"Rockit" is a composition recorded by American jazz pianist
Herbie Hancock
Herbert Jeffrey Hancock (born April 12, 1940) is an American jazz musician, bandleader, and composer. He started his career with trumpeter Donald Byrd's group. Hancock soon joined the Miles Davis Quintet, where he helped to redefine the role of ...
and produced by
Bill Laswell
William Otis Laswell (born February 12, 1955) is an American bass guitarist, record producer, and record label owner. He has been involved in thousands of recordings with many collaborators from all over the world. His music draws from funk, wo ...
and
Michael Beinhorn. Hancock released it as a
single from his twenty-ninth album, ''
Future Shock
''Future Shock'' is a 1970 book by American futurist Alvin Toffler, written together with his wife Adelaide Farrell, in which the authors define the term "future shock" as a certain psychological state of individuals and entire societies, and a ...
'' (1983). The selection was composed by Hancock, Laswell, and Beinhorn.
The track was driven by its deejay
scratch style, performed primarily by
DXT, and its music video created by
Godley & Creme, featuring the robotic art of
Jim Whiting, which was put in high rotation on
MTV
MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...
. "Rockit" won a
Grammy Award for Best R&B Instrumental Performance in 1983, and it won five
MTV Video Music Awards in 1984. In 2022 and 2025, ''
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 ...
'' and ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
'' magazine included the song in their lists of the best dance songs of all time.
Recording
"Rockit" was constructed and composed during the recording process, first at BC Studio in
Gowanus, Brooklyn, with additional overdubs at RPM Studios in
Manhattan
Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...
, then Hancock's home studio in
West Hollywood, and finally at
Eldorado studio in Hollywood, Los Angeles. The production duo of
Material
A material is a matter, substance or mixture of substances that constitutes an Physical object, object. Materials can be pure or impure, living or non-living matter. Materials can be classified on the basis of their physical property, physical ...
(bassist Bill Laswell and synth player
Michael Beinhorn) were based at
Martin Bisi's BC Studio, recording experimental,
no wave and underground club music. Hancock's 25-year-old manager, Tony Meilandt, approached Laswell to write a new track for Hancock, whose career needed a boost. To gauge this potential new direction for his career, Hancock accompanied Laswell to hear a set of popular club DJs including
Afrika Bambaataa and
D.ST spin at
Roxy NYC in front of an enthusiastic crowd. Warily eyeing the crowd, which to him looked like a riot, Hancock needed more convincing by Meilandt before he contracted with Laswell's team to deliver two tracks. Meilandt later said "Herbie was very much ready" to try a new kind of sound.
At BC Studios, Beinhorn used a new
Oberheim DMX drum machine to lay down a basic beat, and Laswell brought in
Daniel Ponce to augment this with Afro-Cuban
batá drums. Ponce played the three drums one at a time during three recording passes, to make it sound like three drummers invoking a
Santería
Santería (), also known as Regla de Ocha, Regla Lucumí, or Lucumí, is an African diaspora religions, Afro-Caribbean religion that developed in Cuba during the late 19th century. It arose amid a process of syncretism between the traditional ...
spirit.
Grand Mixer D.ST came to the studio with two deejay friends from his group Infinity Rappers to
scratch for the track, bringing his own vinyl which included "
Change the Beat" by
Fab Five Freddy
Fred Brathwaite (born August 31, 1959), more popularly known as Fab 5 Freddy, is an American visual artist, filmmaker, and hip hop pioneer. He is considered one of the architects of the street art movement. Freddy emerged in New York's downtown ...
, (which had been recorded in the same studio). D.ST found an interesting portion of the 12-inch vinyl near the end– the voice of manager Roger Trilling saying "Ahhh! This stuff is really fresh" through the studio's
vocoder
A vocoder (, a portmanteau of ''vo''ice and en''coder'') is a category of speech coding that analyzes and synthesizes the human voice signal for audio data compression, multiplexing, voice encryption or voice transformation.
The vocoder wa ...
– and he scratched through that section. Trilling had been playing with the vocoder in the studio, mocking
Elektra Records
Elektra Records (or Elektra Entertainment) is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, founded in 1950 by Jac Holzman and Paul Rickolt. It played an important role in the development of contemporary folk and rock music between the ...
executive
Bruce Lundvall who was in the habit of sitting back in his chair and declaring a song "fresh" if he liked it, without knowing that the word ''fresh'' was current in hip-hop subculture. This moment was captured on tape, and Laswell worked it into the conclusion of "Change the Beat".
The 2-inch 16-track master tape containing rhythm parts and scratching needed to be transferred to 24-track 2-inch in order for Hancock to work with it at his home studio. Laswell and Bisi took the tape to RPM Studios in
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village, or simply the Village, is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street (Manhattan), 14th Street to the north, Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the s ...
, but instead of simply transferring the format, they added some extra sounds, especially a
stab of guitar taken from a
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock music, rock band formed in London in 1968. The band comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist-keyboardist John Paul Jones (musician), John Paul Jones and drummer John Bonham. With a he ...
song on the album ''
Coda''. Using the repeat hold function of a
Lexicon
A lexicon (plural: lexicons, rarely lexica) is the vocabulary of a language or branch of knowledge (such as nautical or medical). In linguistics, a lexicon is a language's inventory of lexemes. The word ''lexicon'' derives from Greek word () ...
Prime Time digital delay, they attempted to capture a Led Zeppelin snare drum sound, but a moment of inattention resulted in the guitar stab, which Laswell found better suited his purpose.
Hancock first heard the work-in-progress in West Hollywood at his home studio, a former guest house in back of his main residence. Hancock determined that the track needed a melody line. Hancock, Laswell and Beinhorn composed one on the spot by humming out loud to each other. Then Hancock recorded his ideas on three different synthesizers, performing on them one at a time. When Hancock suggested performing some vocoder
vocal scat, Laswell and Beinhorn said they could instead
sample lyrics from a hit song, specifically the line "Rock it, don't stop it" from "
Planet Rock", which was at that time a hit for Afrika Bambaataa and the Soul Sonic Force. This lyric sample produced the title "Rockit".
A final recording session was convened at Eldorado Studios located at
Hollywood and Vine, Hollywood, Los Angeles. To round out the
turntablist sounds, D.ST flew out from New York along with his colleague
Grandmaster Caz. Session engineer
Dave Jerden remarked to Beinhorn that Hancock appeared hopeful about the track, but that he did not realize what he had. After the brief 90-minute session, the New York contingent went to a local stereo shop to pass the time before their flight home. Carrying a cassette tape of the final mix, they listened to "Rockit" on some loudspeakers at the shop, attracting the attention of children from the neighborhood who were amazed and curious. Judging their reaction, Laswell told D.ST, "That's a hit record."
Personnel
*
Herbie Hancock
Herbert Jeffrey Hancock (born April 12, 1940) is an American jazz musician, bandleader, and composer. He started his career with trumpeter Donald Byrd's group. Hancock soon joined the Miles Davis Quintet, where he helped to redefine the role of ...
– synthesizers, composition
*
Bill Laswell
William Otis Laswell (born February 12, 1955) is an American bass guitarist, record producer, and record label owner. He has been involved in thousands of recordings with many collaborators from all over the world. His music draws from funk, wo ...
– samples, production, composition
*
Michael Beinhorn –
Oberheim DMX synth drums,
Minimoog
The Minimoog is an analog synthesizer first manufactured by Moog Music between 1970 and 1981. Designed as a more affordable, portable version of the modular Moog synthesizer, it was the first synthesizer sold in retail stores. It was first popul ...
percussion, processed vocal, additional electronics, composition
*
Daniel Ponce –
batá drums
*
D.ST – main turntables
*Mr. C of the Infinity Rappers – additional turntables
*Boo-Ski of the Infinity Rappers – additional turntables
*
Martin Bisi – engineering at BC Studio and RPM Studios
*
Grandmaster Caz – additional turntables
*
Dave Jerden – engineering, mix at Eldorado Studios
Music video
The music video for "Rockit", directed by the duo of
Kevin Godley and Lol Creme, featured robot-like movable sculptures (by
Jim Whiting) dancing, spinning, and even walking in time to the music in a "virtual house" in
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
,
England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
. The video garnered five
MTV Video Music Awards in 1984, including Best Concept Video and Best Special Effects. Hancock himself appears, and plays keyboard, only as an image on a
television
Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...
receiver, which is smashed on the pavement outside the front door of the house at the end of the video. The video also won two ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
'' Video Music Awards, one for most innovative video, and another for best art direction.
Performances
"Rockit" was performed at the
1985 Grammy Awards Ceremony in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
,
California
California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
, in a
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 ...
jam with contemporaries
Howard Jones,
Thomas Dolby
Thomas Morgan Robertson (born 14 October 1958), known by the stage name Thomas Dolby, is an English musician, producer, composer, entrepreneur and teacher.
Dolby came to prominence in the 1980s, releasing hit singles including "She Blinded Me ...
, and
Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris (; Judkins; born May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American and Ghanaian singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer. He is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th c ...
.
Legacy
In July 2022, ''
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 ...
'' ranked "Rockit" number 131 in their list of the "200 Greatest Dance Songs of All Time".
In March 2025, ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
'' magazine ranked it number 39 in their list of "The 100 Best Dance Songs of All Time".
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
See also
*
List of number-one dance singles of 1983 (U.S.)
References
External links
*
*
{{Authority control
1983 singles
1983 songs
1980s instrumentals
Herbie Hancock songs
Music videos directed by Godley and Creme
Songs written by Herbie Hancock
Electro songs
Columbia Records singles
Song recordings produced by Bill Laswell
Song recordings produced by Michael Beinhorn
American funk songs