"Spaceman" is a song by American

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...

band 4 Non Blondes. It is the sixth track on their only studio album, ''

Bigger, Better, Faster, More! ''Bigger, Better, Faster, More!'' is the only studio album released by alternative rock band 4 Non Blondes, released in 1992. The first single was "Dear Mr. President", which bass player Christa Hillhouse told Songfacts "was about the hierarchy ...

'' (1992), and was released as the album's third single in September 1993. While the album's lead single, " What's Up?", became a worldwide hit, "Spaceman" reached the top 20 only in Austria, Iceland, Italy and Switzerland and missed the US ''

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Composition

"Spaceman" is composed in the

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

G major G major (or the key of G) is a major scale based on G, with the pitches G, A, B, C, D, E, and F. Its key signature has one sharp. Its relative minor is E minor and its parallel minor is G minor. The G major scale is: Notable compositi ...

and is set in common time with a slow

tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (often ...

of 69 beats per minute. The song is three minutes and forty seconds long.

Critical reception

Tom Demalon from

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

stated that the song's "yearning lyrics are delivered over a quiet, martial drum rhythm."

Larry Flick Larry Flick is an American journalist, former dance music columnist, single reviewer, and Senior Talent Editor for ''Billboard'' magazine, where he worked for 14 years. Now he produces and hosts Sirius XM radio shows. Flick started in the music ...

from ''

'' wrote, "Follow-up to the gold-selling " What's Up?" is fueled by a similar wall-shattering vocal performance. The tune itself is a strumming, guitar-anchored

rock ballad A sentimental ballad is an emotional style of music that often deals with romantic and intimate relationships, and to a lesser extent, loneliness, death, war, drug abuse, politics and religion, usually in a poignant but solemn manner.J. M. Cu ...

, deriving much of its motion from a rolling, militaristic beat. While it is not immediately catchy, slowly ingratiating track will likely meet with warm approval at top 40 and album-rock levels." Alan Jones from ''

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'' gave it three out of five, adding that the song "offers pretty much the same mix s its predecessor with the same unrestrained vocals and loosely fitting instrumentation. But it's a less heady brew that won't fare quite so well."

Music video

The song's

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 ...

was directed by

Scott Kalvert Scott Kalvert (August 15, 1964 – March 5, 2014) was an American film director, known mainly for his 1995 film ''The Basketball Diaries (film), The Basketball Diaries'', starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark Wahlberg, and 2002's ''Deuces Wild ...

and filmed in Los Angeles. It features the band performing the song in several locations, including inside a house with colorful lights, in a sunny park, and under a

full moon The full moon is the lunar phase when the Moon appears fully illuminated from Earth's perspective. This occurs when Earth is located between the Sun and the Moon (when the ecliptic coordinate system, ecliptic longitudes of the Sun and Moon opp ...

. The video was added to the playlists of

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and The Box on the week ending September 26, 1993.

Track listings

All songs were written by Linda Perry, with co-writing from Shaunna Hall on "Spaceman" and Roger Rocha on "Strange". * US cassette single :A. "Spaceman" – 3:30 :B. "Pleasantly Blue" – 2:27 * UK CD single # "Spaceman" – 3:40 # "Strange" – 4:04 # "Pleasantly Blue" – 2:27 # "What's Up?" (remix) – 4:51 * UK 7-inch and cassette single # "Spaceman" – 3:40 # "Strange" – 4:04 * UK 12-inch single :A1. "Spaceman" – 3:40 :A2. "Strange" – 4:04 :B1. " What's Up?" (remix) – 4:51 :B2. "What's Up?" (piano version) – 4:09

Credits and personnel

Credits are lifted from the ''

'' album booklet. Studios * Recorded at

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(

Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

) * Mixed and overdubbed at The Bunker ( Malibu, California) * Mastered at Precision Mastering (Los Angeles) Personnel * Linda Perry – writing, vocals, acoustic and electric guitar * Shaunna Hall – writing, additional guitar * Roger Rocha – guitar * Christa Hillhouse – bass, vocals * Dawn Richardson – drums * Rory Kaplan –

Mellotron The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical musical instrument developed in Birmingham, England, in 1963. It is played by pressing its keys, each of which pushes a length of magnetic tape against a capstan, which pulls it across a playback head. A ...

* Suzie Katayama – accordion * David Tickle – production, recording, mixing * Mark Hensley – engineering * Stephen Marcussen – mastering

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Release history

References

{{Authority control 1990s ballads 1992 songs 1993 singles 4 Non Blondes songs Interscope Records singles Songs about outer space Rock ballads Songs written by Linda Perry