Star Guitar

Last updated

"Star Guitar"
Star guitar.jpg
Single by the Chemical Brothers
from the album Come with Us
B-side "Base 6"
Released14 January 2002 (2002-01-14)
Studio Miloco (South London, England)
Genre Post-disco [1]
Length
  • 6:54 (original version)
  • 6:27 (album version)
  • 3:59 (radio edit)
Label
Songwriter(s)
  • Tom Rowlands
  • Ed Simons
Producer(s) The Chemical Brothers
The Chemical Brothers singles chronology
"It Began in Afrika"
(2001)		"Star Guitar"
(2002)		"Come with Us" / "The Test"
(2002)
Music video
"Star Guitar" on YouTube

"Star Guitar" is a song by English electronic music duo the Chemical Brothers, released as the second single from their fourth album, Come with Us (2002). It reached number eight on the UK Singles Chart, number two on the US Billboard Dance Club Play chart, and number one on the UK Dance Chart. The song was greeted with praise from critics.

Contents

Structure

"Star Guitar" is 127 beats per minute and in the key of F major. [2] It contains a four measure-long acoustic guitar sample from the beginning of the David Bowie song, "Starman", [3] hence the name, "Star Guitar". This sample is repeated throughout the majority of the track, with various musical elements playing over it as a main theme. The song also contains an electronic sample of "Fly to Venus" by Electronic System. [4]

Music video

The music video, directed by Michel Gondry, features a continuous shot filmed from the window of a speeding train passing through towns and the countryside. However, the buildings and objects passing by appear exactly in time with the various musical elements of the song, including the beats. The video is based on DV footage Gondry shot while on vacation in France; the train ride between Nîmes and Valence was shot ten different times during the day to get different light gradients. The Pont du Robinet as well as Pierrelatte's station can be seen and the cities of Miramas and Avignon. Gondry had experimented with a different version of the same effect in his video for Daft Punk's "Around the World", where he had represented each element of the music with a dancer.

Gondry plotted out the synchronization of the song on graph paper before creating the video, eventually "modelling" the scenery with oranges, forks, tapes, books, glasses and tennis shoes. [5]

Reception

Upon the release of Come with Us , Nathan Rooney of Pitchfork , referring to its placement on the album, said the song was the "Chemical Brothers deviat[ing] from their role as Big Beat deities" and "it's slight, but not nearly as vapid as "Hoops," the song that follows it." [6] Scott Plagenhoef, also of Pitchfork Media, originally said the track "doesn't leave much of an impression, but may as well be Beethoven's 9th next to the Richard Ashcroft collaboration "The Test". [7] However, he later changed his opinion, saying it is "a fantastic track I grossly underrated here at the time" and that it was among the "best of the group's work [in the 2000s]". [8]

After noting the album is "steeped in retro-synth glory", Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine said "Star Guitar" is "a crisp post-disco work-out featuring bristling guitars and a Giorgio Moroder-style synth-bass. [1] Pat Blashall of Rolling Stone referred to the song as "slowly blooming", positively noting that within the track, "a dreamy melody hatches from an array of Ritalin beats, is evidence of a band that is increasingly drawn to disorientingly lush tunes rather than to mere adrenaline anthems." [9]

In 2006, Slant Magazine ranked the song at number 23 in their list of the "100 Greatest Dance Songs", [10] and, in 2010, ranked it at number 32 in their list of "The 250 Best Singles of the 2000s". [11] In 2009, Pitchfork ranked the song at number 398 in their list of The Top 500 Tracks of the 2000s. [12] Fatboy Slim revealed in 2012 that he had been asked to remix the song upon its release, but turned down the offer owing to his opinion that the song could not be improved. [13]

Track listings

Credits and personnel

Credits are lifted from the Come with Us album booklet. [21]

Studios

Personnel

Charts

Release history

RegionRelease dateFormat(s)Label(s)CatalogueRef(s).
United Kingdom14 January 2002 CD Freestyle DustCHEMSD14 [45] [46]
12-inch vinyl CHEMST14
DVD CHEMSDVD14
Australia CD CHEMSD14 [47]
Japan17 January 2002 Virgin Japan VJCP-12153 [48]
United States2002 Astralwerks ASW 38812-2

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 Cinquemani, Sal (27 January 2002). "The Chemical Brothers – Come with Us". Slant Magazine. Retrieved 26 October 2014.
  2. ↑ "F Chord on Guitar: History, Relevance, Chord Shapes, Major Scale, & Songs in the Key of F". Uberchord App. 25 July 2016. Retrieved 2 October 2020.
  3. ↑ David Bowie - Starman (Tab) , retrieved 2 October 2020
  4. ↑ "Shazam". Shazam. Retrieved 2 October 2020.
  5. ↑ "making of Star Guitar". 30 July 2008. Archived from the original on 21 December 2021 – via YouTube.
  6. ↑ "The Chemical Brothers: Come with Us". Pitchfork .
  7. ↑ "The Chemical Brothers: Singles 93-03". Pitchfork .
  8. ↑ "The Chemical Brothers: Brotherhood". Pitchfork .
  9. ↑ "Come with Us : The Chemical Brothers : Review : Rolling Stone". www.rollingstone.com. Archived from the original on 2 October 2007. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  10. ↑ "The 100 Best Dance Songs of All Time". Slant Magazine . 15 June 2020.
  11. ↑ "The 100 Best Singles of the Aughts". Slant Magazine . 25 January 2010.
  12. ↑ "The 200 Best Songs of the 2000s". Pitchfork .
  13. ↑ Fatboy Slim's Big Beats Boutique, MTV Dance special
  14. ↑ Star Guitar (UK & Australian CD single liner notes). The Chemical Brothers. Freestyle Dust, Virgin Records. 2002. CHEMSD14, 7243 5 46169 2 1.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  15. ↑ Star Guitar (US 12-inch single sleeve). The Chemical Brothers. Astralwerks. 2002. ASW 38812, 724383881215.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  16. ↑ Star Guitar (UK 12-inch single sleeve). The Chemical Brothers. Freestyle Dust, Virgin Records. 2002. CHEMST14, 7243 5 46169 6 9.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  17. ↑ Star Guitar (UK DVD single liner notes). The Chemical Brothers. Freestyle Dust, Virgin Records. 2002. CHEMSDVD14, 7243 4 92684 9 4.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  18. ↑ Star Guitar (European CD single liner notes). The Chemical Brothers. Freestyle Dust, Virgin Records. 2002. CHEMSDE14, 7243 5 46202 2 5.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  19. ↑ Star Guitar (US & Canadian CD single liner notes). The Chemical Brothers. Astralwerks. 2002. ASW 38812, 724383881222.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  20. ↑ Star Guitar (Japanese CD single liner notes). The Chemical Brothers. Freestyle Dust, Virgin Records. 2002. VJCP-12153, 7243 5 46169 2 1.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  21. ↑ Come with Us (UK CD album booklet). The Chemical Brothers. Freestyle Dust, Virgin Records. 2002. XDUSTCD5, 7243 8 11682 2 6.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
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  45. ↑ Hubner, Miriam (26 January 2002). "Airborne" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 20, no. 5. p. 30. Retrieved 23 October 2020.
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  48. ↑ "Star Guitar" (in Japanese). Toshiba-EMI. Archived from the original on 10 February 2002. Retrieved 26 August 2023.
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