Rough Landing, Holly
Encyclopedia
"Rough Landing, Holly" is a song by the American pop punk
band Yellowcard
. The song was written collaboratively by all the band members for their fifth album, Lights and Sounds
(2006). The track is built around an introductory guitar sound, followed by a soaring chorus, and heavy beating drums. "Rough Landing, Holly" is one of the songs from the album that is based on a character, Holly Wood, that Yellowcard had developed while working on Lights and Sounds.
The song was released on May 6, 2006, as the second single from Lights and Sounds and reached number 27 on Billboard
' s Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart. Internationally, the track appeared for one week in the Australian and New Zealand charts at number 49. "Rough Landing, Holly" was well-received by music critics, who noted the track's general sound. After its release, it was featured in the soundtrack of the 2006 video game, FlatOut 2
.
The music video was directed by Marc Webb
, who had previously collaborated with the band on their previous music videos. In an interview, Webb revealed the video was the sequel to the band's 2004 video "Ocean Avenue
". Webb also revealed that unlike "Ocean Avenue", in which Key is running away from bad guys, this video shows Key running away from his "own personal demons".
, they developed a character, Holly Wood, who served as a narrator and protagonist for the album's storyline. The character also came about when the band began writing about their hatred for life in Los Angeles. Vocalist Ryan Key
, in discussion of the character, said, "Holly became this person on the record who appears in a lot of the songs, and at times you love her and at times you hate her. At times she's good to you and sometimes she's bad." Violinist Sean Mackin, also in discussion of the character, said: "...Ryan didn’t have a romantic interest in his life and he didn’t want to write 'Only One' again, and he wanted to create something new. A lot of songwriters narrate and create fictional characters ... and Holly was a character where sometimes you love her and sometimes you hate her, and she was someone he could get all his emotions out through." Key revealed that the song "Rough Landing, Holly", which features the Holly character, was his "favorite song" from Lights and Sounds.
Written in the key of E major
, the beat
is set in common time
and moves at a moderate 175 beats per minute. The song's musical structure features an introductory guitar sound, followed by a soaring chorus, and heavy beating drums. Sean Mackin plays the violin in "Rough Landing, Holly". During discussion of the track listing in Lights and Sounds, Yellowcard revealed that "Rough Landing, Holly" spoke about the "difficulty of giving up its allure". The band explained the lyrics, "And I still can't get out / She's all I think about / Can't let her go/ ...She moves fast, takes control / And like a heart attack I know I can't turn back", were written because of that particular reason.
' s Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart. Internationally, the track appeared on both the Australian Recording Industry Association
(ARIA) and New Zealand charts at the number 49 position, and individually spent one week on the charts. "Rough Landing, Holly" was featured in the soundtrack of the 2006 video game, FlatOut 2
.
The song received positive reception from critics. Jenny Eliscu of Rolling Stone
wrote that "Rough Landing, Holly" and "Lights and Sounds", the latter being the title track, "boast seismic alt-rock riffs and mosh-worthy refrains." Tom Beaujor of Entertainment Weekly
reported that the song was a "blustery tale of puppy love gone to the dogs that will surely make for a great ringtone." Sputnikmusic
wrote: "So how typical to have the next song, 'Rough Landing, Holly', slap you right on the mouth with a face-melting violin solo. Yeah, a violin solo. And its pretty damn good. The beat follows right along with impossible-sounding drum rolls while the guitar distortion is the backbone of the song." In the Allmusic review, critic Heather Phares wrote, "...Yellowcard expands on its expected sound. Songs like the title track, 'Rough Landing, Holly,' and 'Down on My Head' are tightly crafted, state-of-the-art examples of shiny, earnest punk-pop that sounds sunny even when it's sad". Tony Pascarella of AbsolutePunk.net
noted that "we see flashes of the 'old' band on 'Rough Landing, Holly', but it’s not nearly widespread enough for my liking (although the song is possibly the best one on the new album)." Bart Gottula of The Clarion
commented that the song "is probably one of the best songs" off Lights and Sounds and concluded that it was because of its "effective use of every instrument, a soulful blend of guitar, and excellent lyrics."
in February 2006. The music video was directed by Marc Webb
, who had previously worked with Yellowcard on their earlier videos, "Ocean Avenue
" (2004) and "Lights and Sounds
" (2005). The video took three days to film in and around Los Angeles County.
In an interview with MTV News
, Webb revealed that the video was a sequel of the music video "Ocean Avenue"; "The 'Holly' video expands on some of the elements of the 'Ocean Avenue' clip. There are references to it, particularly some scenes involving a suitcase. It refers to that world, and I liked the idea of paralleling the band's experiences over the past two years with some of the things [frontman] Ryan [Key] is going through in this video." Webb went on to add that the reason Key is sprinting through Los Angeles, once again, is not bad guys that are after him, it is his "own personal demons". Webb concluded that before filming began for the video, he had wanted to learn the experience that Key and bassist Peter Mosely
were going through in New York, as they moved there to begin working on Lights and Sounds, and about the things they saw while they were there.
The video begins with Ryan Key
lying on his bed in an apartment. Suddenly, he gets swallowed by the bedsheets (this is where the track starts to play). The scene then shifts to Key in another dimension, ending up next to the wife of another man. The man notices Key, and he runs away from the man. Hiding in the bathroom, Key escapes through a window, where he ends up on a neighborhood street. Someone dressed in dark clothing gestures to offer him a drink, when Key notices he is in a bar filled with Asian people
. During part of the video, it features the band performing in front of a crowd wearing suits. The chase continues through a hallway, underwater, to a hospital bed, and back. The video is based in a scene of the 1999 film Being John Malkovich
, where Cameron Diaz
chases Catherine Keener
within the subconscious
of Malkovich
.
Pop punk
Pop punk is a fusion music genre that combines elements of punk rock with pop music, to varying degrees. Allmusic describes the genre as a strand of alternative rock, which typically merges pop melodies with speedy punk tempos, chord changes and loud guitars...
band Yellowcard
Yellowcard
Yellowcard is an American pop punk/alternative rock band formed in Jacksonville, Florida in 1997, and based in Los Angeles, California since 2000. Their music features the use of a violin, unusual for the genre...
. The song was written collaboratively by all the band members for their fifth album, Lights and Sounds
Lights and Sounds
Lights and Sounds is the fifth studio album by American pop punk band Yellowcard, released on January 24, 2006 in the United States through Capitol Records. Lights and Sounds is Yellowcard's first concept album, which was inspired to reflect what the band was feeling at the time of production and...
(2006). The track is built around an introductory guitar sound, followed by a soaring chorus, and heavy beating drums. "Rough Landing, Holly" is one of the songs from the album that is based on a character, Holly Wood, that Yellowcard had developed while working on Lights and Sounds.
The song was released on May 6, 2006, as the second single from Lights and Sounds and reached number 27 on Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
FlatOut 2
FlatOut 2 is a racing video game developed by Bugbear Entertainment and published by Empire Interactive and Vivendi Universal Games. It is the sequel to the 2004-2005 releaseFlatOut....
.
The music video was directed by Marc Webb
Marc Webb
Marc Preston Webb is an American music video, short film and major motion picture director. He directed the 2009 romantic comedy-drama Days of Summer and is currently directing the 2012 Spider-Man reboot The Amazing Spider-Man.-Life and career:Webb was born in Bloomington, Indiana, the son of...
, who had previously collaborated with the band on their previous music videos. In an interview, Webb revealed the video was the sequel to the band's 2004 video "Ocean Avenue
Ocean Avenue (song)
"Ocean Avenue" is the title of a song recorded by American pop punk group Yellowcard. It was released in September 2004 as the second single from Ocean Avenue and the third track. It is known for bringing them into the mainstream, as it received numerous spins on MTV and increasing radio airplay...
". Webb also revealed that unlike "Ocean Avenue", in which Key is running away from bad guys, this video shows Key running away from his "own personal demons".
Background
While Yellowcard was working on their upcoming album, Lights and SoundsLights and Sounds
Lights and Sounds is the fifth studio album by American pop punk band Yellowcard, released on January 24, 2006 in the United States through Capitol Records. Lights and Sounds is Yellowcard's first concept album, which was inspired to reflect what the band was feeling at the time of production and...
, they developed a character, Holly Wood, who served as a narrator and protagonist for the album's storyline. The character also came about when the band began writing about their hatred for life in Los Angeles. Vocalist Ryan Key
Ryan Key
Ryan Key is an American rock musician. He is best known for being the lead singer and rhythm guitarist of the American pop punk band Yellowcard, and one of the two lead singers in his side project Big If.-Early life:...
, in discussion of the character, said, "Holly became this person on the record who appears in a lot of the songs, and at times you love her and at times you hate her. At times she's good to you and sometimes she's bad." Violinist Sean Mackin, also in discussion of the character, said: "...Ryan didn’t have a romantic interest in his life and he didn’t want to write 'Only One' again, and he wanted to create something new. A lot of songwriters narrate and create fictional characters ... and Holly was a character where sometimes you love her and sometimes you hate her, and she was someone he could get all his emotions out through." Key revealed that the song "Rough Landing, Holly", which features the Holly character, was his "favorite song" from Lights and Sounds.
Written in the key of E major
E major
E major is a major scale based on E, with the pitches E, F, G, A, B, C, and D. Its key signature has four sharps .Its relative minor is C-sharp minor, and its parallel minor is E minor....
, the beat
Beat (music)
The beat is the basic unit of time in music, the pulse of the mensural level . In popular use, the beat can refer to a variety of related concepts including: tempo, meter, rhythm and groove...
is set in common time
Common Time
"Common Time" is a science fiction short story written by James Blish. It first appeared in the August 1953 issue of Science Fiction Quarterly and has been reprinted several times: in the 1959 short-story collection Galactic Cluster; in The Testament of Andros ; in The Penguin Science Fiction...
and moves at a moderate 175 beats per minute. The song's musical structure features an introductory guitar sound, followed by a soaring chorus, and heavy beating drums. Sean Mackin plays the violin in "Rough Landing, Holly". During discussion of the track listing in Lights and Sounds, Yellowcard revealed that "Rough Landing, Holly" spoke about the "difficulty of giving up its allure". The band explained the lyrics, "And I still can't get out / She's all I think about / Can't let her go/ ...She moves fast, takes control / And like a heart attack I know I can't turn back", were written because of that particular reason.
Release and promotion
Yellowcard released "Rough Landing, Holly" in the United States on May 6, 2006, as the second single from Lights and Sounds. The song peaked at number 27 on BillboardBillboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
ARIA Charts
The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June...
(ARIA) and New Zealand charts at the number 49 position, and individually spent one week on the charts. "Rough Landing, Holly" was featured in the soundtrack of the 2006 video game, FlatOut 2
FlatOut 2
FlatOut 2 is a racing video game developed by Bugbear Entertainment and published by Empire Interactive and Vivendi Universal Games. It is the sequel to the 2004-2005 releaseFlatOut....
.
The song received positive reception from critics. Jenny Eliscu of Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
wrote that "Rough Landing, Holly" and "Lights and Sounds", the latter being the title track, "boast seismic alt-rock riffs and mosh-worthy refrains." Tom Beaujor of Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
reported that the song was a "blustery tale of puppy love gone to the dogs that will surely make for a great ringtone." Sputnikmusic
Sputnikmusic
Sputnikmusic, or simply Sputnik, is a music website offering music criticism and music news alongside features commonly associated with wiki-style websites...
wrote: "So how typical to have the next song, 'Rough Landing, Holly', slap you right on the mouth with a face-melting violin solo. Yeah, a violin solo. And its pretty damn good. The beat follows right along with impossible-sounding drum rolls while the guitar distortion is the backbone of the song." In the Allmusic review, critic Heather Phares wrote, "...Yellowcard expands on its expected sound. Songs like the title track, 'Rough Landing, Holly,' and 'Down on My Head' are tightly crafted, state-of-the-art examples of shiny, earnest punk-pop that sounds sunny even when it's sad". Tony Pascarella of AbsolutePunk.net
AbsolutePunk.net
AbsolutePunk is a website, online community, and alternative music news source founded by Jason Tate . The website mainly focuses on artists who are relatively unknown to mainstream audiences, but it has been known to feature artists who have eventually achieved crossover success, including Fall...
noted that "we see flashes of the 'old' band on 'Rough Landing, Holly', but it’s not nearly widespread enough for my liking (although the song is possibly the best one on the new album)." Bart Gottula of The Clarion
The Clarion
The Clarion was a weekly newspaper published by Robert Blatchford, based in the United Kingdom. It was a socialist publication though adopting a British-focused rather than internationalist perspective on political affairs, as seen in its support of the British involvement in the Anglo-Boer Wars...
commented that the song "is probably one of the best songs" off Lights and Sounds and concluded that it was because of its "effective use of every instrument, a soulful blend of guitar, and excellent lyrics."
Music video
The video for "Rough Landing, Holly" was shot in Los AngelesLos Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
in February 2006. The music video was directed by Marc Webb
Marc Webb
Marc Preston Webb is an American music video, short film and major motion picture director. He directed the 2009 romantic comedy-drama Days of Summer and is currently directing the 2012 Spider-Man reboot The Amazing Spider-Man.-Life and career:Webb was born in Bloomington, Indiana, the son of...
, who had previously worked with Yellowcard on their earlier videos, "Ocean Avenue
Ocean Avenue (song)
"Ocean Avenue" is the title of a song recorded by American pop punk group Yellowcard. It was released in September 2004 as the second single from Ocean Avenue and the third track. It is known for bringing them into the mainstream, as it received numerous spins on MTV and increasing radio airplay...
" (2004) and "Lights and Sounds
Lights and Sounds (song)
"Lights and Sounds" is a song by the American pop punk band Yellowcard. The song was written collaboratively by all the band members for their fifth album, Lights and Sounds...
" (2005). The video took three days to film in and around Los Angeles County.
In an interview with MTV News
MTV News
MTV News is the news division of MTV, one of the first and most popular music television network in the U.S., as well as some of MTV's related channels around the world. MTV News began in the late 1980s with the program The Week In Rock, hosted by Kurt Loder, the first official MTV News correspondent...
, Webb revealed that the video was a sequel of the music video "Ocean Avenue"; "The 'Holly' video expands on some of the elements of the 'Ocean Avenue' clip. There are references to it, particularly some scenes involving a suitcase. It refers to that world, and I liked the idea of paralleling the band's experiences over the past two years with some of the things [frontman] Ryan [Key] is going through in this video." Webb went on to add that the reason Key is sprinting through Los Angeles, once again, is not bad guys that are after him, it is his "own personal demons". Webb concluded that before filming began for the video, he had wanted to learn the experience that Key and bassist Peter Mosely
Peter Mosely
Peter Michael Mosely is an American rock musician. He is one of the two guitarist, vocalist and pianist for the American punk rock band Inspection 12 as well as the former bassist for the American pop punk band Yellowcard. He joined Inspection 12 in 1996 but left in 2004 to be the bassist for...
were going through in New York, as they moved there to begin working on Lights and Sounds, and about the things they saw while they were there.
The video begins with Ryan Key
Ryan Key
Ryan Key is an American rock musician. He is best known for being the lead singer and rhythm guitarist of the American pop punk band Yellowcard, and one of the two lead singers in his side project Big If.-Early life:...
lying on his bed in an apartment. Suddenly, he gets swallowed by the bedsheets (this is where the track starts to play). The scene then shifts to Key in another dimension, ending up next to the wife of another man. The man notices Key, and he runs away from the man. Hiding in the bathroom, Key escapes through a window, where he ends up on a neighborhood street. Someone dressed in dark clothing gestures to offer him a drink, when Key notices he is in a bar filled with Asian people
Asian people
Asian people or Asiatic people is a term with multiple meanings that refers to people who descend from a portion of Asia's population.- Central Asia :...
. During part of the video, it features the band performing in front of a crowd wearing suits. The chase continues through a hallway, underwater, to a hospital bed, and back. The video is based in a scene of the 1999 film Being John Malkovich
Being John Malkovich
Being John Malkovich is a 1999 American black comedy-fantasy film written by Charlie Kaufman and directed by Spike Jonze. It stars John Cusack, Cameron Diaz, Catherine Keener, and John Malkovich, who plays a fictional version of himself...
, where Cameron Diaz
Cameron Diaz
Cameron Michelle Diaz is an American actress and former model. She became famous during the 1990s with roles in the movies The Mask, My Best Friend's Wedding, and There's Something About Mary. Other high-profile credits include the two Charlie's Angels films, voicing the character Princess Fiona...
chases Catherine Keener
Catherine Keener
Catherine Ann Keener is an American actress. She has been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Being John Malkovich and Capote...
within the subconscious
Subconscious
The term subconscious is used in many different contexts and has no single or precise definition. This greatly limits its significance as a definition-bearing concept, and in consequence the word tends to be avoided in academic and scientific settings....
of Malkovich
John Malkovich
John Gavin Malkovich is an American actor, producer, director and fashion designer with his label Technobohemian. Over the last 25 years of his career, Malkovich has appeared in more than 70 motion pictures. For his roles in Places in the Heart and In the Line of Fire, he received Academy Award...
.
Track listing
AU Single:- "Rough Landing, Holly" – 3:33
- "Holly Wood Died" – 3:55
- "Cigarette" – 4:56
Chart positions
| Chart (2006) | Position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Modern Rock Tracks Modern Rock Tracks Alternative Songs is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in Billboard magazine since September 10, 1988. It lists the 40 most-played songs on modern rock radio stations, most of which are alternative rock songs... |
27 |
| Australian Singles Chart ARIA Charts The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June... |
49 |