"Never Say Never" is a 1982 song by the new wave band

Romeo Void Romeo Void was an American new wave/post punk band from San Francisco, California, formed in 1979. The band primarily consisted of saxophonist Benjamin Bossi, vocalist Debora Iyall, guitarist Peter Woods, and bassist Frank Zincavage. The band ...

. One of their best-known songs, "Never Say Never" was a favorite on early

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

, featuring a black-and-white

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 promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

that spoofs

Jean-Luc Godard Jean-Luc Godard ( , ; ; 3 December 193013 September 2022) was a French-Swiss film director, screenwriter, and film critic. He rose to prominence as a pioneer of the French New Wave film movement of the 1960s, alongside such filmmakers as Fran� ...

's '' Breathless''. The song is driven by a throbbing,

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...

bassline Bassline (also known as a bass line or bass part) is the term used in many styles of music, such as blues, jazz, funk, Dub music, dub and electronic music, electronic, traditional music, traditional, or classical music for the low-pitched Part ( ...

and punctuated by jagged guitar and

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pr ...

, incorporating

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and non-roc ...

influences. The song reached #27 on the Mainstream Rock songs chart in October 1982.

Composition

Musically, the song has been described as

, new wave, and

dance-rock Dance-rock is a dance-infused genre of rock music. It is a post-disco genre connected with pop rock and post-punk with fewer rhythm and blues influences. It originated in the early 1980s, following the decline in popularity of both punk and disco ...

Legacy

The song was featured in the 1984 film '' Reckless'' starring

Aidan Quinn Aidan Quinn (born March 8, 1959) is an American actor who made his film debut in '' Reckless'' (1984). He has starred in over 80 feature films, including ''Desperately Seeking Susan'' (1985), '' The Mission'' (1986), ''Stakeout'' (1987), ''Aval ...

as a football star and renegade. Quinn's character takes over the school dance's DJ booth to play the single, much to the dismay of all his classmates. A dance sequence ensues with Quinn's character moshing about while a somewhat distraught

Daryl Hannah Daryl Christine Hannah (born December 3, 1960) is an American actress and environmental activist. She made her screen debut in Brian De Palma's supernatural horror film '' The Fury'' (1978). She has starred in various movies across the years, i ...

tries to figure out how to dance with him. A small segment of the song was featured in a scene of the film '' Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story''. It also was included in the 2013 film '' The Wolf of Wall Street''. In 2016, it was featured in the show ''

Ash vs Evil Dead Ash or ashes are the solid remnants of fires. Specifically, ''ash'' refers to all non-aqueous, non-gaseous residues that remain after something burns. In analytical chemistry, to analyse the mineral and metal content of chemical samples, ash is ...

'' during a scene of the season two episode ''Trapped Inside''.

Covers

*In 2000 by

Queens of the Stone Age Queens of the Stone Age (commonly abbreviated QOTSA) is an American rock band formed in 1996 in Palm Desert, California. The band was founded by vocalist and guitarist Josh Homme, who has been the only constant member throughout multiple line- ...

, as a bonus track on the album ''

Rated R Rated R refers to movies (and also to TV shows and video games in certain systems) that have been given a "restricted" rating by one of the following film rating systems: * Motion Picture Association of America film rating system * Canadian Home Vid ...

''; the same version was also featured on the soundtrack album of the

Thomas Jane Thomas Jane (born Thomas Elliott III; February 22, 1969) is an American actor. He is known for appearing in the films Padamati Sandhya Ragam (1987), ''Boogie Nights'' (1997), ''Deep Blue Sea (1999 film), Deep Blue Sea'' (1999), ''The Punisher ...

film ''The Punisher'' (2004). A single was also released in 2000. *In 2009, the band

Julien-K Julien-K is an American electronic rock band based in Long Beach, California, that began as a side project for electronic music created by Amir Derakh and Ryan Shuck from Orgy, alongside Anthony 'Fu' Valcic. The band's name comes from the movie ...

covered "Never Say Never" on their debut album ''

Death to Analog ''Death to Analog'' is the first album by the American rock band Julien-K, which had a limited release on March 10, 2009, with a vinyl release on April 7, the digital release and worldwide release on October 20, and the European/Digi-Pak releas ...

'', listing the song title as "Nvr Say Nvr".

''Never Say Never'' (EP)

An EP by American new wave band

was released in 1981. It was released on CD in 2006 by Wounded Bird Records, as four bonus tracks to their reissue of '' Benefactor''. All tracks by

Debora Iyall Debora Kay Iyall (; ; born 29 April 1954), is a Cowlitz Native American artist and was lead singer for the new wave band Romeo Void. Iyall got her surname from her family adopting their ancestor Iyallwahawa's "first" name written at the time as ...

, Peter Woods, Frank Zincavage, Benjamin Bossi and Larry Carter. # "Never Say Never" – 6:06 # "In the Dark" – 4:33 # "Present Tense" – 5:47 # "Not Safe" – 3:57 ;Personnel *

–

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

*Peter Woods –

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

*Benjamin Bossi –

*Frank Zincavage – bass *Larry Carter –

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

Chart positions

;Single

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Never Say Never (Song) 1981 songs 1982 singles Romeo Void songs Columbia Records singles Song recordings produced by Ric Ocasek 1981 debut EPs 415 Records EPs Black-and-white music videos Songs written by Debora Iyall