| "A-Punk" | |||||||
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| Single by Vampire Weekend | |||||||
| from the album Vampire Weekend | |||||||
| Released | August 28, 2008 October 27, 2008 (Re-Release) |
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| Recorded | 2007 | ||||||
| Genre | Indie pop, surf rock | ||||||
| Length | 2:17 | ||||||
| Label | XL | ||||||
| Producer | Rostam Batmanglij | ||||||
| Vampire Weekend singles chronology | |||||||
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"A-Punk" is a single by indie rock band Vampire Weekend, released on February 28, 2008. The band made their network television debut by performing "A-Punk" on The Late Show with David Letterman. In October 2011, NME placed it at number 62 on its list "150 Best Tracks of the Past 15 Years".[1]
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The music video directed by Garth Jennings, that was said to convey the song's "spiky energy," used footage of the band performing as sped up stop-motion figures, simulating winter and underwater scenes during the performance. Despite the band being sped up, they "never miss an upstroke beat."[2] The video made its worldwide premiere on January 7, 2008 on MTV2's Subterranean indie video block.
Mark Richardson of Pitchfork Media described "A-Punk" as having a "spunky drive, pogo-inducing rhythm, and subtle but hugely effective sonic accents" and said that "while solid, [it] isn't one of the stronger songs on Vampire Weekend".[2] Drowned in Sound writer Alex Denney, commented that "A-Punk" was not the best song from their debut album due to it being "a little too uptempo to let their disarmingly clever melodies breathe", but stated "for the flute-aping synths and bottled-sunshine guitars alone you need this in your life."[3] The review from Greg Rose of Gigwise, was mixed. Rose said that although the song lacked originality, it "manages to sound unique" due to the lyrical inventiveness of lines by Ezra Koenig such as, "His honor drove southward seeking exotica/cut his teeth on turquoise harmonicas", which were described as being "perky" and gave the song "a buzzing zip."[4] Prefix magazine writer, Jeff Klingman, said the song's "cool organ breeze and a shifting drum beat save the day", preventing "too much snark from being slung at their New York Times featured, digitally distributed exclusively by Other Music, Columbia University, golden boy asses."[5] In reference to "A-Punk", The Times writer Ben Blackmore, said, "Do believe the hype."[6]
The song peaked at #55 on the UK Singles Chart and #25 on Billboard magazine's Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart.[7][8]
On the 27th October 2008, Vampire Weekend re-released "A-Punk" in the UK, in the hope of achieving a higher Chart placement on the UK Singles Chart. However, "A-Punk" only managed to peak at #63, which was significantly less than the placement at #55 earlier that year.
| Chart (2008) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| UK Singles Chart | 55 |
| U.S. Bubbling Under Hot 100 | 6 |
| U.S. Billboard Pop 100 | 91 |
| U.S. Billboard Modern Rock Tracks | 25 |
In 2010, contemporary a cappella group Rockapella covered "A-Punk" on their album Bang.
The song is featured in the video games Lego Rock Band, Guitar Hero 5,[9] Just Dance 2, SingStar Guitar, and the 2008 film Step Brothers.
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