| Rocks | |
| Cover: | Rocks Funky Jam cover.jpg |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | Primal Scream |
| Album: | Give Out But Don't Give Up |
| A-Side: | "Funky Jam" (Hot Ass mix) |
| B-Side: | Everybody Needs Somebody |
| Genre: | Alternative rock[1] |
| Length: | 3:36 |
| Label: | Creation |
| Producer: | Tom Dowd |
| Prev Title: | Damaged |
| Prev Year: | 1992 |
| Rocks | |
| Title2: | Funky Jam |
| Next Title: | Jailbird |
| Next Year: | 1994 |
"Rocks" is a song by the Scottish rock band Primal Scream that came out in 1994 with the release of Give Out But Don't Give Up, which was the group's fourth studio album. This track was the first indication of the band's evolution in musical genre, contrasting with the approaches utilized in Primal Scream's previous album, titled Screamadelica, which had gotten released in 1991 and featured dance-related leanings. "Rocks" (and the Give Out But Don't Give Up album as a whole) featured a more bluesy hard rock approach akin to arena-friendly songs of the past, being inspired by British artists such as T. Rex, the Rolling Stones, and Faces.
The Faces' own Rod Stewart would later cover the song himself, including a version on his 1998 album that he titled When We Were the New Boys. Music journalist Stephen Thomas Erlewine highlighted the peculiarity of Stewart "tackling the music of his Brit-pop offspring" while praising the track for AllMusic. Erlewine directly compared the artist's assertive interpretation of "Rocks" to Stewart's previously released song "Hot Legs".[2]
In retrospective terms, music journalist Steve Huey (who has also been associated with AllMusic) highlighted the song as a part of a musical trend involving "guitar-oriented, post-Nirvana alternative rock" performed "by bands who received some measure of radio or [even] MTV exposure". He described Primal Scream in the context of "Rocks" as one of a group of "groundbreaking cult artists who scored at least a little crossover success in the alternative mainstream" alongside bands such as the Afghan Whigs, Dinosaur Jr., and Screaming Trees.[1] Similarly, Johnny Loftus (of the same publication) retrospectively described "Rocks" as sounding "raucous" and wrote in a supportive yet glib fashion that the song "is sure to please your English foreign exchange student friend."[3]
"Rocks" was released as a single on 28 February 1994, and the track reached the number seven spot on the UK Singles Chart. It had served as a double A-side with another of the band's songs, which the group titled "Funky Jam". Together, they were the highest-charting Primal Scream single until "Country Girl" reached number five in 2006. In 2024, the song received a gold certification from the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for sales and streams exceeding 400,000.
All tracks were written by Bobby Gillespie, Andrew Innes, and Robert Young.
UK 7-inch and cassette single[4] [5]
UK 12-inch and CD single; Japanese CD single[6] [7] [8]
US and New Zealand 7-inch single[9]
| Chart (1994) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Europe (Eurochart Hot 100)[10] | 21 |
| Iceland (Íslenski Listinn Topp 40)[11] | 5 |
| Region | Date | Format(s) | Label(s) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | 28 February 1994 | Creation | [13] | |
| Japan | 24 March 1994 | CD | [14] |