Smack My Bitch Up
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The song was very controversial because the lyrics and title of the song were believed to promote violence against women. The band defended the song saying that the lyrics were being misinterpreted and the song actually meant "...doing anything intensely...". (The "Smack My Bitch Up" sample is actually taken from the Ultramagnetic MCs song "Give The Drummer Some".) Counter-intuitively, it is very popular among female fans of The Prodigy.
Prior to the release of the single Liam Howlett was presented with three remixes of the title song. One by Jonny L, one by DJ Hype and one by Slacker. Eventually, Howlett chose the DJ Hype remix to be released on the single. The Jonny L remix was released through a free CD that came along with the January issue of Muzik Magazine in 1998, while the Slacker remix was never officially released, although it surfaced on a rare and limited set of white labels.
The song "No Man's Army" is an instrumental version of "One Man's Army", a song which Howlett created together with former Rage Against the Machine - now Audioslave guitarist Tom Morello for the soundtrack to the movie Spawn.
The song was banned by the BBC and only a lyric-free version was played on Radio 1. Yet on the first episode of Top of the Pops in which SMBU charted, the DJ Hype remix was played over the Top 10 countdown, including the offending lyric of "Change my pitch up, Smack my bitch up."
The music video was directed by Jonas Åkerlund and proved to be very controversial and popular as well. Though universally banned from television, massive demands on MTV made them show the video, but only at nighttime. The video depicts a night out in the city from an innovative and much imitated first-person perspective, portraying drinking, snorting cocaine, fighting, vandalism and sex. Detractors deplored the wantonly aggressive and mysogynistic behaviour of the video's protagonist, which would seem to indicate that they did not watch the end of the video, where the protagonist is revealed to be female.
The ethnic lyrics were performed by Shahin Badar.
The song appears in the 2000 film Charlie's Angels, yet the song is not on the film's soundtrack. It also appears in the 2001 film Scary Movie 2, in the scene that spoofs the Charlie's Angels' scene that uses this song.
Track listing
XL recordings
12\" vinyl record
- Smack My Bitch Up (LP version) (5:42)
- No Man Army (Featuring Tom Morello) (4:44)
- Smack My Bitch Up (DJ Hype remix) (7:17)
- Mindfields (Headrock dub) (4:34)
CD single
- Smack My Bitch Up (Edit) (4:45)
- No Man Army (Featuring Tom Morello) (4:44)
- Mindfields (Headrock Dub) (4:34)
- Smack My Bitch Up (DJ Hype Remix) (7:17)
Maverick records
12\" vinyl record \"Black sleeve\"
- A1. Smack My Bitch Up (Album Version) (05:43)
- A2. Mindfields (Headrock Dub) (04:35)
- B1. Smack My Bitch Up (Dj Hype Remix) (07:17)
12\" vinyl record
- A1. Smack My Bitch Up (LP Version) (05:42)
- A2. No Man Army (Featuring Tom Morello) (04:44)
- B1. Mindfields (Headrock Dub) (04:34)
- B2. Smack My Bitch Up (Dj Hype Remix) (07:17)
Digipak
- Smack My Bitch Up (Edit) (04:45)
- No Man Army (Featuring Tom Morello) (04:44)
- Mindfields (Headrock Dub) (04:34)
- Smack My Bitch Up (Dj Hype Remix (07:17)
External links
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