Stand (Lenny Kravitz song)
Encyclopedia
"Stand" is a song by American recording artist Lenny Kravitz
taken from his ninth album, Black and White America (2011). It was released as the album's lead single
and the iTunes
download release date for the song was June 3, 2011. The song was written by Kravitz about a close friend, who was paralyzed from the waist down from an accident, who later recovered.
gave the song a three stars rating out of five commenting "The first single from Kravitz's Black and White America, due out August 30th, borrows the melodic phrasing of vintage cranky Elvis Costello, yet still somehow sounds like a groovy windows-down, volume-up summer hit. It's fluffy stuff, but also a welcome curveball." Melinda Newman of HitFix
named it "Summer's best song" and explained it is "a perfect pop slice that is implanted into your head after one listen".
. It premiered on VH1
on July 14, 2011.
In the video, Kravitz portrays three characters: Bart Billingsworth, host of a crooked game show "Run for Your Money" (with some similarities to the old Let's Make a Deal), and the game-show house-band drummer Bubba Washington and lead singer Desmond Richie. The host and his beautiful assistants fraudulently switch the valuable prizes for low-value booby prizes without the contestants figuring it out. However, the drummer sees the back-stage goings-on, and pushes on the button that opens the curtains, so that the audience sees the "Cheat-O-Rama 3000" machine and the host preparing to drive away with the prizes. The audience then gets angry and mobs the stage, seizing the stolen prizes. The host tries to escape with at least some of his ill-gotten gains, but the prize car doesn't work.
's Late Show with David Letterman
.
Lenny Kravitz
Leonard Albert "Lenny" Kravitz is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and arranger, whose "retro" style incorporates elements of rock, soul, R&B, funk, reggae, hard rock, psychedelic, folk and ballads...
taken from his ninth album, Black and White America (2011). It was released as the album's lead single
Lead single
A lead single is usually the first single released by a musician or a band before the release of its home album.During the era of the grammophone record, all music arrived in the marketplace as what is now termed a single, one potential hit song backed by an additional song of generally less...
and the iTunes
ITunes Store
The iTunes Store is a software-based online digital media store operated by Apple. Opening as the iTunes Music Store on April 28, 2003, with over 200,000 items to purchase, it is, as of April 2008, the number-one music vendor in the United States...
download release date for the song was June 3, 2011. The song was written by Kravitz about a close friend, who was paralyzed from the waist down from an accident, who later recovered.
Critical reception
Matthew Perpetua of Rolling StoneRolling 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...
gave the song a three stars rating out of five commenting "The first single from Kravitz's Black and White America, due out August 30th, borrows the melodic phrasing of vintage cranky Elvis Costello, yet still somehow sounds like a groovy windows-down, volume-up summer hit. It's fluffy stuff, but also a welcome curveball." Melinda Newman of HitFix
HitFix
HitFix, or the HitFix.com is an entertainment news website that launched in December 2008 specializing in breaking entertainment news, insider information and providing reviews and critiques of film, music and television...
named it "Summer's best song" and explained it is "a perfect pop slice that is implanted into your head after one listen".
Music video
The music video for "Stand" was directed by Paul HunterPaul Hunter
Paul Alan Hunter was an English professional snooker player. His media profile developed swiftly and he became known as the "Beckham of the Baize" because of his good looks and flamboyant style....
. It premiered on VH1
VH1
VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly...
on July 14, 2011.
In the video, Kravitz portrays three characters: Bart Billingsworth, host of a crooked game show "Run for Your Money" (with some similarities to the old Let's Make a Deal), and the game-show house-band drummer Bubba Washington and lead singer Desmond Richie. The host and his beautiful assistants fraudulently switch the valuable prizes for low-value booby prizes without the contestants figuring it out. However, the drummer sees the back-stage goings-on, and pushes on the button that opens the curtains, so that the audience sees the "Cheat-O-Rama 3000" machine and the host preparing to drive away with the prizes. The audience then gets angry and mobs the stage, seizing the stolen prizes. The host tries to escape with at least some of his ill-gotten gains, but the prize car doesn't work.
Live performances
Lenny Kravitz performed the song on CBSCBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
's Late Show with David Letterman
Late Show with David Letterman
Late Show with David Letterman is a U.S. late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on CBS. The show debuted on August 30, 1993, and is produced by Letterman's production company, Worldwide Pants Incorporated. The show's music director and band-leader of the house band, the CBS Orchestra, is...
.
Charts
| Chart (2011) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40 Ö3 Austria Top 40 Ö3 Austria Top 40 is the name of the official Austrian singles chart, as well as the radio show which presents it, aired Fridays on Hitradio Ö3. The show presents the Austrian singles, ringtones and downloads chart. It premiered on 26 November 1968 as Disc Parade and was presented by Ernst Grissemann... ) |
41 |
| Germany (Media Control AG Media Control Charts The official music charts in Germany are gathered and published by the company Media Control GfK International on behalf of Bundesverband Musikindustrie... ) |
44 |
| Japan (Japan Hot 100 Japan Hot 100 The Japan Hot 100 is a music singles chart in Japan. It is compiled by Billboard and Hanshin Contents Link ever since February 2008. The chart is updated every Wednesday at billboard-japan.com and every Thursday at billboard.com .... ) |
16 |
| Netherlands (Single Top 100) | 100 |
| Slovakia (IFPI) | 63 |
| Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade Swiss Music Charts The Swiss Music Charts are Switzerland's main music sales charts. The charts are a record of the highest-selling singles and albums in various genres in Switzerland.The Swiss Charts include:* Singles Top 75... ) |
41 |
| US Adult Pop Songs (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... ) |
29 |