| Sgt. Rock (Is Going to Help Me) | |
| Cover: | Sgt Rock XTC.png |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | XTC |
| Album: | Black Sea |
| Released: | December 1980 |
| Recorded: | 1980 |
| Studio: | The Town House, London |
| Genre: | Pop |
| Length: |
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| Label: | Virgin |
| Producer: | Steve Lillywhite |
| Prev Title: | Take This Town |
| Prev Year: | 1980 |
| Next Title: | Respectable Street |
| Next Year: | 1981 |
"Sgt. Rock (Is Going to Help Me)" is a song by the British band XTC. Written by frontman Andy Partridge, it was released as the band's 12th single in December 1980, charting in the UK Singles Chart at No. 16 on 21 February 1981,[1] being XTC's biggest single chart success to that date. The song also reached the Irish Singles Chart, peaking at No. 20.[2]
The band performed the song on Top of the Pops[3] and the Saturday morning show Multi-Coloured Swap Shop.[4] The tune itself was recorded at The Town House in London in June 1980. The 7" single is packed with a poster, showing a Sgt. Rock comic. The song is featured on the compilation albums , The Compact XTC, and .
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".[5]
| Chart (1980) | Peak position | |
|---|---|---|
| Irish Singles Chart | 20 | |
| UK Singles Chart | 16 |