Rock the House (Gorillaz song)

This article is about the Gorillaz song. For the DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince album, see Rock the House (album). For the song by Quiet Riot, see Guilty Pleasures (Quiet Riot album).

"Rock the House"
Song
B-side	"Ghost Train"

"Rock the House" is a song from the Gorillaz self-titled debut album, Gorillaz. It was also the third single from that album, released in October 2001. It peaked at the #18 position in the British charts.

Track listing

• CD1

1. "Rock the House"
2. "The Sounder" (edit)
3. "Faust"
4. "Rock the House" (video)

• CD2

1. "Rock the House"
2. "Ghost Train"
3. "Rock the House" (video)

• Cassette

1. "Rock the House"
2. "The Sounder"
3. "Ghost Train"

• DVD

1. "Rock The House" (Music Video)
2. "19-2000" (Soulchild Remix) (Music Video)
3. Photo Gallery
4. "19-2000" (Music Video)

Song

The song is one of the more hip hop-oriented songs on the album, along with "Clint Eastwood". It features a horn section loop sampled from Modesty Blaise by British jazz musician John Dankworth and a sample of "How many people ready to rock the house?" on the chorus. Rapper Del tha Funkee Homosapien appears once again as the character "Del the Ghost Rapper". It can also be noted Del is the only one doing vocals in this song as well as the fact that this is the only song on the album that does not have a part for Noodle.

In Gorillaz: Rise of the Ogre, 2-D also claims to have "played some divvy panpipes" for "Rock the House" during a track-by-track of the Gorillaz album. Murdoc is stunned by this and repeats his disbelief briefly during the section on the video. Though the track was selected for a single and received generally good reactions, Rise of the Ogre claims that Gorillaz was never particularly satisfied with "Rock the House": Murdoc expresses his opinions by claiming he "won this song in a raffle" and 2D thinks that it shouldn't have made it on the album at all.

In the radio edit of this song, the line which features the words "Shake your ass-crack" is cut. It features the orchestral hit type sounds which features after the trumpet riff at the start of the song so that the last two words are not heard.

Music video

The music video for "Rock the House" was directed by Jamie Hewlett and Pete Candeland. The inspiration for the video is said to have come from Hewlett's angst at the time, as the band was going through the process of being sued by another band named Doppelgangerz, who claimed that Gorillaz was a stolen idea.

It starts with a shot of the gate of Kong Studios. The camera then follows what appears to be a Tricycle Toy through the hallways of the building, a reference to the horror film The Shining. It leads past a door to a room where Gorillaz is performing. A white mist appears among them and Russel passes out. Then we see the floor has turned into the ghost of Del, who rises up and throws the Gorillaz to the ground. Del is outfitted with protective gear including a helmet. In Rise of the Ogre it explains he is dressed as Mr. Freedom. Del takes a few steps when from behind him a series of spring-loaded guns shoot billiard balls at him, but he diverts them with his glove. A series of inflatable female gorillas appear and start to do cheerleading. 2-D is dodging the balls being shot at him by doing dance moves, but then he is hit by a few balls and knocked out. Murdoc then begins to divert the balls with a specially-padded (but only at the front) pair of briefs he's wearing, hitting them away with his pelvic thrusts. He is successful a dozen times until a ball ricochets off the padded wall and hits his unprotected buttocks. The ball ricochets and hits Russel in the head, waking him up and making Del disappear. Russel looks around, noticing 2-D is unconscious, Murdoc is standing bandy legged, and Noodle is the only one in the original state. The final scene is a backwards shot of the first one.