Spaceman (song)
Encyclopedia
"Spaceman" is a song by British
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 21 January 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.
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 sped-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.
In 2006 "Spaceman" featured on trailers for Ant and Dec's film Alien Autopsy
, the BBC
's children's channel, CBeebies
for the animated pre-school series Lunar Jim
, and Network Ten
's advertisement for Battlestar Galactica
. "Spaceman" is also used in Eesti otsib superstaari
(Pop Idol Estonia).
CD Promo 1995 EMI (CDEMDJ 416)
7" Single
CD Single 1996 EMI (CDEM 416)
CD Single ('The Only Original Remixes') 1996 EMI (7243 8 82721 2 4)
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
singer-songwriter Jas Mann
Jas Mann
Jasbinder Singh "Jas" Mann is a British song-writer, musician, singer and record producer.-Early life:...
, of Babylon Zoo
Babylon Zoo
Babylon Zoo were a British rock band of the mid-1990s from Wolverhampton, England, fronted by Jas Mann. They were best known for the song "Spaceman", which on its release on 21 January 1996, went straight to #1 on the UK Singles Chart, selling 418,000 copies in the first week of...
. Known for its heavily distorted guitars and metallic, robotic-sounding vocals, it 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 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 BakerArthur Baker (musician)
Arthur Baker is an American record producer and DJ best known for his work with hip hop artists like Afrika Bambaataa, Planet Patrol, and the British group New Order.-Early career:...
remix was chosen to tie in with the release on 1 December 1995 of a new Levi's jeans TV
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
advert titled "Planet" which was directed by Vaughan Arnell and Anthea Benton
Anthea Benton
Anthea Benton is a British television commercial and music video director, best known for her adverts for Stella Artois and Levi's.Benton began her career as a Fashion Designer, and moved into directing in 1982 as half of the directing duo Vaughan and Anthea...
. The advertisement concentrated on the sped-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
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
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
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. 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.
In 2006 "Spaceman" featured on trailers for Ant and Dec's film Alien Autopsy
Alien Autopsy
Alien Autopsy is a 2006 British comedy film with elements of science fiction, directed by Jonny Campbell. Written by William Davies, it relates the events surrounding the famous "alien autopsy" film promoted by Ray Santilli and stars Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly, also known as Ant & Dec...
, the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
's children's channel, CBeebies
CBeebies
CBeebies is the brand used by the BBC for programming aimed at children 6 years and under. It is used as a themed strand in the UK on terrestrial television, as a separate free-to-air domestic British channel and used for international varients supported by advertising, subscription or both...
for the animated pre-school series Lunar Jim
Lunar Jim
Lunar Jim is a preschool-oriented stop-motion television show produced in Canada by Halifax Film and Alliance Atlantis, and aired in the USA as well on Discovery Channel and V-Me. The show is based on an original concept created by Alexander Bar, and was script-edited in Season one by Peter Sauder....
, and Network Ten
Network Ten
Network Ten , is one of Australia's three major commercial television networks. Owned-and-operated stations can be found in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth, while affiliates extend the network to cover most of the country...
's advertisement for Battlestar Galactica
Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series)
Battlestar Galactica is an American military science fiction television series, and part of the Battlestar Galactica franchise. The show was developed by Ronald D. Moore as a re-imagining of the 1978 Battlestar Galactica television series created by Glen A. Larson...
. "Spaceman" is also used in Eesti otsib superstaari
Eesti otsib superstaari
Eesti otsib superstaari is an Estonian reality-competition gameshow airing on TV3. It debuted on 11 March 2007 and it has since become one of the most popular shows in Estonia...
(Pop Idol Estonia).
Cover versions
- Katie MeluaKatie MeluaKetevan "Katie" Melua is a British-Georgian singer, songwriter and musician. She moved to Northern Ireland at the age of eight and then to England at fourteen. Melua is signed to the small Dramatico record label, under the management of composer Mike Batt, and made her musical debut in 2003...
has performed an acoustic version of this song live. - Metal band The KovenantThe KovenantThe Kovenant is a Norwegian black metal band from Oslo/Hamar. The band originally formed as Covenant in 1993, but in 1999 were forced to change their name to The Kovenant due to a dispute with a Swedish electronic band of the same name....
covered this song in their album AnimatronicAnimatronic (album)Animatronic is the third album from Norwegian Industrial Metal band, The Kovenant, and was released in 1999 through Nuclear Blast.-Album History:...
. - Cinema BizarreCinema BizarreCinema Bizarre is a band from Berlin. They released their debut album in 2007. Their manager is Lacrimosa singer and songwriter Tilo Wolff. In January 2010, the band announced that they were taking a break and have since said that they will not reform....
covered this song both live and in a studio recorded track. - DJ KambelDJ KambelKurtis Campbell, better known as DJ Kambel, is a British electronic music DJ. While DJing in the UK happy hardcore scene, he composed many works for the mega-hit compilation Dancemanias Speed series, which made him one of the most frequently appearing artists on the series along with the likes of...
and MC MagikaMC MagikaMC Magika, sometimes credited as M•A•G•I•K•A, is a British MC, music producer and rave promoter. He has been regularly featured on the UK breakbeat compilation Dreamscape series, and on the mega-hit dance music compilation Dancemanias Speed sub-series...
remixed and covered this song as Dream State (Spaceman) in the 2001 eurodanceEurodanceEurodance is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in the late 1980s or early 1990s primarily in Europe. It combines many elements from House, Techno, Hi-NRG and especially Italo-Disco...
compilation Dancemania Speed 7Dancemania SpeedDancemania Speed is a sub-series of Toshiba EMI's Dancemania compilation series. This series features faster, further remixed versions of recordings from previously released Dancemania albums or faster remixed covers of various famous songs...
.
Track listings
CD Promo Single 1995 WEA (YZ925CDDJ)- "Spaceman" (radio version) — 3:50
- "Spaceman" (Arthur meets the spaceman) — 5:56
CD Promo 1995 EMI (CDEMDJ 416)
- "Spaceman" (radio edit) - 4.08
7" Single
- "Spaceman" (radio edit) — 4:08
- "Spaceman" (the 5th dimension) — 5:09
CD Single 1996 EMI (CDEM 416)
- "Spaceman" (radio edit) — 4:08
- "Metal Vision" — 3:48
- "Blue Nude" — 2:09
- "Spaceman" (the 5th dimension) — 5:09
CD Single ('The Only Original Remixes') 1996 EMI (7243 8 82721 2 4)
- "Spaceman" (radio edit) — 4:08
- "Spaceman" (the 5th dimension) — 5:09
- "Spaceman" (Arthur meets the spaceman) — 5:56
- "Spaceman" (E before I) — 6:37
Peak positions
| Chart (1995/96) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian ARIA Australian Recording Industry Association The Australian Recording Industry Association is a trade group representing the Australian recording industry which was established in 1983 by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replacing the Association of Australian Record Manufacturers which was formed in 1956... Singles Chart |
3 |
| Austrian Singles Chart | 1 |
| Belgian (Flanders Flanders Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp... ) Singles Chart |
1 |
| Belgian (Wallonia) Singles Chart | 1 |
| Danish Singles Chart Tracklisten Tracklisten is a Danish top 40 record chart that is presented every Thursday midnight at .The weekly Danish Singles Chart also known as Track Top-40 combines the 40 best selling tracks from legal music downloads and the sales of music singles on either CD or vinyl... |
1 |
| Dutch Top 40 Dutch Top 40 The Dutch Top 40 is a weekly music chart, which started as the "Veronica Top 40", because the offshore radio station Radio Veronica was the first to introduce it. It remained "The Veronica Top 40" until 1974, when the station was forced to stop broadcasting... |
4 |
| Eurochart Hot 100 | 1 |
| Finnish Singles Chart | 1 |
| French SNEP Singles Chart | 1 |
| German Singles Chart | 1 |
| Irish Singles Chart Irish Singles Chart The Irish Singles Chart is Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on behalf of the IRMA by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured... |
1 |
| New Zealand RIANZ Singles Chart | 4 |
| Norwegian Singles Chart | 1 |
| Swedish Singles Chart | 1 |
| Swiss Singles Chart | 2 |
| UK Singles Chart UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ... |
1 |
End of year charts
| End of year chart (1996) | Position |
|---|---|
| Australian Singles Chart | 30 |
| Austrian Singles Chart | 13 |
| Belgian (Flanders) Singles Chart | 5 |
| Belgian (Wallonia) Singles Chart | 13 |
| Dutch Top 40 | 65 |
| French Snigles Chart | 19 |
| Swiss Singles Chart | 25 |
Certifications
| Country | Certification | Date | Sales certified |
|---|---|---|---|
| Austria | Gold | March 8, 1996 | 15,000 |
| France | Gold | 1996 | 250,000 |
| Germany | Gold | 1996 | 250,000 |
| Sweden | Gold | February 14, 1996 | 10,000 |
| UK | Platinum | March 1, 1996 | 600,000 |