Rockstar (Nickelback song): Difference between revisions

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The song was re-shipped to radio for ads on [[June 5]], [[2007]], and a video was made to accompany the re-release. Since its re-release, the song has experienced great mainstream success, and has become active on most charts again, reaching new peaks on numerous charts like The Hot 100, the Adult Top 40, and Pop 100. It has also registered on charts it didn't the first time, such as the Pop 100 Airplay. The song climbed as high as #3 on iTunes top 100 selling songs as well as #1 on the chart of the most downloaded music video on iTunes. When iTunes released their Top Sellers of 2007, "Rockstar" was the 14th best selling digital song of 2007, and the "Rockstar" video was the #1 selling music video on iTunes for 2007.
The song was re-shipped to radio for ads on [[June 5]], [[2007]], and a video was made to accompany the re-release. Since its re-release, the song has experienced great mainstream success, and has become active on most charts again, reaching new peaks on numerous charts like The Hot 100, the Adult Top 40, and Pop 100. It has also registered on charts it didn't the first time, such as the Pop 100 Airplay. The song climbed as high as #3 on iTunes top 100 selling songs as well as #1 on the chart of the most downloaded music video on iTunes. When iTunes released their Top Sellers of 2007, "Rockstar" was the 14th best selling digital song of 2007, and the "Rockstar" video was the #1 selling music video on iTunes for 2007.


On [[September 12]], [[2007]], "Rockstar" reached a new peak of #6 on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking higher than "Far Away" did, becoming Nickelback's third Top 10 hit from "All the Right Reasons", their fifth career Hot 100 Top Ten overall. Upon the songs' re-release it also has become the most successful single from ''All the Right Reasons''' and one of the most successful of their career in the [[UK]], where it has so far reached #4, over two years after the release of ''All the Right Reasons'', becoming the band's highest charting single there since their breakout hit "[[How You Remind Me]]" also peaked at #4 in [[2001]]. The single was released in physical form in the UK after it was apparent that the song was going to be a success, having climbed into the top 50 on downloads alone. This song was #100 on ''[[Rolling Stone]]''<nowiki></nowiki>'s list of the 100 Best Songs of 2007, despite the fact that the band has been consistently criticized by the publication.<ref>No byline ([[December 11]], [[2007]]). [http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/17601363/the_100_best_songs_of_2007/25 "The 100 Best Songs of 2007"] ''Rolling Stone''. Retrieved [[2007-12-21]]</ref>
On [[September 12]], [[2007]], "Rockstar" reached a new peak of #6 on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking higher than "Far Away" did, becoming Nickelback's third Top 10 hit from "All the Right Reasons", their fifth career Hot 100 Top Ten overall. Upon the songs' re-release it also has become the most successful single from ''All the Right Reasons''' and one of the most successful of their career in the [[UK]], where it has so far reached #3, over two years after the release of ''All the Right Reasons'', becoming the band's highest charting single there since their breakout hit "[[How You Remind Me]]" also peaked at #4 in [[2001]]. The single was released in physical form in the UK after it was apparent that the song was going to be a success, having climbed into the top 50 on downloads alone. This song was #100 on ''[[Rolling Stone]]''<nowiki></nowiki>'s list of the 100 Best Songs of 2007, despite the fact that the band has been consistently criticized by the publication.<ref>No byline ([[December 11]], [[2007]]). [http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/17601363/the_100_best_songs_of_2007/25 "The 100 Best Songs of 2007"] ''Rolling Stone''. Retrieved [[2007-12-21]]</ref>


==Song meaning==
==Song meaning==

Revision as of 18:41, 27 January 2008

"Rockstar"
Song

"Rockstar" is a song by the Canadian rock band Nickelback from their 2005 fifth studio album All the Right Reasons. It was only released in the U.S. and Canada, and has since been re-released worldwide. Spoken-word vocals between each verse are provided by Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top.

Release and re-release

It was originally released as the fifth single off the album in the U.S., Canada and Germany, around the same time as the fourth U.S. single "Far Away". During the song's original release "Far Away" was more successful on the U.S. Hot 100 and U.S. Pop charts, while "Rockstar" instead found moderate success on the rock charts. It peaked at #4 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, and #37 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart. It entered the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at #54, during its original run. Because the song was released so close together with "Far Away" the band opted to shoot a video for "Far Away" and a video for "Rockstar" was not made originally.

The song was re-shipped to radio for ads on June 5, 2007, and a video was made to accompany the re-release. Since its re-release, the song has experienced great mainstream success, and has become active on most charts again, reaching new peaks on numerous charts like The Hot 100, the Adult Top 40, and Pop 100. It has also registered on charts it didn't the first time, such as the Pop 100 Airplay. The song climbed as high as #3 on iTunes top 100 selling songs as well as #1 on the chart of the most downloaded music video on iTunes. When iTunes released their Top Sellers of 2007, "Rockstar" was the 14th best selling digital song of 2007, and the "Rockstar" video was the #1 selling music video on iTunes for 2007.

On September 12, 2007, "Rockstar" reached a new peak of #6 on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking higher than "Far Away" did, becoming Nickelback's third Top 10 hit from "All the Right Reasons", their fifth career Hot 100 Top Ten overall. Upon the songs' re-release it also has become the most successful single from All the Right Reasons' and one of the most successful of their career in the UK, where it has so far reached #3, over two years after the release of All the Right Reasons, becoming the band's highest charting single there since their breakout hit "How You Remind Me" also peaked at #4 in 2001. The single was released in physical form in the UK after it was apparent that the song was going to be a success, having climbed into the top 50 on downloads alone. This song was #100 on Rolling Stone's list of the 100 Best Songs of 2007, despite the fact that the band has been consistently criticized by the publication.[1]

Song meaning

The song details the stereotype that some people have about the life of a rockstar. The lyrics describe the desires of a person aspiring to fame, an features many beliefs of what fame can bring, such as:

"I want a brand new house/ on an episode of Cribs/ And a bathroom I can play baseball in

... I want a new tour bus full of old guitars/

My own star on Hollywood Boulevard" [2]

Music video

When the song was first released in August 2006, a music video was not made for the single. On 2007-06-07 it was reported on VideoStatic.com that a video was being planned. Dori Oskowitz, who directed the band's "If Everyone Cared" video, returned to direct the music video for the song's re-release.[3] The video would go on to become the top selling music video of 2007 on iTunes.

The video features celebrities and non-celebrities lip synching to the lyrics. The non-celebrities are often filmed in front of iconic landmarks, such as Times Square in New York and Millenium Park in Chicago. Celebrities include Billy Gibbons (who voices his lines in the song), Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Eliza Dushku, Gene Simmons, Wayne Gretzky, Grant Hill, John Rich, the cast of The Girls Next Door, Kid Rock, Lupe Fiasco, Nelly Furtado, the crew from American Chopper, Paul Wall, Ted Nugent, and numerous others. Sometimes the lyric they are lip synching relates to themselves. At the end of the video Nickelback is shown playing live on stage; this shot was filmed 2007-07-13 at the Tweeter Center for the Performing Arts in Mansfield, Massachusetts.[4]

A thread on Yahoo Answers was initiated to list everyone in the separate shots in the video but still missed a number of people and places.[5] Listed here is the most current itinerary of all identified participants so far (which includes many additions from other sources) and the lyric associated with their shot:

  1. Boy at a baseball field "I'm through with standing in line to clubs I'll never get in"
  2. Lindsay Shaw in front of the Cloud Gate "It's like the bottom of the ninth"
  3. Man in front of the Flatiron Building "and I'm never gonna win"
  4. Cindy Taylor on a pool float "This life hasn't turned out"
  5. Old woman on the Millennium Bridge (London) in front of St. Paul's Cathedral "quite the way I want it to be"
  6. Billy Gibbons from ZZ Top "Tell me what you want" (voiceover)
  7. Wayne Gretzky "I want a brand new house"
  8. Three women in Times Square "on an episode of Cribs"
  9. Kendra Wilkinson in front of the Playboy Mansion "And a bathroom I can play baseball in"
  10. New York City policeman "And a king size tub"
  11. Gene Simmons in front of his wall of gold and platinum records "big enough for ten"
  12. Paul Wall in front of a highway "plus me"
  13. Billy Gibbons again "Yeah, so whatcha need" (voiceover)
  14. Park ranger at Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park "I'll need a, a credit card"
  15. Dominique Swain in a bubblebath "that's got no limit"
  16. Three men (one US MP, one East German border guard, and one civilian) at Checkpoint Charlie facing the American Sector "And a big black jet"
  17. Twista and two other rappers riding in a limo "with a bedroom in it"
  18. Man in Grand Central Terminal "Gonna join the mile high club"
  19. Holly Madison in the Playboy Mansion grotto "at thirty-seven thousand feet"
  20. Woman in Los Angeles "Been there, done that" (Billy Gibbons voiceover)
  21. Street musician in Union Square "I want a new tour bus"
  22. Same street musician with performers in Union Square "full of old guitars"
  23. Three girls on the bank of the Chicago River in front of Marina City "My own star on Hollywood Boulevard"
  24. Gene Simmons again "Somewhere between Cher"
  25. Paul Teutul, Sr. of Orange County Choppers "and James Dean is fine for me"
  26. Billy Gibbons again "So how you gonna do it?" (voiceover)
  27. John Rich on a pool table with a banjo "I'm gonna trade this life"
  28. Woman in Union Square "for fortune and fame"
  29. Chuck Lidell "I'll even cut my hair"
  30. Man in a Chinese restaurant "and change my name"
  31. Two Blazin' Saddles employees[6] in front of a General Lee-inspired RV "'Cause we all just wanna be"
  32. Eight kids in front of the Sydney Harbour Bridge "big rockstars"
  33. Wayne Gretzky again "and live in hilltop houses"
  34. Parking valet at Jones Hollywood in West Hollywood "driving fifteen cars"
  35. Man on the bank of the River Thames in front of the Houses of Parliament "The girls come easy and the drugs come cheap"
  36. Jenna Westerbeck sunbathing "We'll all stay skinny"
  37. Kid Rock "cause we just won't eat/And we'll"
  38. Twista again "hang out in the coolest bars"
  39. Jessie Coleman in Grand Central Terminal "In the VIP"
  40. Eliza Dushku "with the movie stars"
  41. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. "Every good gold digger's"
  42. Taryn Manning "Gonna wind up there"
  43. Paul Wall again "Every Playboy bunny"
  44. Two women in the middle of Davie Street "With her bleach blond hair"
  45. Jerry Cantrell under Chicago's El tracks and in front of Double Door "And we'll/Hey hey"
  46. Liam Lynch in Union Square "I wanna be a"
  47. Nelly Furtado on tour bus "rockstar"
  48. Man in front of a highway (same as as Paul Wall above)
  49. Man in Union Square
  50. Two women in Grand Central Terminal "Hey"
  51. Chuck Liddell with Elliot Segal from DC101 in a headlock"hey"
  52. Boy in grocery store "I wanna be a rockstar"
  53. Paul Teutul, Jr., Paul Teutul, Sr., and Mikey from Orange County Choppers
  54. Man in front of Marina City "I wanna be great like Elvis"
  55. Elvis impersonator "without the tassels"
  56. Federico Castelluccio from The Sopranos "Hire eight body guards"
  57. Chuck Liddell again "that love to beat up assholes"
  58. Grant Hill signing basketball "Sign a couple autographs/So I can"
  59. Man in Union Square again "eat my meals for free"
  60. Billy Gibbons again "I'll have the quesadilla" (voiceover)
  61. Paul Wall again "Ha ha" (Bill Gibbons voiceover)
  62. Man and woman in the middle of Davie Street "I'm gonna dress my ass"
  63. Ted Nugent "with the latest fashion"
  64. Man and woman in front of the Cloud Gate "Get a front door key"
  65. Kendra Wilkinson, Holly Madison, and Bridget Marquardt from The Girls Next Door "to the Playboy mansion"
  66. Man in front of the Flatiron Building "Gonna date a centerfold"
  67. Two men in Washington Square Park "that loves to blow my money for me"
  68. Billy Gibbons again "So how you gonna do it" (voiceover)
  69. Paul Teutul, Sr. again "I'm gonna trade this life"
  70. Man and woman in front of the Reichstag building "For fortune and fame"
  71. Jordan Carlos overlooking Los Angeles "I'd even cut my hair"
  72. Man in front of the New York Stock Exchange "And change my name"
  73. Man at a pink bus-stop bench on Davie Street "'Cause we all just wanna be"
  74. Lupe Fiasco on a table "big rockstars"
  75. Woman in front of the Brandenburg Gate "And live in hilltop houses"
  76. Woman in front of the Chicago Theater "driving fifteen cars"
  77. Two women at the beach "The girls come easy"
  78. Taryn Manning again "and the drugs come cheap"
  79. Eliza Dushku again "We'll all stay skinny"
  80. Woman in front of the Sydney Harbour Bridge "'cause we just won't eat"
  81. Three women dancing "And we'll hang out in the coolest bars"
  82. Gene Simmons again "In the VIP"
  83. Dominique Swain again "with the movie stars"
  84. Lupe Fiasco again "Every good gold digger's"
  85. Chuck Liddell again "gonna wind up there"
  86. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. again "Every Playboy bunny"
  87. Two girls in Times Square "with her bleach blond hair"
  88. Man in front of Beverly Hills High School "And we'll hide out in the private rooms"'
  89. Eliza Dushku again "With the latest dictionary"
  90. Federico Castelluccio again "and today's who's who"
  91. Riki Lindhome at the beach "They'll get you anything with that evil smile"
  92. Kid Rock again "Everybody's got a drug dealer on speed dial/Well"
  93. Steel worker "Hey hey I wanna be a rockstar"
  94. John Rich again, smashing guitar
  95. Three women in the middle of Davie Street "I'm gonna sing those songs that offend the censors"
  96. Te'DeVan Rocketman Wacha Kurzweil in Union Square "Gonna pop my pills from a Pez dispenser"
  97. Lupe Fiasco again "Get washed-up singers"
  98. Boy at a mixing board "writing all my songs"
  99. Woman overlooking Los Angeles "Lip sync 'em every night"
  100. Daniel Self at City Market in Raleigh "so I don't get 'em wrong"
  101. Man on street corner in New York City's Chinatown "Well we all just wanna be"
  102. Man in front of Big Acorn in Raleigh "big rockstars"
  103. Eight Blazin' Saddles employees at City Market in Raleigh "And live in hilltop houses"
  104. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. again "driving fifteen cars"
  105. The Naked Cowboy in Times Square "The girls come easy and the drugs come cheap"
  106. Woman at the beach "We'll all stay skinny"
  107. Boy in Times Square "'cause we just won't eat"
  108. Cindy Taylor again "And we'll hang out in the coolest bars"
  109. Woman in front of Buckingham Fountain "In the VIP"
  110. Grant Hill again "with the movie stars"
  111. Jayson Woolley in Union Square "Every good gold digger's"
  112. Ted Nugent again "gonna wind up there"
  113. Holly Madison again "Every Playboy"
  114. Bridget Marquardt in a pink bed "bunny with her bleach"
  115. Kendra Wilkinson again "blond hair/And we'll"
  116. Boy in front of Tower Bridge "hide out in the private rooms"
  117. Nelly Furtado again "With the latest dictionary and today's"
  118. Two women in front of the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge "who's who/They'll get you anything"
  119. Kid Rock again "with that evil smile/Everybody's"
  120. Ted Nugent again "got a drug dealer on speed dial/Well"
  121. John Rich again "hey"
  122. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. again "hey"
  123. Worker in front of Marina City "I wanna be a rockstar"
  124. Wayne Gretzky again, splashing a pool with a hockey stick
  125. Kendra Wilkinson again
  126. Nelly Furtado again "Hey"
  127. Gene Simmons again "hey"
  128. Nickelback fans at Tweeter Center for the Performing Arts concert singing "I wanna be a rockstar" / pan to Chad Kroeger / pan to Mike Kroeger and Ryan Peake

Charts

Chart Peak
position
Canadian BDS Airplay Chart 13
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 6
U.S. Billboard Pop 100 6
U.S. Billboard Pop 100 Airplay 10
U.S. Billboard Modern Rock Tracks 37
U.S. Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks 4
U.S. Billboard Hot Adult Top 40 6
U.S. Billboard Hot Digital Songs 3
U.S. Billboard Hot Ringtones 3
ARC Weekly Top 40 2
Austrian Top 75 5
Brazilian Hot 100 52[7]
Irish Singles Chart 5
UK Singles Chart 3
Dutch Top 40 25
German Singles Top 100 23
Poland Singles Chart 39
Swiss Singles Top 100 38
United World Chart 15
VSpot Top 20 Countdown 1

Pop culture references

The song makes several references to popular culture. For example, the song's narrator wants a house on MTV Cribs (Chad Kroeger, the band's frontman, appeared on an episode of the show). Several Playboy references are made. The song also refers to Hollywood's Walk of Fame, saying that a spot between James Dean and Cher would be "fine for [him]" (Nickelback is on Canada's Walk of Fame[9]). The song also references Chad wanting "a new tour bus full of old guitars," which the band's guitarist owns.[citation needed]

Some people believe the lyrics promote drug use while others contend that they are making fun of it.

Parodies

In early September 2007, James at War released a parody of Nickelback's Rockstar, entitled Popstar. An immediate success on sites such as YouTube and Metacafe, Popstar went on to be played on early morning radio shows across the US, drawing attention to the follies of modern popstars such as Britney Spears, Ashlee Simpson, Jessica Simpson, Lindsay Lohan and the like.

Citations

  1. ^ No byline (December 11, 2007). "The 100 Best Songs of 2007" Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2007-12-21
  2. ^ http://www.songmeanings.net/lyric.php?lid=3530822107858557857
  3. ^ Video Static: Music Video News: June 3, 2007 - June 9, 2007
  4. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYGe8PmUycE
  5. ^ http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070808090347AAdAai7
  6. ^ David Menconi (2007-10-02). Nickelback: Raleigh like a rockstar The News & Observer. Retrieved 2008-01-22
  7. ^ Brazilian Hot 100 Songs & Tracks. Hot100Brasil. Retrieved on October 8 2007.
  8. ^ http://acharts.us/billboard_hot_100/2007/27 Acharts.us
  9. ^ Canada's Walk of Fame: Nickelback

External links


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