ROckWrok

"ROckWrok"
Single by Ultravox!
from the album Ha!-Ha!-Ha!
A-side	"ROckWrok"
B-side	"Hiroshima Mon Amour" (alternate version)
Released	7 October 1977
Recorded	1977
Genre	Punk rock
Length	3:33
Label	Island
Songwriter(s)	John Foxx
Producer(s)	Ultravox!
Ultravox! singles chronology
"Young Savage" (1977) "ROckWrok" (1977) "Quirks" (1978)

"ROckWrok" is a single by the post-punk band Ultravox!, released on 7 October 1977 by Island Records.^[1] It was the last British non-free single (the next, "Quirks", came free along initial copies of the album) released from the Ha! Ha! Ha! album and featuring Stevie Shears as guitarist. The next non-free single was Frozen Ones, released only in Germany shortly afterwards.^[2]

"ROckWrok" features a punk sound derived from Warren Cann's drums and Stevie Shears' guitar alongside John Foxx's hard vocals. It was regularly performed live until Ultravox's U.S. and Canadian tour in 1979,^[3] when John Foxx decided to go solo. The song was performed live by Massive Attack on their 2019 tour.

The B-side is an early version or demo,^[4] or alternate version of "Hiroshima Mon Amour" (named after the famous French movie), written by John Foxx and Billy Currie. It has a punkier sound than the album version of the song. A third version of the song was performed live on the Old Grey Whistle Test the next year, with Robin Simon replacing Shears as guitarist; it was quieter than the "ROckWrok" single version but maintained the rock style, also differing from the synthpop oriented version on Ha!-Ha!-Ha!.

This single, like all the Ha!-Ha!-Ha!-era releases, didn't perform well in the charts.

Track listing[]

7" version[]

1. "ROckWrok" – 3:33
2. "Hiroshima Mon Amour" – 4:54

Personnel[]

• John Foxx: vocals
• Chris Cross: bass, vocals
• Stevie Shears: guitar
• Warren Cann: drums, vocals
• Billy Currie: keyboards, synthesizer, violin

References[]

This 1970s single–related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by .

• v
• t