“Rock On” by David Essex

"Rock On" is David Essex's own song, written and recorded by him in 1973, a strange, brooding piece of glam rock. It gave its title to his debut album that year and turned up on the soundtrack of That'll Be the Day, the film he starred in, where it plays over the closing credits of the American release.

Released in Britain in August 1973, it reached number 3 there and stayed on the chart for 11 weeks. The next March it was number one in Canada and a top-ten hit on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at 5: the only time Essex ever made the American top 40.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.