"Rubber Lover" is a song written by the Scottish

experimental rock Experimental rock, also called avant-rock, is a subgenre of rock music that pushes the boundaries of common composition and performance technique or which experiments with the basic elements of the genre. Artists aim to liberate and innovate, wit ...

group

Marmaduke Duke Marmaduke Duke are a Scottish conceptual rock duo from Ayrshire, Scotland, comprising Simon Neil of Biffy Clyro and JP Reid of Sucioperro. Within the band, the pair perform under the pseudonyms The Atmosphere and The Dragon respectively. Accor ...

. It is included on their second album '

Duke Pandemonium ''Duke Pandemonium'' is the second studio album by Scottish conceptual rock duo Marmaduke Duke, released on 11 May 2009 on 14th Floor Records. Band member JP Reid describes the album as "superfunky, supertight, superunique." According to Simon ...

and was released as a single on 17 April 2009. It charted at a peak position of #12 in the UK singles charts following considerable

airplay Airplay is how frequently a song is being played through broadcasting on radio stations. A song which is being played several times every day (spins) would have a significant amount of airplay. Music which became very popular on jukeboxes, in n ...

radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based rad ...

s such as

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and Contemporary hit radio, current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including ...

. The band have described the song as a "dirty pop-ode to a rubber doll". The song features a sample from Billy Joel's song " Sleeping with the Television On".

Music video

The video is set after the "Kid Gloves" video, in a room with many girls dancing in bikinis. The Duke is playing blackjack against a pig creature, with the Crow who emerged in the previous video watching while sitting next to the Duke. The pig reveals that he has two sixes with one card still face down. The Duke flips one of his two cards over to reveal a queen of hearts. The video then zooms into the heart enters a psychedelic phrase showing the relationship between the Duke and the Crow. It returns to the card game as two girls stand on the pigs side of the table, joined by two more who sit with the Duke. The pig flips over his last card to reveal another six, scoring 18 in the game. The Duke flips over his final card to reveal the Ace of Hearts, beating him. The video again zooms into the heart, entering another strange sequence focusing on the Crow. When it returns, the two girls steal the Duke's watchstop and slip away. The Duke finds the room to be empty, with a pig mask on the table. He overturns it angrily and finds that the man who had been wearing the mask has the Crow captive.

Critical reception

Digital Spy Digital Spy (DS) is a British-based entertainment, television and film website and brand and is the largest digital property at Hearst UK. Since its initial launch in 1999, Digital Spy has focused on entertainment news related to television pro ...

's Nick Levine wrote that the song is "an early contender for most unlikely hit of the year" and went on to write, "it's compact, cheeky and perfectly formed". He also said "'Rubber Lover' has already become a bit of a radio favourite, mainly because it's very catchy indeed".

Live performances

Marmaduke Duke performed the song in Radio 1's Live Lounge - Volume 4 on 23 April 2009.

Charts

The song charted at #12 in the UK Singles Chart on its first week of release before falling to #17 the following week.

References

2009 singles Marmaduke Duke songs 2009 songs 14th Floor Records singles Songs written by Billy Joel {{2000s-rock-song-stub