That’s My Jam is a weekly feature where one person from the Selective Hearing staff goes to wax poetic about music that is pivotal to their musical tastes. Whether that would be an album, a song, or anything in-between. We all had to start somewhere.
Release Date: July 31, 2000
Track Listing
- Rock DJ
- Talk To Me
- Rock DJ (Player One Remix)
Review
Rock DJ was the lead single from Robbie Williams’ third album, Sing When You’re Winning and was the fourth best-selling song of the year 2000 in the U.K. It was never released in the U.S. but somehow managed to chart on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart.
Robbie Williams was one of my favourite artists during my Brit-Pop phase in life. I used to listen religiously to British radio during my days of doing shift work, and there wasn’t a time during his peak that you didn’t hear this guy on the airwaves in one form or another.
Sure he was maybe a bit overhyped at times and had some off-stage issues, but one cannot deny he has a way of crafting a deft pop song. He delivered the goods in that respect, and Rock DJ is a great example.
Many probably remember this song more for its video than for the track itself. And for good reason, it seems to start rather innocently with Williams trying to get the attention of a female DJ. Nothing wrong with that, right?
After stripping down to his undies, he goes to the extremes of ripping off his skin, muscles and organs until he’s nothing but a skeleton, and it’s only then that the DJ gives him some attention.
But the actual song itself is pretty damn catchy. After doing some research, it looks like the song has samples of some classic R&B and Hip-Hop songs:
- Barry White – It’s Ecstasy When You Lay Down Next To Me
- A Tribe Called Quest – Can I Kick It?
- Slick Rick – La Di Da Di
I did not know all that. You learn something every day. Anyway, this was and still is a great track. Well, at least, I think so. If you’re interested, check out Sing When You’re Winning if you want to hear the man at the top of his game.
