Party Rock Anthem

Composition

"Party Rock Anthem" is composed in the key of F minor. It has a tempo of 128 beats per minute. It follows a chord progression of Fm-E♭-D♭, and has a vocal range from D♭4-A♭5.

Background

The music video was released on March 8, 2011 and was produced by the two members of LMFAO, Redfoo and Sky Blu (rapper), with the assistance of Shinzu Ai. It was choreographed by, and featured, Quest Crew members Hokuto Konishi, Victor Kim, Ryan Conferido, Steve Terada, Aris Paracuelles, Brian Hirano and Ryan Feng. The video is a parody of the 2002 horror film 28 Days Later. Lauren Bennett, featured in the song, also appeared in the music video. Director Mickey Finnegan described the concept: "There's been an epidemic, the world has gone crazy, as soon as the song came out, everyone got possessed and all they want to do is to shuffle, everyone is a shuffler." The video features the dancers performing the Melbourne Shuffle, which quickly gained popularity in the United States.

Video

This music video takes place after the events of Sorry for Party Rocking, the previous song by the duo. This video's opening caption says Redfoo and Sky Blu fell into a coma due to excessive party rocking and that their single was released the next day. After the caption "28 DAYS LATER" is seen, Redfoo and Sky Blu are shown in a deserted hospital, waking up from their coma in a style similar to that of Cillian Murphy's character in the original film. Redfoo and Sky Blu exit the hospital into a deserted street full of litter and abandoned cars. They spot a man "shuffling" to their own song before they are quickly grabbed by another man in a dress-shirt (Malcolm Goodwin), a parody of Louis from Left 4 Dead and Shaun from Shaun of the Dead, who hides them behind a car and explains to them that ever since their single came out, everyone around the world simply "shuffles" all day long. Mid-conversation, the song begins to play in the street, and the man quickly hands Redfoo and Sky Blu some Beats by Dr. Dre earphones for the purpose of muting the song. Redfoo and Sky Blu insert the earpieces and are told to play along with the song. Soon, the street is filled with "shufflers", including label mate Colette Carr, all dancing to the song. When another young man, sporting an Atlanta Braves cap, tries to escape from a building, he is surrounded by the dancers in a style indicative of a zombie mob, before re-emerging with new clothes and shuffling, having been "infected".

Frightened after observing the fate of the other man, Redfoo and Sky Blu begin to dance along with the others, pretending to be infected, too. After the line "No lead in our zeppelin", the shot cuts directly to the front of the hospital (which appears similar to the cover of Led Zeppelin's 1975 album Physical Graffiti. This is a nod to the English rock band, whom the duo has cited as being a personal influence). Halfway through the video, the previously infected young man dances towards Redfoo and Sky Blu, who look terrified. The video fades to black, but quickly opens to a new shot, in which it becomes apparent that they, too, have become infected, as they sing "Every day I'm shufflin" and dance with the rest of the infected dancers for the remainder of the video, which finishes with the caption and interpolation, "Every day I'm shufflin". The outdoor scene of the music video was filmed at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, CA.

Awards

The video won the "Best Video" award at the 7th annual edition of the TRL Awards.

Chart and sales performance

The song reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the duo's first number one hit in the US; it remained there for six straight weeks. The song spent 68 weeks in the chart, which at the time was the third-highest number of weeks in the chart for a song in Billboard Hot 100's history. It topped the seven million downloads mark in the United States in July 2012, becoming the second-fastest song in digital history to reach this plateau - reaching it in 68 weeks, just behind Adele's "Rolling in the Deep" which achieved it in 67 weeks - and the third-biggest selling digital single since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking digital sales in 2003. It has sold 9.7 million copies in the US as of October 2016 and over one million copies in the UK. It is the US's third all-time best-selling digital single.

The song spent eleven weeks at number one in New Zealand and ten weeks in Australia. In New Zealand, it is the longest-running number one single since Smashproof's hit single "Brother" in 2009, with over 45,000 copies sold. In Australia, it is the longest-running number-one single since "I Wish I Was a Punk Rocker (With Flowers in My Hair)" by Sandi Thom in 2006, and was the best-selling single of 2011. Certified fifteen-times platinum, it is the biggest-selling single of all time in Australia, surpassing Elton John's "Candle in the Wind 1997".

Television, films and video games

"Party Rock Anthem" has been used in several TV series, such as in the first episode of Awkward, in the season 3, episode 8 of Glee, in the season 5, episode 12 of Gossip Girl, in the season 3 finale of Parenthood, episode 5 of 2 Broke Girls, in season 4, episode 14 of Parks and Recreation, in the eighth season of So You Think You Can Dance and in the South Park episode "City Sushi". It was also used in the opening titles for the Australian reality game show, The Renovators. There is a spoof of the song in the popular YouTube web series The Annoying Orange, in the episode titled "Party Rock". The song was also used in a Bat Mitzvah sketch in a Saturday Night Live episode hosted by Channing Tatum, and in Australia's Got Talent 2011, sung by Timomatic. Quest Crew danced to it in the season 6 finale of America's Best Dance Crew. In episode 8 of America's Best Dance Crew's season 7, contestants 8 Flavahz danced to the song. The song was covered with lyric changes by Alvin and the Chipmunks and The Chipettes in the 2011 film Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked and can be heard on its soundtrack. It featured in the trailer for the 2011 Lionsgate film Madea's Big Happy Family and is also heard in the video games Just Dance 3 and FIFA Street. The video game Dance Central 2 uses it on the DLC, which was released on February 28, 2012. In World of Warcraft, the dance emote for the male pandaren is based on this song's choreography.

Advertisements

The song has been used in several advertisements, such as the Kia Soul commercial featuring the Kia hamsters, the "2011 Sizzle Preview" commercial which promotes all of The CW's shows, and in a commercial for Virgin America airlines. It also appeared in the 2011 Mofaya Summer promotion by Vodacom South Africa. UK ISP Plusnet used a cover of "Party Rock Anthem" in an advertisement for their broadband and calls services in April 2012. It was also used for the 2012 Big Brother Australia advert, and Toyota in Indonesia has used it for their Toyota Yaris advertisement.

Other

Ohio University's marching band, The Marching 110, performed the song during the half-time of a game in October 2011. Their performance was uploaded onto YouTube and went viral.

Canadian radio station HOT 103 from Winnipeg has played a version of the song with modified lyrics that refer to Winnipeg and local sports stars. The Washington Capitals of the NHL uses it for one of its goal songs when the Capitals score. Atlanta Braves second baseman Dan Uggla uses it as his at-bat music. The song was used as the closing chart for the 2012 Jersey Surf Drum & Bugle Corps program. It was also used at the Kellogg's Tour of Gymnastics Champions, with everyone on the tour learning the "shuffle".

During the 2013 public unrest in Turkey, the song was used incorporating the neologism "chapulling", with the chorus being, "Every day I'm chapulling"; a video was made using the protest images uploaded onto YouTube. In Chile, Radio Rock & Pop placed it at number 106 on its list "Rock & Pop 20 Años 200 Canciones".

1. "Party Rock Anthem" – 4:28

1. "Party Rock Anthem" (Album Version) – 4:23
2. "Party Rock Anthem" (Audiobot Remix) – 6:01

1. Party Rock Anthem (Radio Edit) - 3:53

1. "Party Rock Anthem" (Wideboys Radio Edit) – 3:25
2. "Party Rock Anthem" (Wideboys Club Mix) – 5:49
3. "Party Rock Anthem" (Benny Benassi Radio Edit) – 3:36
4. "Party Rock Anthem" (Benny Benassi Club Mix) – 6:17
5. "Party Rock Anthem" (Christopher Lawrence Radio Edit) – 3:38
6. "Party Rock Anthem" (Christopher Lawrence Club Mix) – 7:11
7. "Party Rock Anthem" (Arion Dubstep Remix) – 3:23
8. "Party Rock Anthem" (Russ Chimes Dub) – 6:25
9. "Party Rock Anthem" (Alesso Remix) – 5:49
10. "Party Rock Anthem" (Avallo Remix) - 6.17
11. "Party Rock Anthem" (DJ Enferno Remix) – 4:52
12. "Party Rock Anthem" (Kim Fai Remix) – 6:53
13. "Party Rock Anthem" (Millions Like Us Dubstep Remix) – 4:38
14. "Party Rock Anthem" (Alyn's Goin Hard Remix) – 4:20
15. "Party Rock Anthem" (Mt Parahaki Dubstep Remix) – 4:22
16. "Party Rock Anthem" (DJ Bent Dutch Remix) - 5:54