"Living for the Weekend" is the fourth single from English indie rock bandHard-Fi, from their debut album, Stars of CCTV. It was released on 5 September 2005 and peaked at number 15 on the UK Singles Chart. "Living for the Weekend" was written by Hard-Fi frontman Richard Archer and has been heavily featured in a Life Style Sports commercial in Ireland and a Carling commercial in the United Kingdom. It has also been featured on the Winter Olympics Special of BBC's Top Gear and in the episode "Time of Your Death". The single cover does not bear the "Parental Advisory" sticker in spite of the lyrics: "Ah shit!" about halfway through the song. The Sugababes also covered this song, which appeared on their single "Follow Me Home" as well as the Radio 1's Live Lounge compilation.
Background
"Living for the Weekend" began as a demo with Archer's previous band "Contempo" before they had split up. At this time, Hard-Fi drummer Steve Kemp was drumming for the Contempo. Contempo apparently played the song a couple of times in Portsmouth before it was re-recorded with Hard-Fi. The song is a typical Hard-Fi song lyrically, about having no money, a dead end job and, as the song title suggests, just living for the weekend. It addresses what stresses of work and other issues in Staines such as having counterfeit clothes. Talking about the song, Archer said, "It's a song about when you've been working all week, for me and my friends that would probably be in a job you don't like or enjoy doing, and it gets to Friday and all of that frustration you've been through all week is released. The money you've earned you spend it to get rid of all that stress, you let your hair down, your life's your own again, you're free. Everyone knows what that's like. You get out there and you see your friends again. It's like you've been released. And are you working to live or living to work?"
Music video
The video was filmed in Brentford on 1 August 2005 and was directed by Scott Lyon. It features Hard-Fi performing on top of a building during the day as well as scenes of people walking around the streets and suburbs of Brentford. Towards the end of the song, night falls and a large group of youths can be seen approaching a train station and then at a party. The 1000 Great West End Building can be seen in the video.
Use in the media
The song became one of the bands anthems being used in the media quite frequently from TV Series adverts to, quite appropriately, the Weekender Show on XFM. It was also used on a highlight video for the 2009 Chinese Grand Prix on the official Formula 1 website and in a behind-the-scenes programme for EastEnders in 2010. Despite the lack of radio airplay in Australia, it was used during the Seven Network's coverage of the 2009 Australian Open to promote Rafael Nadal's match against Tommy Haas. Quite appropriately, the match was played on a Saturday. It was also used on the sports news show Sports Tonight on Network Ten.
