Republica – Ready to Go
1996
269K Likes
Best comments
1.“Legend has it, the cameraman is still zooming in to this day.”
More comments
- 2.“Drinking game: take a shot every time the camera zooms in.”
- 3.“Many zoom lenses gave their lives so we could enjoy this. Let us be thankful.”
The story
Republica were an English band fronted by Saffron, and Ready to Go was her battle cry. She has said it was written for young women trying to make it in a music business run by men who didn't much want them there. The song had two lives. The first UK release, in April 1996, was slower and keyboard-heavy, and it stalled at number 43. Then producer Ben Grosse remixed it faster and heavier, with the guitars crashing in seconds after the start. That version made the US Hot 100, hit number seven on alternative radio, and came back home in 1997 to reach number 13.
Each version got its own video. The 1996 one was shot on a sunny East London rooftop, with Saffron jumping around and taking breaks to play Virtua Fighter 2 and Hang-On GP on a Sega Saturn. The 1997 remix video moves into a warehouse: the band plays while Saffron jumps, dances, mugs for the camera and sings through a megaphone, all chopped up with rapid edits, zooms and fake color.
After that the song never left. It landed on ESPN's Jock Jams, in a 1998 Mitsubishi Galant ad and in Vegas Vacation, and on loop at stadiums from Sunderland to the New York Rangers' rink. Cedar Point made it the theme of its Top Thrill Dragster roller coaster, and Billboard put it on its list of the 100 greatest jock jams. Not bad for a song that flopped the first time out.
