Spaceman

"Spaceman"
Single by Babylon Zoo
from the album The Boy With The X-Ray Eyes
B-side	"Blue Nude" "Metal Vision" "5th Dimension Remix" "E Before I Remix"
Released	1995
Format	CD, Cassette, 12"
Recorded	1995
Genre	Space Rock Alternative rock
Label	EMI
Writer(s)	Jas Mann
Producer	Jas Mann Steve Power
Babylon Zoo singles chronology
"Spaceman" (1995) "Animal Army" (1996)

"Spaceman" is a song by Wolverhampton, England singer-songwriter Jas Mann, of Babylon Zoo. Known for its heavily distorted guitars and metallic, robotic-sounding vocals, it went straight to Number 1 on the UK singles chart on 21 January 1996, selling 418,000 copies in the first week of release. At the time it was the fastest selling single by a debut artist in the UK.

Song history

Promotional copies of "Spaceman" had been distributed, and the Arthur Baker remix was chosen to tie in with the release on 1 December 1995 of a new Levi's jeans TV advert titled "Planet" which was directed by Vaughan Arnell and Anthea Benton. The advertisement concentrated on the sped-up vocal section at the beginning and end of the song, which was the product of an Arthur Baker remix. The single went straight to Number 1 on the UK singles chart on 21 January 1996, selling 418,000 copies in the first week of release, at the time being the fastest selling single by a debut artist in the UK. The single remained at number 1 in the UK for 5 weeks, selling 893,000 copies in this period. The single also went to Number 1 in the single charts in twenty-three countries.

On the promotional version of "Spaceman" there are extra lyrics at the start of the song, with Jas saying "I killed your mother, I killed your sister" and then later "I killed you all". These lyrics were later taken out of the song and replaced with the Arthur Baker introduction; although, the "I killed you all" lyric is still buried in the song (it can be heard after the first chorus). There was a lower budget video made for this version.

In 2006 "Spaceman" featured on trailers for Ant and Dec's film Alien Autopsy, the BBC's children's channel, CBeebies for the animated pre-school series Lunar Jim, and Network Ten's advertisement for Battlestar Galactica. "Spaceman" is also used in Eesti otsib superstaari (Pop Idol Estonia).

Cover versions

• Katie Melua has performed an acoustic version of this song live.^[1]
• Metal band Kovenant covered this song in their album Animatronic.
• Cinema Bizarre covered this song both live and in a studio recorded track.

Track listings

CD Promo Single 1995 WEA (YZ925CDDJ)

1. "Spaceman" (radio version) — 3:50
2. "Spaceman" (Arthur meets the spaceman) — 5:56

CD Promo 1995 EMI (CDEMDJ 416)

1. "Spaceman" (radio edit) - 4.08

7" Single

1. "Spaceman" (radio edit) — 4:08
2. "Spaceman" (the 5th dimension) — 5:09

CD Single 1996 EMI (CDEM 416)

1. "Spaceman" (radio edit) — 4:08
2. "Metal Vision" — 3:48
3. "Blue Nude" — 2:09
4. "Spaceman" (the 5th dimension) — 5:09

CD Single ('The Only Original Remixes') 1996 EMI (7243 8 82721 2 4)

1. "Spaceman" (radio edit) — 4:08
2. "Spaceman" (the 5th dimension) — 5:09
3. "Spaceman" (Arthur meets the spaceman) — 5:56
4. "Spaceman" (E before I) — 6:37

Certifications

Charts

References