| "Sgt. Rock (Is Going to Help Me)" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single byXTC | ||||
| from the albumBlack Sea | ||||
| Released | December 1980 | |||
| Recorded | 1980 | |||
| Studio | The Town House, London | |||
| Genre | Pop[1] | |||
| Length |
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| Label | Virgin | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Andy Partridge | |||
| Producer(s) | Steve Lillywhite | |||
| XTC singles chronology | ||||
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| Official audio | ||||
| "Sgt. Rock (Is Going to Help Me)" onYouTube | ||||
| Audio sample | ||||
"Sgt. Rock (Is Going to Help Me)" is a song by the British bandXTC. Written by frontmanAndy Partridge, it was released as the band's 12th single in December 1980, charting in theUK Singles Chart at No. 16 on 21 February 1981,[2] being XTC's biggest single chart success to that date. The song also reached theIrish Singles Chart, peaking at No. 20.[3]
The band performed the song onTop of the Pops[4] and the Saturday morning showMulti-Coloured Swap Shop.[5] The tune itself was recorded atThe Town House in London in June 1980. The 7" single is packed with a poster, showing aSgt. Rock comic. The song is featured on the compilation albumsWaxworks: Some Singles 1977–1982,The Compact XTC, andFossil Fuel: The XTC Singles 1977–92.
Partridge has since expressed disdain with the song saying: "... [it] embarrasses the shit out of me. Of all the tunes that I've written, that made it to tape, this makes me cringe the worse. It's not the music, that's solid enough. All the instruments in the track mesh nicely enough, but the lyrical sentiment, oh dear. It was supposed to be ironic, you know, nerdy comic fan imagines two dimensional hero can help him with his unsuccessful chat up technique. It did not work. It just came out limply crap.Virgin insisted it be included in this set, otherwise I'd gladly erase it from our history. We all make mistakes".[6]
| Chart (1980) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Irish Singles Chart | 20 |
| UK Singles Chart | 16 |
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)