ROckWrok
| "ROckWrok" | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Ultravox! | ||||||||||
| from the album Ha!-Ha!-Ha! | ||||||||||
| A-side | "ROckWrok" | |||||||||
| B-side | "Hiroshima Mon Amour" (alternate version) | |||||||||
| Released | 7 October 1977 | |||||||||
| Format | 7" single | |||||||||
| Recorded | 1977 | |||||||||
| Genre | Post-punk | |||||||||
| Length | 3:33 | |||||||||
| Label | Island | |||||||||
| Writer(s) | John Foxx | |||||||||
| Producer(s) | Ultravox! | |||||||||
| Ultravox! singles chronology | ||||||||||
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"ROckWrok" is a single by the post-punk band Ultravox!, released on 7 October 1977 by Island Records.[1] 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 as guitarist. The next non-free single was Frozen Ones, released only in Germany shortly afterwards.[2]
"ROckWrok" features a punk sound derived from Warren Cann's drums and Stevie Shears' guitar alongside John Foxx's hard vocals. It was regularly performed live until Ultravox's U.S. and Canadian tour in 1979,[3] when John Foxx decided to go solo.
The B-side is an early version or demo,[4] 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 next year, with Robin Simon 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
- John Foxx: vocals
- Chris Cross: bass, vocals
- Stevie Shears: guitar
- Warren Cann: drums, vocals
- Billy Currie: keyboards, synthesizer, violin
References
- ↑ metamatic.com - Discography: Singles - ROckwrok
- ↑ ULTRAVOX ROCKWROK singles
- ↑ ULTRAVOX - THE STORY Pt 4, WARREN CANN INTERVIEWED BY JONAS WÅRSTAD: Feb 1979 - First US tour starts
- ↑ ULTRAVOX - THE STORY Pt 2, WARREN CANN INTERVIEWED BY JONAS WÅRSTAD: 14 Oct 1977 - Third single 'ROckwrok/Hiroshima mon amour (early version)'
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