"Last Train Home"
Single by Lostprophets
from the album Start Something
Released27 December 2003
Recorded2003
StudioBigfoot Studios (Los Angeles)[1]
Genre
Length
  • 4:35 (album version)
  • 4:04 (radio edit)
Label
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)Eric Valentine
Lostprophets singles chronology
"Burn Burn"
(2003)		 "Last Train Home"
(2003)		 "Wake Up (Make a Move)"
(2004)

"Last Train Home" is the second single from Start Something, the second album by the Welsh rock band Lostprophets. This single was the band's highest charting single in the UK up to that point, later tied with "Rooftops (A Liberation Broadcast)" off of their follow-up. It quickly became their most successful single in the United States, reaching number one on Billboard's Alternative Songs chart. "Last Train Home" was released to radio on 27 December 2003.[5]

Release and reception

"Last Train Home" was released on 27 December 2003 and quickly became the most successful song from Start Something on the rock charts and arguably the band's most notable song. The song peaked at number one on the Billboard Alternative Songs chart and number ten on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart in the Spring of 2004. "Last Train Home" is the second Lostprophets single to ever chart in the U.S., the first one being "Shinobi vs. Dragon Ninja". The song won the Kerrang! Award for Best Single.

The song had managed to beat fellow UK rock band The Darkness' hit single I Believe in a Thing Called Love (released in September 2003), charting twelve spots higher on Billboard's Mainstream Rock charts upon release in December 2003, becoming the highest charting single in the United States from any UK artist in 2003.[6]

The song gained much popularity in the United States through radio airplay and the music video saw regular rotation on MTV.[7] The song would later be ranked #10 on Billboard's year-end rock charts in the United States.[8]

Johnny Loftus of AllMusic said, "'Last Train Home' was an absolute masterpiece of a single mixing board surgery, flawlessly, brazenly binding the properties of three of California's most marketable acts into one monster of an alternative rock anthem, sung by a bunch of immaculately T-shirted dudes from Pontypridd. Beginning with an instrumental run through its unstoppable chorus, the song drifted into faraway echoes of piano as vocalist Ian Watkins emoted vaguely meaningful lyrics like 'Love was once apart / But now it's disappeared.'"[2]

Kirk Miller of Rolling Stone said "Last Train Home" is "one of the catchiest hard-rock songs to hit the radio in the past three years. Singer Ian Watkins has Mike Patton's croon/scream down cold, and his group deftly applies FNM's anything-goes approach: equal parts thrash riffs, symphonic keyboards and moody jazz intervals."[3]

"Last Train Home" was also the song which introduced Geoff Rickly to Lostprophets.[9] Rickly would go on to form No Devotion with the other members after Watkins' conviction in 2013.

In other media

The song appears in the soundtrack for the video game NFL Street, released in January of 2004.[10]

Music video

The music video was directed by Brian Scott Weber and was shot in various Downtown Los Angeles locations in November 2003. In addition to receiving frequent radio airplay in the United States, the video would see frequent rotation on MTV from 2003 to 2005.[11] The band are seen performing on a truck bed, surrounded by multiple fans. The shots of the band are intercut with footage of several fans skateboarding and driving around the city in a Chevrolet Impala. Ian Watkins wears a Pittsburgh Strikers (an amateur football club in Western Pennsylvania) T-shirt during the video.

Track listing

CD1
No.TitleLength
1."Last Train Home" (radio edit)4:04
2."Cry Me a River" (BBC Radio One session) (Justin Timberlake cover)5:00
CD2
No.TitleLength
1."Last Train Home" (radio edit)4:04
2."Last Train Home" (demo)4:40
3."The Politics of Emotion" (demo)3:22
EP Version
No.TitleLength
1."Last Train Home" (radio edit)4:04
2."The Politics of Emotion" (demo)3:22
3."Cry Me a River" (BBC Radio One session) (Justin Timberlake cover)5:00
4."Shinobi vs. Dragon Ninja" (acoustic)3:04
5."Last Train Home" (demo)4:10
Vinyl
No.TitleLength
1."Last Train Home" (radio edit)4:04
2."Shinobi vs. Dragon Ninja" (acoustic)3:04

Personnel

Charts

Chart (2003–2004) Peak
position
Australia (ARIA)[12] 68
Canada Rock Top 30 (Radio & Records)[13] 14
Germany (Official German Charts)[14] 48
UK Singles (OCC)[15] 8
UK Indie (OCC)[16] 1
US Billboard Hot 100[17] 75
US Alternative Airplay (Billboard)[18] 1
US Mainstream Rock (Billboard)[19] 10

References

  1. ↑ Start Something (liner notes). Lostprophets. Visible Noise. 2004.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  2. 1 2 3 AllMusicGuide review
  3. 1 2 "Album Reviews, Ratings, and Best New Albums". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 6 February 2009.
  4. ↑ "Top Ten Nu-Metal Bands – Staff Top 10". stylusmagazine.com. Archived from the original on 16 July 2008. Retrieved 9 September 2015.
  5. ↑ "FMQB Airplay Archive: Modern Rock". Friday Morning Quarterback Album Report, Incorporated. Archived from the original on 22 March 2013. Retrieved 30 October 2016.
  6. ↑ "SLIPKNOT, METALLICA, THE DARKNESS Among 'Best Band' Nominees At KERRANG! AWARDS 2004".
  7. ↑ "Lostprophets Fend Off Backlash, 'Make A Move' With New Single".
  8. ↑ "Top 100 Rock & Roll Songs in 2004".
  9. ↑ Will Robinson. "No Devotion singer Geoff Rickly shares the soundtrack to his life". Ew.com. Retrieved 27 December 2021.
  10. ↑ "What is the most popular song on NFL Street (Soundtrack) by EA Sports?".
  11. ↑ "Lostprophets Fend Off Backlash, 'Make A Move' With New Single".
  12. ↑ Ryan, Gavin (2011). Australia's Music Charts 1988–2010 (PDF ed.). Mt Martha, Victoria, Australia: Moonlight Publishing. p. 171.
  13. ↑ "RR Canada Rock Top 30" (PDF). Radio & Records. No. 1554. 7 May 2004. p. 63. Retrieved 20 November 2023.
  14. ↑ "Lostprophets – Last Train Home" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
  15. ↑ "Lostprophets: Artist Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 7 August 2017.
  16. ↑ "Official Independent Singles Chart Top 50". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
  17. ↑ "Lostprophets Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved 7 August 2017.
  18. ↑ "Lostprophets Chart History (Alternative Airplay)". Billboard. Retrieved 7 August 2017.
  19. ↑ "Lostprophets Chart History (Mainstream Rock)". Billboard. Retrieved 7 August 2017.
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