"Go Robot" is the second single from '' The Getaway'', an album by American rock band

Red Hot Chili Peppers Red Hot Chili Peppers are an American rock music, rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1983, comprising vocalist Anthony Kiedis, bassist Flea (musician), Flea, drummer Chad Smith, and guitarist John Frusciante. Their music incorporates element ...

. The band's label had originally wanted "Go Robot" to be the album's first single, though they ended up going with "

Dark Necessities "Dark Necessities" is a song by American rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers and is the first single from their eleventh studio album, '' The Getaway''. After announcing the single through their Twitter page on May 2, 2016, the single was released t ...

", 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 Chad Gaylord Smith (born October 25, 1961) is an American musician who has been the drummer of the rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers since 1988. The group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012. Smith is also the drummer of the h ...

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

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page on September 8, 2016. The video is heavily inspired by the movie ''

Saturday Night Fever ''Saturday Night Fever'' is a 1977 American dance drama film directed by John Badham and produced by Robert Stigwood. It stars John Travolta as Tony Manero, a young Italian-American man from the Brooklyn borough of New York. Manero spends his ...

'', and was shot along 86th Street in the Italian-American neighborhood of

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. The band plays various characters imitating the opening scenes of the film.

Anthony Kiedis Anthony Kiedis ( ; born November 1, 1962) is an American singer and songwriter. He is a founding member and lead vocalist of the rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers. Kiedis and his fellow band members were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fa ...

, who portrays the robot (and imitating

John Travolta John Joseph Travolta (born February 18, 1954) is an American actor. He came to public attention during the 1970s, appearing on the television sitcom ''Welcome Back, Kotter'' (1975–1979) and starring in the box office successes ''Carrie'' (19 ...

'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 Josh Adam Klinghoffer (born October 3, 1979) is an American musician best known for being the guitarist for the rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers from 2009 to 2019, with whom he recorded two studio albums, '' I'm with You'' (2011) and '' The Getaw ...

is credited as J.K. Dashwood. Director Tota Lee is credited in the video as Thoranna Sigurdardottir.

Record Store Day exclusive

On April 22, 2017 to celebrate

Record Store Day Record Store Day is an annual event inaugurated in 2007 and held on one Saturday (typically the third) every April and every Black Friday in November to "celebrate the culture of the independently owned record store". The day brings together fa ...

, 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 The Getaway World Tour was a concert tour by American rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers that was in support of their eleventh studio album, '' The Getaway'' which was released on June 17, 2016. It marked the first time since June 2014 that the ba ...

. 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

. 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. A live version recorded in 2016 at

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studios in

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, can be found on a

Live in Paris EP ''Live in Paris EP'' (also known as the ''Deezer EP'') is a live EP by American rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers, released on July 1, 2016 exclusively through the web-based music streaming service Deezer. The songs were recorded on June 14, 2016 a ...

Personnel

Red Hot Chili Peppers *

– lead vocals *

– guitar, keyboards *

Flea Flea, the common name for the order Siphonaptera, includes 2,500 species of small flightless insects that live as external parasites of mammals and birds. Fleas live by ingesting the blood of their hosts. Adult fleas grow to about long, a ...

– bass guitar *

– drums Additional musicians * Brian "Danger Mouse" Burton –

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

s *

Mauro Refosco Mauro Refosco is a Brazilian percussionist. He is best known for working with singer David Byrne and as the former touring and session percussionist for the American rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers. He is a member of the experimental supergroup A ...

– percussion

Charts

Having peaked at number 12 on the

Alternative Songs Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks (1988–2009) and Alternative Songs (2009–2020)) is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in ''Billboard'' magazine since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-played ...

chart, "Go Robot" became the band's first single to miss the top 10 since "

Dosed "Dosed" is a song by the Red Hot Chili Peppers from their 2002 album, ''By the Way''. It was released as a promotional single in the United States and Canada only. It peaked at number 13 on the U.S. Modern Rock Tracks chart in 2003. No music vid ...

" peaked at number 13 in 2003.

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{Authority control 2016 singles 2016 songs Red Hot Chili Peppers songs

Danger Mouse Danger Mouse may refer (or appear in) to: * ''Danger Mouse'' (1981 TV series), a 1981 British animated television series * ''Danger Mouse'' (2015 TV series), a 2015 reboot of the British animated television series * Danger Mouse (musician) (born ...

Warner Records singles Songs about robots Songs written by Anthony Kiedis Songs written by Flea (musician) Songs written by Chad Smith Songs written by Josh Klinghoffer