Snow (Hey Oh)

"Snow (Hey Oh)"
Single by Red Hot Chili Peppers
from the album Stadium Arcadium
B-side "Funny Face"
"I'll Be Your Domino"
Released November 20, 2006
Format CD single, vinyl, digital download
Recorded March - December 2005 at The Mansion in Los Angeles, California
Genre Alternative rock
Length 5:34 (album version)
4:37 (radio edit)
Label Warner Bros.
Writer(s) Flea, Frusciante, Kiedis, Smith
Producer(s) Rick Rubin
Red Hot Chili Peppers singles chronology
"Tell Me Baby"
(2006)		 "Snow ((Hey Oh))"
(2006)		 "Desecration Smile"
(2007)
Music video
"Snow (Hey Oh)" on YouTube

"Snow (Hey Oh)" (stylized "Snow ((Hey Oh))") is a song by the Red Hot Chili Peppers from their 2006 double album, Stadium Arcadium. The song was released as the follow-up single to "Tell Me Baby" on November 20, 2006 and became the band's third straight number one hit on the Billboard Modern Rock chart, a spot it held for five straight weeks. The single was their 11th to top that chart, giving the band the all-time record for any artist on that chart, a record they still hold to date and extended in 2011.

Vocalist Anthony Kiedis states that the track is "about surviving, starting fresh. I've made a mess of everything, but I have a blank slate—a canvas of snow—and I get to start over."[1]

On June 28, 2012, at the band's concert at Goffertpark in Nijmegen, Netherlands during the I'm with You Tour, the band performed the song for the first time since the end of the Stadium Arcadium Tour nearly five years earlier.

Song background

It is a characteristically soft, melodic song, much like those from the band's prior album By the Way. The song is driven by a rapid guitar riff by John Frusciante, and makes use of double stops on the bass by Flea. The song is written in the key of B major.

Frusciante.net revealed that this was going to be the third of seven songs released as a single from Stadium Arcadium. Before even being released as a single, it climbed to #53 in the UK iTunes top 100 on May 13. Like its predecessor "Tell Me Baby", it peaked at #16 in the UK Singles Chart.

On January 17, 2007, "Snow (Hey Oh)" became the band's record-breaking 11th number-one Modern Rock single in the United States and is the third consecutive chart-topping Modern Rock single from Stadium Arcadium.

In Germany, it was the band's most successful song, reaching #5, making it the band's only Top-10-song there.[2]

In 2008 "Snow (Hey Oh)" was used as one of the official themes of WWE WrestleMania XXIV. It was also used in Scrubs in the two-part episode My Finale and during the end credits in Death Note: The Last Name.

The song can heard in a flashback scene in the Cold Case episode "Sabotage"

Music video

In an interview, Tony Kaye, who also directed the video for "Dani California", told MTV he would be directing the video for the song. However, his footage wasn't used. Instead, Warner commissioned director Nick Wickham to shoot a new video showing the band at the 17 October and 18 October 2006 shows at the Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey, along with black and white film of fans at the parking lot and lines at the live show.

Track listings and formats

CD-single
  1. "Snow (Hey Oh)" – 5:34
  2. "Permutation" (Live) – 3:43
Maxi-single 9362 42983-2
  1. "Snow (Hey Oh)" – 5:34
  2. "Funny Face" – 4:46
  3. "I'll Be Your Domino" – 3:54
International CD-single 5439 15624-2
  1. "Snow (Hey Oh)" – 5:34
  2. "Funny Face" – 4:46
7" Picture disk 5439 15623-7
  1. "Snow (Hey Oh)" – 5:34
  2. "Funny Face" – 4:46
iTunes version single
  1. "Snow (Hey Oh)" – 5:34
  2. "Funny Face" – 4:46
  3. "I'll Be Your Domino" – 3:54
  4. "Permutation" (Live) – 3:43

Chart performance

Chart (2006-2007) Peak
position[3]
Australia Singles Top 50 35
Austrian Singles Chart 5
Belgium Singles Top 50 9
Czech Republic (Rádio Top 100)[4] 3
Dutch Top 40 5
German Singles Chart 5
Irish Singles Chart 13
Italian Singles Chart 24
New Zealand Singles Chart 10
Polish Singles Chart[5] 6
Portugal Singles Top 50 40
Slovak Singles Chart 5
Swedish Singles Chart 19
Swiss Singles Chart 9
UK Singles Chart 16
US Billboard Hot 100 22
US Billboard Hot Modern Rock Tracks 1
US Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks 3
US Billboard Hot Adult Top 40 Tracks 21
Venezuela Pop Rock (Record Report)[6] 4

Year-end charts

Chart (2007) Rank
German Singles Chart[7] 42
US Billboard Hot 100 91
Region Certification Sales/shipments
Italy (FIMI)[8] Gold 10,000double-dagger

*sales figures based on certification alone
^shipments figures based on certification alone
xunspecified figures based on certification alone

Preceded by
"Anna-Molly" by Incubus		 Billboard Hot Modern Rock Tracks number-one single
January 27, 2007 – February 24, 2007 		Succeeded by
"Pain" by Three Days Grace

References

  1. ↑ "Tattooed Love Boys". invisible-movement.de. 1 June 2006. Retrieved 28 July 2011.
  2. ↑ "Die ganze Musik im Internet: Charts, News, etc.". musicline.de. Retrieved 28 July 2011.
  3. ↑ "Red Hot Chili Peppers' Snow (Hey Oh): Chart Positions". ACharts. Retrieved 29 June 2009.
  4. ↑ "ČNS IFPI" (in Czech). Hitparáda – Radio Top 100 Oficiální. IFPI Czech Republic. Note: insert {{{year}}}{{{week}}} into search.
  5. ↑ "Polish Singles Chart |".
  6. ↑ "Pop Rock" (in Spanish). Record Report. 2007-02-17. Archived from the original on 2006-11-25.
  7. ↑ "Singles chart 2007" (in German). MTV. Archived from the original on 15 June 2009. Retrieved 28 July 2011.
  8. ↑ "Italian single certifications – Red Hot Chili Peppers – Snow (Hey OH)" (in Italian). Federation of the Italian Music Industry. Retrieved January 19, 2015. Select Online in the field Sezione. Enter Red Hot Chili Peppers in the field Filtra. The certification will load automatically