"Go" is a song by American

electronica Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that started in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mostly used to ...

musician

Moby Richard Melville Hall (born September 11, 1965), known professionally as Moby, is an American musician, songwriter, singer, producer, and animal rights activist. He has sold 20 million records worldwide. AllMusic considers him to be "among the ...

, released in March 1991 by record label

Instinct Instinct is the inherent inclination of a living organism towards a particular complex behaviour, containing both innate (inborn) and learned elements. The simplest example of an instinctive behaviour is a fixed action pattern (FAP), in which a ...

as the first single from his self-titled debut album (1992). It peaked within the top ten of the charts in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

Background

"Go", in its original form, was first released as the

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record company ...

to Moby's debut single "

Mobility Mobility may refer to: Social sciences and humanities * Economic mobility, ability of individuals or families to improve their economic status * Geographic mobility, the measure of how populations and goods move over time * Mobilities, a conte ...

" in November 1990. Moby later composed an alternate mix of the song, built around string samples from

Angelo Badalamenti Angelo Daniel Badalamenti (March 22, 1937 – December 11, 2022) was an American composer, best known for his work scoring films for director David Lynch, notably '' Blue Velvet'', the ''Twin Peaks'' saga (1990–1992, 2017), ''The Straight Stor ...

's "Laura Palmer's Theme" from the television series ''

Twin Peaks ''Twin Peaks'' is an American mystery serial drama television series created by Mark Frost and David Lynch. It premiered on ABC on April 8, 1990, and originally ran for two seasons until its cancellation in 1991. The show returned in 2017 for ...

'', which was released as a single in its own right in March 1991. The title of the single version, "Woodtick Mix", is a reference to episode seven of ''Twin Peaks'', when special agent

Dale Cooper Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Dale Bartholomew Cooper, portrayed by Kyle MacLachlan, is a fictional character who is the protagonist of ABC's and Showtime's television series ''Twin Peaks''. He also plays a supporting role in t ...

gets shot three times after folding up his bulletproof vest while chasing a wood tick as revealed in episode eight. Moby himself admitted so in his book. "Go" samples the titular vocal from

Tones on Tail Tones on Tail was a British post-punk band formed in 1982, originally as a musical side project of Daniel Ash of the gothic rock group Bauhaus. Their music was described by one critic as "doom-and-dance-pop." History While still a member of B ...

's song " Go!". The "yeah" vocal which features prominently in the track is actually a sample from

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...

singer

Jocelyn Brown Jocelyn Lorette Brown (born November 25, 1950), sometimes credited as Jocelyn Shaw, is an American R&B and dance singer. Although she has only one ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart entry solely in her name, she has an extensive background in the musi ...

, taken from her 1985 single " Love's Gonna Get You".

Release

"Go" was released in March 1991 by Instinct Records. The song peaked within the top ten of the charts in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. An accompanying promotional

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...

for the song was released, directed by Ondrej Rudavsky. Moby recalled, "When it was released, my dream was for it to sell 4,000 copies. It did a couple of million, including compilations. And I really thought that when DJs played 'Go', it was because they were taking pity on me for making such a mediocre song. I guess it's a good thing I'm not a record company executive, huh?" Fourteen different remixes of "Go" were collected and combined into an entire continuous CD as a bonus disc for Moby's 1996 compilation album '' Rare: The Collected B-Sides 1989–1993''. Another mix was produced for the compilation '' I Like to Score'', released the following year. Trentemøller produced a remix for Moby's 2006 compilation '' Go – The Very Best of Moby''; on the UK version of the album, the ''I Like to Score'' mix of the song appears instead.

Drum and bass Drum and bass (also written as drum & bass or drum'n'bass and commonly abbreviated as D&B, DnB, or D'n'B) is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by fast breakbeats (typically 165–185 beats per minute) with heavy bass and sub-ba ...

group Fourward released a remix of the song on a Moby Remix sampler in 2017.

Legacy

In 2010, "Go" was ranked number 134 in ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to th ...

''s ''Top 200 Tracks of the 1990s'' list. In 2022, ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its cov ...

'' ranked it number 69 in their list of ''200 Greatest Dance Songs of All Time''.

Track listing

Charts

References

External links

* * {{authority control Moby songs 1991 singles Songs written by Moby Songs written by Angelo Badalamenti 1990 songs Instinct Records singles Music Week number-one dance singles