| "Rubber Bullets" | ||||||||
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| Single by 10cc | ||||||||
| from the album 10cc | ||||||||
| B-side | "Waterfall" | |||||||
| Released | June 1973 | |||||||
| Format | 7" | |||||||
| Genre | Rock, Pop | |||||||
| Length | 5:19 | |||||||
| Label | UK Records | |||||||
| Writer(s) | Kevin Godley, Lol Creme and Graham Gouldman | |||||||
| Producer | Kevin Godley, Lol Creme and Graham Gouldman | |||||||
| 10cc singles chronology | ||||||||
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"Rubber Bullets" is a song by 10cc from their debut self-titled album.
Written and sung by Kevin Godley, Lol Creme and Graham Gouldman and produced by 10cc, "Rubber Bullets" was the band's first number one single in the United Kingdom, spending a single week at the top in June 1973. It fared worse in the USA where it peaked at #73. A tongue in cheek homage to Jailhouse Rock with a Beach Boys influence, it attracted some controversy at the time because of the British Army's use of rubber bullets to quell rioting in Northern Ireland.
In a BBC Radio Wales interview[1], guitarist Eric Stewart explained:
| “ | That's a double track solo on that. It's, it's very, very high, of course, going through a Marshall stack, then I slowed the tape to half speed – seven and a half [inches per second] – and recorded it, you know, going [plays singles picked notes slowly] and when you speed it back up you've got an octave up, but there's a screaming fuzz on the top of it, that's an octave higher than it was recorded. So it's a very unusual sound done in that way, just an experiment. Because 10cc, we love to experiment, we used to love to waste time. And having the beauty of having our own studio, we didn't have a clock in there so we weren't restricted. | ” |
Band member Eric Stewart recalled:
I was amazed, but pleased that the BBC never banned the track, although they limited its airplay, because they thought it was about the ongoing Northern Ireland conflicts. In fact, it was about an Attica State Prison riot like the ones in the old James Cagney films.—Eric Stewart, 1000 UK #1 Hits by Jon Kutner and Spencer Leigh
Graham Gouldman remembered:
Kevin and Lol had the chorus and part of the verse but then got stuck. We all loved the chorus and realized it was a hit in itself, so we wanted to persist with it. I chipped in the line 'we've all got balls and brains, but some's got balls and chains.' One of my finer couplets.—Graham Gouldman, 1000 UK #1 Hits by Jon Kutner and Spencer Leigh
"Rubber Bullets" was used as the theme song to the pilot episode of American animated TV series Superjail!, which aired in May 2007.
"Rubber Bullets" can be heard on Finnish movie "Simpauttaja" made in 1973, based on the books by Heikki Turunen. It is played at a bar from jukebox.
| Preceded by "Can the Can" by Suzi Quatro |
UK number one single 23 June 1973 for one week |
Succeeded by "Skweeze Me Pleeze Me" by Slade |
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