"Handlebars" is a song by Flobots. It was released as the first single from their debut album, Fight with Tools, and is the group's largest success, peaking at number 37 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number three on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart.
Background "Handlebars" was originally released in 2005 on the band's first EP, Flobots Present...Platypus, before being re-released on Fight with Tools two years later with re-recorded vocals. The song won in a fan-voted local radio station contest at the end of 2007, giving the song the chance to be played on the station. The song was so popular that it was put into full rotation at the station by the end of January 2008, attracting the attention of record companies. Flobots ultimately signed with Universal Republic off the back of the single's success.
In May 2019, Flobots sued YouTube user Logan Paul for copyright infringement over his 2017 single "No Handlebars". The group has requested all royalties for the song, which has earned Paul over $1 million since 2017.
Theme Flobots vocalist Jamie Laurie stated that the song is about
It is the contrast between these "little moments of creativity, these bursts of innovation," and the way these ideas are put to use "to oppress and destroy people" that the singer feels is "beautiful and tragic at the same time."
Music video The animated video for the song opens with two young friends, one wearing casual clothes and the other in a businesslike suit, seated on their bicycles on a hill looking over a city. Prominent in the city is a crystalline tower with part of its framework showing. The friends ride their bikes down the hill without their hands on the handlebars until they arrive at a sign that points in two directions, one labeled with a corporate-looking symbol leading to a shadowed street, and the other labeled by a dove leading down a sunlit street. They hug and head their separate ways, the casual friend taking the path of the dove.
The casual friend describes his hobbies and skills, including things he can teach people, as he walks along a cracked sidewalk and sees a chalk drawing depicting the friends on their bicycles. He walks past a street corner that shows a path to the corporate street, unaware of the blood on that street's walls. After he calls his friend on his cellphone, the corporate friend lists his accomplishments in science and business before arriving at the tower. He is next seen in the tower rising to become the leader of the corporation. He then gives a televised speech behind a podium, while the background changes from a corporate to a political setting with two American flags. The casual friend sees it in a store window, disappointedly shaking his head.
As the world descends into a bleak dystopia, the casual friend begins rallying a crowd of oppressed-looking people while the now-dictator-like friend lists everything he can do as a result of his power. The rebellious friend leads the crowd towards the tower, but heavily armed riot-control officers proceed to shoot them all dead. The dictator friend looks on horrified as he sees his friend's body fall to the ground. The video ends with a flashback of the two friends crisscrossing as they ride their bicycles, again without using their handlebars, off into a bright light in the distance.
Several times in the video, a dove is used to symbolize peace, while a hawk represents oppressive power destroying that peace. During the instrumental break, a hawk kills a dove, and a wrecking ball destroys a wall with a dove painted on it, located next to a billboard displaying the corporate symbol and a cityscape again featuring the tower. In addition, a hawk flies over the head of the corporate friend when he is walking down the street.
Che Guevara, an iconic revolutionary, is referenced in the video when an image of Guevara's face appears on a man's T-shirt while the oppressed friend is rallying a crowd. Another reference is to the Abu Ghraib tortures during the Iraq War, seen in a flashing image identical to the iconic photograph of prisoner Abdou Hussain Saad Faleh.
Chart performance On May 17, 2008, the song peaked at number 3 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks. Fueled by radio airplay, including six straight weeks at the top of KROQ's most played list, it was the first single since Semisonic's "Closing Time" to chart in the top ten so quickly.
"Handlebars" also performed well on the Billboard charts. Peaking at number three on the Modern Rock Tracks chart, number twenty-two on the Hot Digital Songs chart, number thirty-five on the Pop 100 chart, number thirty-seven on the Hot 100 chart, number sixty-three on the Canadian Hot 100.
On September 7, 2008, the song entered the UK Singles Chart at number 35 on downloads alone and peaked at number 14.
Track listing Compact Disc: "Handlebars" – 3:27 "Rise" – 4:10
7-inch vinyl: "Handlebars" – 3:27 "Handlebars" (DJ Shadow Remix) – 4:03
Personnel Flobots: Jamie "Jonny 5" Laurie – vocals Brer Rabbit – vocals Jesse Walker – electric bass Andy "Rok" Guerrero – guitar Mackenzie Roberts – viola Kenny Ortiz – drums
Guest musicians: Joe Ferrone – trumpet
Charts
Weekly charts + Chart (2008) Peakposition
Year-end charts + Chart (2008) PositionUK Singles (OCC) 134 US Alternative Airplay (Billboard) 21
Certifications
Release history + Region Date Format Label(s) United States May 27, 2008 Mainstream airplay Universal Republic
References