best Single and Best Video at the Brit Awards 2001.

Music videos

The accompanying music video for "Rock DJ" was directed by Vaughan Arnell. It was released on 6 July 2000. It begins with Williams dancing on a roller disco with women skating around him. He wants to get the attention of the female DJ (played by Lauren Gold) standing above the stage, so he begins taking off his clothes. She ignores him at first, but after she finally notices he is completely naked, he proceeds with stripping off his skin, muscles and organs, until the only thing left of him are his bones, which is performed by special effects. In the end, the DJ dances with his skeleton. The video ends with the note, "No Robbies were Harmed During the Making of this Video", a jocular take on the "No animals were harmed" note. The skinless Robbie also appears on the single's cover art, as well as on the cover of the DVD release of '' In and Out of Consciousness: Greatest Hits 1990–2010'' in 2010.

The video's ending (beginning with Williams taking off his skin) was cut by most music channels around Europe, including VIVA, MCM, The Box and VH1 Europe. However, in the recent years, some of the music channels in Europe (including MTV Classic and VH1 Europe) airs the "studio recording" version of the music video, even on late night, which made the edited version of the music video fall into obscurity. Examples of TV stations that still play the full video are Bulgarian channel MM, former German located channel B.TV (often in daytime) and Canadian channel MusiquePlus, some channels ran the edited video during the day and the unedited one overnight, while The Hits played a version which cut from Williams dancing in his underwear to dancing as a skeleton, filling the gap by repeating previous footage. This is the version that is currently played on channels owned by The Box Plus Network. In 2001, "Rock DJ" won the MTV Video Music Award for Best Special Effects. In 2006, it was voted by viewers as the seventh Most Groundbreaking Video Ever on MTV and in 2007 it was ranked at number 48 on MuchMusic's 50 Most Controversial Videos. The video was banned in Dominican Republic due to allegations of Satanism.

The video has been shown numerous times on Fuse's ''Pants-Off Dance-Off'', despite its gory content. Toward the end of the dancer's dancing/stripping to it when the video is shown in the background like any other, they only show Williams, briefly, ripping and throwing his skin, and dancing in muscle form before cutting to the hostess of the show. The video appears as an instance of the re-use of the motif of "dancing with the dead" in a book about medieval images of death and dying in art and literature.

A second video shows Williams in a studio while recording the song.

Track listings

UK CD and cassette single, Australian CD single
# "Rock DJ" – 4:15
# "Talk to Me" – 3:28
# "Rock DJ" (Player One remix) – 5:34

UK DVD single
# "Rock DJ" (full length video)
# "Rock DJ" (a short documentary feature)

European CD single
# "Rock DJ" – 4:15
# "Talk to Me" – 3:28

European maxi-CD single
# "Rock DJ" – 4:15
# "Talk to Me" – 3:28
# "Rock DJ" (Player One remix) – 5:34
# "Rock DJ" (video)

Credits and personnel

Credits are taken from the ''Sing When You're Winning'' album booklet.

Studios
* Recorded at Master Rock Studios (North London, England) and Sarm Hook End (Reading, England)
* Mixed at Battery Studios (London, England)
* Mastered at Metropolis Mastering (London, England)

Personnel

* Robbie Williams – writing, lead vocals
* Guy Chambers – writing, all keyboards, production, arrangement
* Kelvin Andrews – writing
* Nelson Pigford – writing
* Ekundayo Paris – writing
* Andy Caine – backing vocals
* Derek Green – backing vocals
* Katie Kissoon – backing vocals
* Sylvia Mason-James – backing vocals
* Tessa Niles – backing vocals
* Paul "Tubbs" Williams – backing vocals
* Steve Power – vocoder, production, mixing
* Neil Taylor – electric guitar
* Winston Blissett – bass guitar
* Andy Duncan – drum programming
* Dave Bishop – brass
* Neil Sidwell – brass
* Steve Sidwell – brass
* The London Session Orchestra – orchestra
* Gavyn Wright – concertmaster
* Nick Ingman – orchestration
* Isobel Griffiths – orchestral contractor
* Steve Price – orchestral engineering
* Richard Flack – Pro Tools
* Tony Cousins – mastering

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Decade-end charts

Certifications

Release history

Notes

References

External links

*

{{Authority control

2000 songs
2000 singles
Brit Award for British Single
Capitol Records singles
Chrysalis Records singles
Irish Singles Chart number-one singles
Music video controversies
Music videos directed by Vaughan Arnell
Body horror
Number-one singles in Iceland
Number-one singles in New Zealand
Number-one singles in Scotland
Robbie Williams songs
Song recordings produced by Guy Chambers
Song recordings produced by Steve Power
Songs written by Guy Chambers
UK singles chart number-one singles