Format Digital download Length 3:38 | Genre Disco
funk Label Modular
Interscope | |
Released 29 November 2015 (2015-11-29) Recorded Kevin Parker's home studio
(Fremantle, Western Australia) | ||
"The Less I Know the Better" is a song by the Australian rock band Tame Impala, released on 29 November 2015 as the third and final single from the group's third studio album Currents. The song's accompanying music video takes place in a high school where a basketball player suffers a broken heart.
Contents
The song peaked at number 23 on the Belgian Flanders singles chart, number 66 on the ARIA Singles Chart and number 195 on the French Singles Chart. In the U.S., the song charted at number 36 on Billboard's Hot Rock Songs chart. Along with "Let It Happen", the song was one of two from Tame Impala's Currents to reach the top five in the Triple J Hottest 100, 2015, coming in at #4.
Background
Parker stated that "The Less I Know the Better" originated from his love of disco:
According to Parker, recording the song became obsessive. He recalled performing over 1,057 partial vocal takes for either "The Less I Know the Better" or the album's second single, "'Cause I'm a Man", though he could not recall which.
Music video
A music video for the song was uploaded on 26 November 2015 to the group's Vevo channel. The video follows a high school basketball player in love with a cheerleader, who soon begins a relationship with the team's gorilla mascot (named Trevor). Lars Brandle of Billboard described it thus: "the clip is a strange tale of high school lust and jealousy (and King Kong) played out in a technicolor trip." The clip was filmed by the Spanish creative collective and directors Canada. The cheerleader is portrayed by Spanish actress Laia Manzanares.