{{Infobox song | name = Martian Hop | cover = Cover_sleeve_of_the_1963_single_Martian-Hop_by_the_group_The_Ran-Dells.jpg | alt = | caption = "Martian Hop" 45 | type = single | artist = The Ran-Dells | album = | B-side = Forgive Me Darling (I Have Lied) | released = June 1963 | recorded = | studio = Bell Sound (New York City)<ref name="book">{{cite book|last1=Thompson|first1=Dave|title=1000 songs that rock your world|date=2011|publisher=Krause Publications|page=[https://archive.org/details/1000songsthatroc0000thom/page/39 39]|location=Iola, WI|isbn=978-1440214226|url=https://archive.org/details/1000songsthatroc0000thom/page/39}}</ref> | venue = | genre = Doo-wop, novelty, pop | length = 2:14 | label = Chairman | writer = John Michael Spirt, Robert Lawrence Rappaport, Steve Millman Rappaport<ref>{{cite book|last1=Jancik|first1=Wayne|title=The Billboard book of one-hit wonders|date=1998|publisher=Billboard Books|location=New York|isbn=0-8230-7622-9|page=161|edition=Rev. and expanded}}</ref> | producer = | prev_title = | prev_year = | next_title = Sound of the Sun | next_year = 1963 }}

"'''Martian Hop'''" is a song written by The Ran-Dells, and released in 1963. It has been described as a one-hit wonder novelty song and reached #27 on the black singles chart, #16 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, and number 2 in Canada.<ref name="top40">{{cite web|url=http://www.top40db.net/Lyrics/?SongID=63155 |title=Lyrics: Martian Hop by The Ran-Dells |website=Top40db.net |access-date=2016-09-27}}</ref> The song was later covered by artists as diverse as Rocky Sharpe and the Replays, Joanie Bartels and soul group The Newcomers. Versions in French included comedian Henri Salvador and the group Les Champions.

==Creation== The song is the product of the three band members joking around in John Spirt's living room at his residence in Wildwood, New Jersey. It tells of Martians throwing a dance party for "all the human race,"<ref name="top40"/> and "theorized Martians were probably great dancers."<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title = The Encyclopedia of Popular Music - 4th ed.|last = Larkin|first = Colin|publisher = Oxford University Press|year = 2006|isbn = 0-19-531373-9|page = 760}}</ref> It is one of many songs recorded during the 1950s and 1960s that capitalized on space exploration and the possibility of threatening aliens.<ref name=":0" /> While Steve Rappaport worked on the song in the studio, Gerry Goffin heard it and recommended to Don Kirshner it be picked up and released on the new label, Chairman. The master tape cost over $300 and "Martian Hop" became the third single Chairman released.<ref name="book"/>

== Early electronic music == Though the Ran-Dells have been recognized for innovative and pioneering use of a sine wave generator (a first for the pop music genre), the musicians actually responsible for the sine wave tones heard in "Martian Hop" received no credit for the composition. The twelve-second introduction at the beginning of the song is an uncredited sample from the first 30 seconds of "Moon Maid" by Tom Dissevelt and Dick Raaymakers, aka Kid Baltan. It appeared on their experimental album, ''The Electrosoniks - Electronic Music'' in 1962, a year before "Martian Hop" was recorded.

== Chart positions == '''The Ran-Dells''' {| class="wikitable" |+ !Chart (1963) !Peak<br/>position |- |U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100<ref name="top40" /> | style="text-align:center;"|16 |- |Canada ''CHUM''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://chumtribute.com/63-09-02-chart.jpg| title=CHUM Hit Parade - September 2, 1963}}</ref> | style="text-align:center;"|2 |- !Chart (1974) !Peak<br/>position |- |Australia (Kent Music Report)<ref name=aus>{{cite book|last=Kent|first=David|author-link=David Kent (historian)|title=Australian Chart Book 1970–1992|edition=illustrated|publisher=Australian Chart Book|location=St Ives, N.S.W.|year=1993|isbn=0-646-11917-6|page=246}}</ref> | style="text-align:center;"|44 |}

'''Rocky Sharpe and the Replays version'''

{| class="wikitable" |- !Chart (1980) !Peak<br/>position |- |UK Singles Chart(Official Chart Company)<ref name="cite">{{cite web|url=http://www.officialcharts.com/artist/17337/rocky-sharpe-and-the-replays |title=ROCKY SHARPE & THE REPLAYS &#124; full Official Chart History &#124; Official Charts Company |website=Officialcharts.com |access-date=2016-09-27}}</ref> | style="text-align:center;"|55 |}

== See also == * List of 1960s one-hit wonders in the United States

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== * {{discogs master|293303}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20090812111333/http://members.fortunecity.com/mindzwarped/links.htm The Martian ( Hop ) Chronicles - The Story of the Ran-Dells] * [http://www.waybackattack.com/randells.html Way Back Attack - The Ran-Dells "Martian Hop"] * [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ootxz2UpALk Le Martien (The Martian Hop) Henri Salvador]

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Category:1963 singles Category:American novelty songs Category:1963 songs Category:Songs about dancing Category:Songs about extraterrestrial life Category:Songs about planets Category:Works set on Mars