Spaceman (Babylon Zoo song)
| "Spaceman" | |
|---|---|
| Song | |
| B-side | "Blue Nude" "Metal Vision" "5th Dimension Remix" "E Before I Remix" |
"Spaceman" is a song by Wolverhampton singer-songwriter Jas Mann, of Babylon Zoo. Known for its heavily distorted guitars and metallic, robotic sounding vocals, it went straight to Number 1 on the UK singles chart on January 21, 1996, selling 418,000 copies in the first week of release. At the time it was the fastest selling single by a debut artist in the UK.
Song history
Promotional copies of "Spaceman" had been distributed, and the Arthur Baker remix was chosen to tie in with the release on 1 December 1995 of a new Levi's jeans TV advert titled "Planet" which was directed by Vaughan Arnell and Anthea Benton. The advertisement concentrated on the speed-up vocal section at the beginning and end of the song, which was the product of an Arthur Baker remix. The single went straight to Number 1 on the UK singles chart on 21 January 1996, selling 418,000 copies in the first week of release, at the time being the fastest selling single by a debut artist in the UK. The single remained at number 1 in the UK for 5 weeks, selling 893,000 copies in this period. The single also went to Number 1 in the single charts in twenty three countries.
On the promotional version of "Spaceman" there are extra lyrics at the start of the song, with Jas saying "I killed your mother, I killed your sister" and then later "I killed you all". These lyrics were later taken out of the song and replaced with the Arthur Baker introduction; although, the "I killed you all" lyric is still buried in the song (it can be heard after the first chorus). There was a lower budget video made for this version.
Technically, Babylon Zoo were not the one-hit wonders they are believed to be. The follow-up to "Spaceman", "Animal Army", made it into the U.K. Top 20, and the band made an appearance on Top of the Pops to perform it, whilst the title track of the band's album The Boy with the X-Ray Eyes was also a Top 40 hit. But Jas actually views the band as a one hit wonder in spite of this[citation needed].
Tracklisting
Version 1
- Spaceman (Radio Edit)
- Spaceman (The 5th Dimension)
- Spaceman (Arthur Meets The Spaceman)
- Spaceman (E Before I)
Version 2
- Spaceman (Radio Edit)
- Metal Vision
- Blue Nude
- Spaceman (E Before I)
Covers
- Katie Melua has performed an acoustic version of this song live.
- Metal band Kovenant covered this song in their album Animatronic.