Rollover DJ
by Jet

Album: Get Born (2003)
Charted: 34
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Many electronic dance music songs sing the praises of the DJ spinning the tunes, but in this rocker from the Australian band Jet, they have some harsh words for the person on the turntables:

    Well, I know that you think you're the star
    A pill poppin' jukebox is all that you are
  • Jet is an Australian band with two brothers: frontman Nic Cester and drummer Chris Cester. They do most of the songwriting.

    "Rollover DJ" started as a song Nic came up with called "Roll Over D.J." that he envisioned as a modern-day update to Chuck Berry's 1956 classic "Roll Over Beethoven." He was having a hard time writing the lyrics, so he turned the song over to Chris, who finished it.

    "He kind of based it loosely on this one experience he had at a sort of rock 'n' roll club in Melbourne and he spilled his drink on all the DJ' records," Nic explained to In Music We Trust magazine. "He got pretty pissed off at him, and deservedly so, I might say."
  • "Rollover DJ" is part of Jet's debut album, Get Born, which includes their hit "Are You Gonna Be My Girl." The band traveled far and wide to promote the album, including an American "Aussie Invasion" tour that also included The Vines, The Living End and Neon. They also toured with Oasis and Kasabian.

    Their next album, Shine On, was released in 2006 and didn't have the same energy. It underperformed, and the band slid downhill in terms of popularity. They took a long break starting in 2011 and picked back up in 2017 when they accepted an offer from Bruce Springsteen to tour with him as an opening act on his Australia shows. Jet did more live performances but learned their lesson from 2004 and took it easy so they could spend time with their families. They launched a tour in 2023 to honor the 20th anniversary of the Get Born album.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Strange Magnetics

Strange MagneticsSong Writing

How Bing Crosby, Les Paul, a US Army Signal Corps Officer, and the Nazis helped shape rock and Roll.

Tom Johnston from The Doobie Brothers

Tom Johnston from The Doobie BrothersSongwriter Interviews

The Doobies guitarist and lead singer, Tom wrote the classics "Listen To The Music," "Long Train Runnin'" and "China Grove."

Black Sabbath

Black SabbathFact or Fiction

Dwarfs on stage with an oversize Stonehenge set? Dabbling in Satanism? Find out which Spinal Tap-moments were true for Black Sabbath.

Reverend Horton Heat

Reverend Horton HeatSongwriter Interviews

The Reverend rants on psychobilly and the egghead academics he bashes in one of his more popular songs.

Bryan Adams

Bryan AdamsSongwriter Interviews

What's the deal with "Summer of '69"? Bryan explains what the song is really about, and shares more of his songwriting insights.

David Sancious

David SanciousSongwriter Interviews

Keyboard great David Sancious talks about his work with Sting, Seal, Springsteen, Clapton and Aretha, and explains what quantum physics has to do with making music.