Don't Rock the Jukebox (song)
"Don't Rock the Jukebox" | ||||
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Single by Alan Jackson | ||||
from the album Don't Rock the Jukebox | ||||
B-side | "Walkin' the Floor Over Me" | |||
Released | April 29, 1991 | |||
Format |
7" 45 RPM Promo-only CD single | |||
Recorded | August 21, 1990[1] | |||
Genre | Country | |||
Length | 2:52 | |||
Label | Arista 2220 | |||
Writer(s) |
Alan Jackson Roger Murrah Keith Stegall | |||
Producer(s) |
Scott Hendricks Keith Stegall | |||
Alan Jackson singles chronology | ||||
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"Don't Rock the Jukebox" is a song co-written and performed by American country music artist Alan Jackson. It was released in April 1991 as the lead single from the album of the same name, Don't Rock the Jukebox. It was his second consecutive Number One single on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks charts. Jackson wrote the song with Roger Murrah and Keith Stegall.
The song also received an ASCAP award for Country Song of the Year in 1992.[2] That same year, the song was covered by Alvin and the Chipmunks, featuring commentary by Alan Jackson himself, for their 1992 album Chipmunks in Low Places.
Background and writing
The song is sung from the perspective of a heartbroken bar patron who wishes to hear country music to ease his heartbreak. As such, he tells the other patrons in the bar, "don't rock the jukebox" (i.e. play country instead of rock).
Alan wrote about the inspiration for the song in the liner notes from The Greatest Hits Collection: "I wanna tell you a little story about an incident that happened on the road a couple years ago when me and my band, The Strayhorns, were playing this little truck stop lounge up in Doswell,_Virginia - a place called Geraldine's. We'd been there for four or five nights, you know, playing those dance sets. It'd been a long night, I took a break and walked over to the Jukebox. Roger, my bass player, was already over there reading the records, you know. I leaned up on the corner of it and one of the legs was broken off, jukebox sort of wobbling around, you know. And Roger looked up at me and said..."[1]
Critical reception
Kevin John Coyne of Country Universe gave the song an A grade," saying that the song "defies explanation" because Jackson "perfectly inhabits the song’s affable weariness, and because Scott Hendricks and Keith Stegall arrange it to honky-tonk heaven."[3]
Music video
The music video for the song, directed by Julien Temple, consists of Jackson playing his guitar and singing the song while standing in front of a jukebox. As he does this, a seated figure in the shadows nods his head and taps the table to the beat. Several people come and dance in front of the jukebox during the song, while some people who come up to the jukebox shake it around angrily (thus prompting Jackson to sing the title line of the song). At the end of the video, the seated figure is revealed to be none other than George Jones (who is mentioned in the song's lyrics several times). Also about a minute into it, Hal Smith, who played Otis Campbell the town drunk on the Andy Griffith Show in the 60's appears as a bum who tries playing the jukebox.
Chart positions
Chart (1991) | Peak position |
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Canada Country Tracks (RPM)[4] | 1 |
US Hot Country Songs (Billboard)[5] | 1 |
Year-end charts
Chart (1991) | Position |
---|---|
Canada Country Tracks (RPM)[6] | 8 |
US Country Songs (Billboard)[7] | 1 |
References
- 1 2 The Greatest Hits Collection (CD). Alan Jackson. Arista Records. 1995. 07822 18801.
- ↑ "Spotlight on Alan Jackson". About.com. Retrieved 2007-07-31.
- ↑ CountryUniverse.net Review by Kevin John Coyne
- ↑ "Top RPM Country Tracks: Issue 1586." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. August 3, 1991. Retrieved August 16, 2013.
- ↑ "Alan Jackson – Chart history" Billboard Hot Country Songs for Alan Jackson.
- ↑ "RPM Top 100 Country Tracks of 1991". RPM. December 21, 1991. Retrieved August 16, 2013.
- ↑ "Best of 1991: Country Songs". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. 1991. Retrieved August 16, 2013.
External links
Preceded by "The Thunder Rolls" by Garth Brooks |
Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks number-one single July 6-July 20, 1991 |
Succeeded by "I Am a Simple Man" by Ricky Van Shelton |
Preceded by "Point of Light" by Randy Travis |
RPM Country Tracks number-one single August 3, 1991 | |
Preceded by "Nobody's Home" by Clint Black |
Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks number-one song of the year 1991 |
Succeeded by "I Saw the Light" by Wynonna |