Ready to Go

This jock jam comes to us from the English band Republica, fronted by the lithesome Saffron, real name Samantha Sprackling. We're used to hearing it in 20-second intervals during sporting events when action is imminent, but it has a full set of lyrics that are rather intriguing. In the song, Saffron addresses a guy who sleeps too much and is always running off at the mouth. At the time, there weren't many young bands led by women, especially in the UK (the Scottish firebrand Shirley Manson led a group of Americans, Garbage), so she was making a statement. In a Songfacts interview with Saffron, she explained: "It was a broader sense, a collective sense of young women and girls growing up in the '90s, because the radio would not even listen to any female-fronted band that wrote their own songs. You had to fight so hard in a business that's very cutthroat and is predominantly male-dominated. So it was like a battle cry." "You've got to keep bashing down these doors that keep closing on you until one opens," she added. "The energy behind it is about independence and confidence."

Republica is rooted in dance music, but their sound is more guitar-driven and their lyrics tell nuanced stories that aren't always cheerful. "Ready To Go" is a fist-pumper, for sure, but it has a deeper message and a dark side, heard when Saffron sings, "Abused, confused, always love the one that hurt ya."

The band released the singles "Out of This World" and "Bloke" before issuing "Ready To Go" as a single in 1996 and including it on their self-titled debut album. The UK release is a little slower, heavy on keyboards, with an intro that builds for 30 seconds before the drums come in. It stalled at #43 in April 1996. The American version of "Ready To Go" gets to the action a lot faster, with just seven seconds before it blasts into the heavy guitar and drums. This version was the winner. Republica toured America to promote it, stopping at radio stations and playing small venues across the country. It gradually got added to playlists, and while it only peaked at #56 (in November 1996), it endured to become a '90s classic. This American mix was released in the UK in 1997, and the song rose to #13 that March. Different videos were made for each version of the song.