"Lights Out" is a song by English

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...

band

Royal Blood A royal descent is a genealogy, genealogical Kinship and descent, line of descent from a past or present monarch. Both geneticists and genealogists have attempted to estimate the percentage of living people with royal descent. From a genetic ...

, released as the first single from their second studio album ''

How Did We Get So Dark? ''How Did We Get So Dark?'' is the second studio album by British hard rock duo Royal Blood. The album was released by Warner Bros. Records on 16 June 2017. The album is considered by most critics to be stylistically similar to the band's br ...

'' on April 14, 2017. The song was written by the band with

Bass Drum of Death Bass Drum of Death is an American garage punk band from Oxford, Mississippi, United States, currently signed to Fat Possum Records. History The band's frontman, John Barrett, formed Bass Drum of Death in 2008 as a one-man-band, playing both his ...

frontman John Barrett, and it was produced by Jolyon Thomas with Royal Blood. It reached number 96 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

and topping the

UK Rock & Metal Singles Chart The UK Rock & Metal Singles Chart and UK Rock & Metal Albums Chart are record charts compiled in the United Kingdom by the Official Charts Company (OCC) to determine the 40 most popular singles and albums in the rock and heavy metal genres. The ...

. The song is also used in the soundtrack of the

Electronic Arts Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry and promoted the d ...

racing video game ''

Need for Speed Payback ''Need for Speed Payback'' is a racing video game developed by Ghost Games and published by Electronic Arts for PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One. It is the twenty-third installment in the ''Need for Speed'' series. The game was released worldw ...

''. It was also used in the FUT Icons trailer of ''

FIFA 18 ''FIFA 18'' is a football simulation video game developed and published by Electronic Arts and released worldwide on 29 September 2017 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch. It is the 25th ...

''.

Background

Royal Blood wrote "Lights Out" while on tour in the United States with support act

, who Mike Kerr described as "really good friends of ours". After the two bands had been sharing ideas, Bass Drum of Death's frontman John Barrett co-wrote "Lights Out", with Kerr crediting him as "a big part of that tune coming together".

Promotion

The track was released as the first single from the band's upcoming second album ''How Did We Get So Dark?'' on 13 April 2017. The band performed the song live for the first time on ''

Jimmy Kimmel Live! ''Jimmy Kimmel Live!'' is an American late-night talk show, created and hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, broadcast on American Broadcasting Company, ABC. The nightly hour-long show debuted on January 26, 2003, at Hollywood Masonic Temple in Hollywood, Los ...

'' on 9 May 2017, alongside the 2014 single "

Figure It Out ''Figure It Out'' is an American children's panel game show that aired on Nickelodeon. The original series, hosted by Summer Sanders, ran for four seasons from July 7, 1997, to December 12, 1999. The show was revived in 2012, with Jeff Sutphen ...

". Chad Childers of the website ''

Loudwire ''Loudwire'' is an American online media magazine that covers news of hard rock and heavy metal artists. It is owned by media and entertainment business Townsquare Media. Since its launch in August of 2011, ''Loudwire'' has secured exclusive ...

'' praised the performance, highlighting frontman Mike Kerr's "muscular groove" and noting that drummer Ben Thatcher "took the spotlight a bit during a mid-song breakdown".

Music video

The music video for "Lights Out" was also released on 13 April. Directed by The Sacred Egg and produced by Tom Birmingham and Natalie Arnett of Riff Raff Films, it features the band "performing the song in an empty room that slowly fills with water", after which "a horde of bodies burst out of invisible pools on the floor, ceiling and walls ... the room is cast in a deep red light and Thatcher and Kerr continue to play in the waist high water as dancers move around them", according to ''

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

'' writer Jon Blistein. Upon its release, "Lights Out" entered the

at number 96. It also registed on the

UK Singles Downloads Chart The UK Singles Downloads Chart is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC) on behalf of the music industry. Since July 2015, the chart week runs from Friday to Thursday, with the chart date given as the following Thursday. The main chart con ...

at number 78, topped the

, and reached number 46 on the

Scottish Singles Chart The Scottish Albums Chart is a chart compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC) which is based on how physical and digital sales towards the UK Albums Chart fare in Scotland. The official singles chart for Scotland, the Scottish Singles Chart, ...

. Outside of the UK, the song reached number one on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Mainstream Rock Mainstream rock (also known as heritage rock) is a radio format used by many commercial radio stations in the United States and Canada. Format background Mainstream rock stations represent the middle ground between classic rock and active rock ...

chart, number 20 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, number 45 on the Hot Rock Songs chart, and number three on the Canadian Rock Songs chart.

Personnel

*Mike Kerr – vocals, bass, keyboards, production *Ben Thatcher – drums, percussion, piano, production *Jolyon Thomas – production,

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

*Drew Bang – engineering *Tom Dalgety – mixing

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

External links

"Lights Out"
music video on YouTube {{authority control 2017 songs 2017 singles Royal Blood (band) songs Warner Records singles