Song · King Crimson
“Heartbeat” by King Crimson
From the album Beat (1982)
“Heartbeat” by King Crimson appears on 5 radio countdowns from 2 stations between 1982 and 2002. It was first released in 1982 on the album Beat. Its best result is #30 on the KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1982. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #47 alternative song of 1982 and #6,939 alternative song of all time.
Watch
Video from YouTube (King Crimson). Pressing play loads YouTube's player. Watch on YouTube
King Crimson's "Heartbeat" came off Beat in 1982 and went out as a single, and it's the band at its most openly tuneful, with Adrian Belew singing his own lyric over music all four members wrote together. Robert Fripp and Belew share the guitars, Fripp adding effects, Tony Levin plays bass and Chapman stick and sings backing vocals, and Bill Bruford splits his time between a standard kit and electronic drums. Rhett Davies produced and engineered.
The video, starring Jill Kroesen, broke ground by melting faces into one another with a dissolve-and-morph trick that Godley & Creme's "Cry" (1985) and Michael Jackson's "Black or White" would pick up later. Belew went on to record the song again for his 1990 solo album, Young Lions.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
All Rock Formats
Year-end countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1982 | 30 | KROQ Los Angeles, CA | KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1982 | 107 |
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | 1941 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2000 Songs of All-Time (December 1999) | 2000 |
| 2000 | 1943 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2001 Songs of All-Time (December 2000) | 2001 |
| 2001 | 1943 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (December 2001) | 2002 |
| 2002 | 1928 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2003 Songs of All-Time (December 2002) | 2003 |
Comments
Log in or create a free account to join the conversation about "Heartbeat" by King Crimson.
No comments yet. Be the first to share your thoughts.