Released September 23, 2016 Length 4:24 Producer(s) Danger Mouse | Genre Funk rock
disco Label Warner Bros. | |
Writer(s) Anthony Kiedis
Flea
Josh Klinghoffer
Chad Smith | ||
"Go Robot" is the second single from The Getaway, an album by American rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers. The band's label had originally wanted "Go Robot" to be the album's first single, though they ended up going with "Dark Necessities", which became another chart-topping hit for the band. The single was released on September 23, 2016 however the music video for the song was released on September 8, 2016.
Contents
Music video
A music video directed by Tota Lee was confirmed by Chad Smith to be in production on July 26, 2016. Various teaser clips for the video were released starting on August 29, 2016, with the video being released through the band's Facebook page on September 8, 2016.
The video is heavily inspired by the movie Saturday Night Fever. The band plays various characters imitating the opening scenes of the film. Anthony Kiedis, who portrays the robot (and imitating John Travolta's character), wears nothing but white paint, a bowler hat and codpiece. The band ends up at a disco dance contest where Kiedis in robot form interacts with a female robot played by Stephanie Crousillat. Each band member is credited under different names. Kiedis is credited as Cole Dammett, his actual screen name for movies when he was a child, Flea is credited as Michael Peter, his real first and middle names, Chad Smith is credited as Chadwick Gaylord, which are also his first and middle names, and Josh Klinghoffer is credited as J.K. Dashwood. Director Tota Lee is credited in the video as Thoranna Sigurdardottir.
Live performances
"Go Robot" has been performed at almost every show on the band's The Getaway World Tour. The live versions of the song feature two basses. The band's assistant tour manager Samuel Bañuelos III provides the "rhythm" bass for the song.
A live version recorded in 2016 at Canal+ studios in Paris, can be found on a Live in Paris EP.
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Additional musicians
Charts
Having peaked at number 12 on the Alternative Songs chart, "Go Robot" became the band's first single to miss the top 10 since "Dosed" peaked at number 13 in 2003.