A song by the group
Prodigy, from their LP,
The Fat of the Land.
The song's entire lyrics consist of: "change my pitch up / smack my bitch up".
Even though the lyrics are mind-numbingly simple, you can't expect to have a
song named "Smack my bitch up" and not piss some people off.
The National Organization for Women (NOW) said the lyrics are a "dangerous
and offensive message advocating violence against women". Mind you, the basis
behind this statement (while understandable) is only from one phrase of the two
phrase song.
Liam Howlett, the band's leader, claims the lyrics are misinterpreted - the
song means "doing anything intensly, like being on stage - going for extreme
manic energy."
Prodigy's dancer Leeroy Thornhill says, "It's just a hook. That's the only
thing behind it. The bitch is the music, not a girl thing. A lot of girls say
that's their favorite track. There is no message in Prodigy music, really, it's
just an expression of hardness."
Indeed, the lyrics aren't even original; they are sampled from an Ultramagnetic
MC track.
I think the most interesting thing about the song is its video, which most
believe to be brilliant and groundbreaking. The video corresponds to
Howlett's message of living life to the extreme. The video is generally
banned as it contains violence and sexually explicit material.
Note, this is bit of a spoiler, and part of the fun is the shock of it all, so
if you haven't seen it and would like to, I'd advise you to stop reading right
now.
The entire video is done in a first person perspective, following an
individual throughout the course of an evening. It begins as he showers,
shaves, uses the bathroom, dresses, grabs a drink, does some cocaine, and then
goes out.
Throughout the whole video, he's drinking, using drugs, and harassing women.
The camera is always swinging around, the cuts are very fast and as the
video progresses it gets more blurry, emphasizing his inebriation.
He gets something to eat, then goes to a bar. He gets drunk. He goes to a
club and dances. He gets hostile, breaking a chair on somebody's back,
choking another. He hassles the DJ.
He vomits into a bathroom sink, breaks down the door of a man on the toilet and
then drags him away to shoot up in the stall.
He wanders the street and enters a strip club. He gets a dance, then takes a
girl to the back by a car (possibly his). They kiss and fondle, and when he
can't open the car then he breaks the window and drives them back to his
apartment. They get naked and have sex.
The girl leaves, and as he watches her leave, we see a full length mirror.
This is the surprise - as you finally see the person who's been causing the
mayhem, you find it's a woman.
Thanks LX: The video was directed by Jonas Åkerlund, who has also directed
Madonna's "Ray of Light", Metallica's "Turn the Page"
and Moby's "James Bond Theme".