"Bubbles" is the fifth single taken from Scottishrock band Biffy Clyro's fifth studio album, Only Revolutions. Josh Homme from Queens of the Stone Age, Kyuss and Them Crooked Vultures provides additional lead guitar in the song. Despite being one of the lower charting songs from the album (reaching #34 on the UK singles chart), it has spent more weeks in the top 100 than any other Biffy Clyro song.
Background and recording
According to the band's official website, the CD single of the song will feature new tracks "Sad Sad Songs", "Hiya" and "Street Love" as B-sides across the formats, CD, 2 x 7" Vinyl and Download.[1] It was added to the BBC Radio 1 A List on 21 April 2010.
In an interview with Kerrang! Simon Neil was quick to praise Josh Homme's guitar skills: "He came to the studio and listened to the song," he said, "and two minutes later, he was playing the best guitar solo you've ever heard."[2] "Street Love" contains the chorus of older bootlegs and live versions of single "That Golden Rule".[3]
'Bubbles' floats in with a Kings of Leon-ly guitar clang before the kind of needly riff the band first experimented with on ‘The Ideal Height’ from ‘The Vertigo of Bliss’. Josh Homme guests, and it’s the best thing he’s played on in years; years to come, too, if the tunes Them Crooked Vultures are peddling are anything to go by.[4]
After receiving placement on BBC Radio 1's A Playlist, "Bubbles" began to receive increasing amounts of digital downloads throughout April 2010. The single entered the UK Singles Chart at #93 on 25 April 2010. The following week the single climbed 33 places to #60. On 9 May 2010, "Bubbles" climbed into the Top 40 at #40, making it the fifth consecutive single from Only Revolutions to enter the UK Top 40. The following week, the single climbed 6 places to its chart peak of #34, before falling back 6 places to #40 on 23 May 2010.