"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 music video for the song was released on September 8, 2016.
Music video
A music video directed by Tota Lee was confirmed by Chad Smith to be in production on July 26, 2016.[1] Various teaser clips for the video were released starting on August 29, 2016,[2] 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, and was shot along 86th Street in the Italian-American neighborhood of Bensonhurst, Brooklyn in New York City.[3] 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 a large 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.[4][5]
On April 22, 2017 to celebrate Record Store Day, the band released an exclusive 12" version of "Go Robot" / "Dreams of a Samurai" picture disc that is limited to 4,750 copies. Both songs were recorded live during The Getaway World Tour.[6] Each 12" contains a spelling error for "Dreams of a Samurai" with Samurai spelled Sumurai. Warner Bros. offered a corrected version of the 12" to fans that bought the original with the spelling error.
Live performances
"Go Robot" was performed at almost every show on the band's The Getaway World Tour. In order to accurately replicate the studio version's dual-bass track, the song was performed live with two basses, with the band's assistant tour manager Samuel Bañuelos III providing the slap bass for the song.[7]
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.
^Frishberg, Hannah. "Red Hot Chili Peppers Release Homage to Saturday Night Fever, Filmed in Bensonhurst (NSFW)", Bklyner.com, September 14, 2016. Accessed December 25, 2023. "The four minute 28-second video is a surreal homage to the 1977 cult classic Saturday Night Fever and is shot at the same spots on the Bath Beach-Bensonhurst border, under the elevated subway tracks."
^"ČNS IFPI" (in Czech). Hitparáda – Radio Top 100 Oficiální. IFPI Czech Republic. Note: Change the chart to CZ – RADIO – TOP 100 and insert 201709 into search. Retrieved March 7, 2017.
