Smack My Bitch Up

Composition

The lyrics "Change my pitch up / Smack my bitch up" are repeated through the whole song. The band defended the song, saying that the lyrics were being misinterpreted as misogynistic and the song actually meant "...doing anything intensely..." The song led to a publicised disagreement at the 1998 Reading festival after the Beastie Boys asked the group not to play the track. The vocals are sampled and altered from the Ultramagnetic MCs song "Give the Drummer Some". The original lyrics, performed by rapper Kool Keith, are: "Switch up change my pitch up" / "Smack my bitch up, like a pimp,..." Kool Keith had previously been sampled by the Prodigy in the track "Out of Space". The female vocals in "Smack My Bitch Up" were performed by Shahin Badar. Badar's vocals and harmonies are based on "Nana (The Dreaming)" performed by Sheila Chandra. Initially Liam Howlett used a direct sample of Chandra's song, but later had the vocal resung after sample clearance issues. The track also contains samples from "Funky Man" by Kool & the Gang, "In Memory Of" by Randy Weston, "Bulls on Parade" by Rage Against the Machine and "House of Rising Funk" by Afrique.

Music video

The promotional music video for "Smack My Bitch Up", directed by Swedish music video director Jonas Åkerlund depicts a night out in London filmed from a first-person perspective, graphically portraying drinking and driving, snorting cocaine, violence, vomiting, vandalism, nudity and sex. The unedited version also includes a scene of heroin use, a hit and run incident, fights with men, abuse of women, and a full sex scene. The protagonist takes a stripper (played by model Teresa May) home and has sex with her. As the stripper leaves with her things, the protagonist glances in the mirror, is revealed to be a woman, and collapses on the bed.

The music video for "Smack My Bitch Up" drew fierce criticism for misogyny, particularly from feminist groups such as the US National Organization for Women, accusing it of encouraging violence against women, despite the main protagonist being a woman. Others, however, praised the video because of the way it subverted stereotypes of gender roles and domestic violence, showing that women can also be abusers.

MTV initially restricted the music video to late-night rotation, starting with a midnight debut on 120 Minutes on December 7, 1997. On December 22, MTV removed the video from rotation. In mid-2002, MTV2 played the full unedited version of this video as part of its special Most Controversial Videos. Despite the controversy, the video was nominated for four awards in the 1998 MTV Video Music Awards, and eventually won Best Dance Video and Breakthrough Video. In 2010, the song was voted as the most controversial song of all time in a survey conducted by PRS for Music.

Lyrical controversy

"Smack My Bitch Up" was banned by the BBC and only a lyric-free version was played on Radio 1. On the chart rundown, other tracks from the single release were played, and the title "Smack My Bitch Up" was not mentioned. On BBC World Service radio chart run down it was mentioned as "Smack" and was not played. Yet on the first episode of Top of the Pops in which it 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."

ITV Chart Show refused to display the name of the song when the video was played during one of their episodes. Usually aired at 11.30 am, the show displayed the on-screen graphic as simply "The Prodigy"; the title of the song would usually appear underneath. This also meant they avoided playing a part of the song that used the offending lyric when playing the customary music video clip.

12" vinyl record

1. "Smack My Bitch Up" (LP version) – 5:42
2. "One Man Army" (featuring Tom Morello) – 4:44
3. "Smack My Bitch Up" (DJ Hype remix) – 7:17
4. "Mindfields" (Headrock dub) – 4:34

CD single

1. "Smack My Bitch Up" (Edit) – 4:45
2. "No Man Army" (featuring Tom Morello) – 4:44
3. "Mindfields" (Headrock Dub) – 4:34
4. "Smack My Bitch Up" (DJ Hype Remix) – 7:17

12" vinyl record "Black sleeve"

A1. "Smack My Bitch Up" (Album Version) – 5:43 A2. "Mindfields" (Headrock Dub) – 4:35 B1. "Smack My Bitch Up" (DJ Hype Remix) – 7:17

12" vinyl record

A1. "Smack My Bitch Up" (LP Version) – 5:42 A2. "No Man Army" (featuring Tom Morello) – 4:44 B1. "Mindfields" (Headrock Dub) – 4:34 B2. "Smack My Bitch Up" (DJ Hype Remix) – 7:17

Digipak

1. "Smack My Bitch Up" (Edit) – 4:45
2. "No Man Army" (featuring Tom Morello) – 4:44
3. "Mindfields" (Headrock Dub) – 4:34
4. "Smack My Bitch Up" (DJ Hype Remix) – 7:17

The digipak was released in cooperation with Sire.

Chart performance

The song reached the top 15 in several countries, for example Canada, New Zealand, Norway and Sweden. The song performed best in Finland, securing The Prodigy their third Finnish number-one hit alongside "Firestarter" and "Breathe". Although not reaching the top 20 in those countries, "Smack My Bitch Up" was a hit in the Netherlands peaking at No. 22, in Australia reaching No. 41, and in the United States reaching No. 89.