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Underground > Radio & Music >

The Prodigy's new song- Shit on a stick

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12:31 / 11.06.02

Gentlemen, you are correct - I have made an error; the error of believing that you would remember the fact that I am always right. This will be noted in my ledger, you know...

13:02 / 11.06.02

Hahahahahahaha! Now I geddit! That was a joke about Cave being no good huh Sav?

Wasn't it?

(Shakes screen violently)

WASN'T IT!?!?

13:08 / 11.06.02

Well i only brought Mr Cave into things because i was aggreeing with Lyras' points and i get pissed off with people banging on about faults in other bands whilst totally ignoring the same faults in bands that are to their tastes...

as for my own position...i dont particularly like The Prodigy because i find them pretty boring although i liked 'Breathe'

I adore 99% of Mr Caves diities and never find him boring...

...though that may be because i don't particularly like women very much...

14:00 / 11.06.02

Like Runs says here, the Prodge that were responsible for everything from Firestarter onwards are so different from the previous incarnation that it's just daft. ...Jilted Generation was actually a pretty good album.

I actually think it's extremely superficial to single out the prodigy, for a song that has absolutely no meaningful lyrical content, over other artists who produce songs which embody in their underlying message a sexist worldview.

'Tis a thread specifically about the Prodigy. Get a thread going about sexism in lyrics and I'll happily attack others for the same crime.

14:34 / 11.06.02

Have resurrected this thread for all your Nick Cave discussion needs, pro and con.

A public service, like.

Goodness Gracious Meme

17:24 / 11.06.02

at the risk of stirring (moi?), think it's pretty hard to consider 'Smack my bitch up' without involving the Jonas Akerlund video.

And lyra's absolutely right (takes own pulse) about the vast double standard operating here....

Jack The Bodiless

20:20 / 11.06.02

Can't agree with that, plumsy. The video-cum-song and the song as is are two different animals. The former intended to market the latter, which in turn was intended to market the album, from which they get their cash... The song wasn't written with the video in mind, was it?

The different accounts (often from Liam himself) concerning their rationale for 'Smack My Bitch Up' speak for themselves, IMKeenlyBlaseO. If they can't make up their minds about why they sampled it, they obviously a) didn't really think about it - just thought it was funny, or b) did it deliberately to get the shock value and just don't want to admit it. I'd go for the latter - they're self-publicists along the same lines as the Sex Pistols. Personally, I think it's a twatty song anyway, and if you've ever heard all of the blokes on a dancefloor stop and scream 'SMACK MY BITCH UP' during the break, several actually AT the girls dancing next to them, you can see how it can be regarded as a misogynist anthem of sorts (I HAVE experienced the above, in case you're wondering, almost every time it's played at my local club).

The Natural Way

08:40 / 12.06.02

Urrgh. What the hell kind of club is that?

It doesn't matter when or why the video was made: "Smack My Bitch Up", as a cultural object, includes both video and song - -it's difficult (and probably a bit of a mistake) to attempt to examine any of its component parts in isolation.

And marriage.

Regrettable Juvenilia

16:40 / 12.06.02

"Was there an outcry to Aphex Twin's Windowlicker video?"

Well, I've been trying to explain that it's racist for years, but nobody seems to believe me. They think I'm loony. Was this what you meant, or am I still alone?

16:55 / 12.06.02

What's wrong with being racy?

The Natural Way

07:50 / 13.06.02

I always thought the 'Window Licker' video had a lot more to do w/ upsetting the male gaze than it did w/ race... But I'm open to these exciting new racist possibilities! Let's go!

Regrettable Juvenilia

13:17 / 13.01.04

Liam Howlett admits 'Baby's Got A Temper' was basically shit, and promises the new album won't be like that at all, honest guv.

Oh, and Spaliance: just to re-open a mouldy can of old worms, I think there is a substantial if not watertight case for arguing that the 'Windowlicker' video is racist because it's a beardy white man saying "with their bling-bling and their booty-shaking, these black musicians are hilarious! but not as sophisticated and clever as beady whiteys like me, eh?", much to the delight and hilarity of his beardy white fans.

14:38 / 13.01.04

ah brilliant. we don't get enough discussion of 'maybe racist' around here.

always thought it was a pop at the fetishisation of naughty black culture some dancey white types are partial to: 'look at the swearing and big bottoms! much realer than me!'

but not realer than the twin

Regrettable Juvenilia

15:03 / 13.01.04

No, 'What They Do' by The Roots does what you describe. The Aphex video is all sneery.

And we DON'T get enough discussion of attitudes to race in music on here.

15:48 / 13.01.04

it is a favourite topic of yours tho innit?

and the roots are black - them slagging white boys is a bit divisive and inharmonious no? the twin and cunningham commenting on what they perceive as idealogical laxity from what's ostensibly their own gang seems less so to me.

Regrettable Juvenilia

16:11 / 13.01.04

I'm confused now. I intitially misread your post, it seems - I didn't realise you were claiming that the 'Windowlicker' video was specifically targeted at white people (The Roots certainly aren't doing that, they're satirising hip-hop & r'n'b videos in general). I think I didn't realise this because it seems unlikely and hard to substantiate, to put it mildly. Observe:

12:52 / 14.01.04

hey you're right. that picture

IS RACIST

14:05 / 14.01.04

That picture is f***ing hilarous. Who is it?

Regrettable Juvenilia

14:17 / 14.01.04

It's Aphex Twin's face superimposed on the bodies of a couple of women.

Khaologan, have you seen the video in full? With the bit at the start before the track comes in which essentially boils down to: "black Americans: don't they talk funny?" Hilarious! Richard James is making such an incisive comment about the exploitational materialism of NO HE ISN'T THE COCKFARMER.

15:27 / 14.01.04

On the subject of the Prodigy song...

Have I missed something? I don't know how it works with the video, but when you listen to the song, it sounds like he's done the first minute or so and then just looped it a few times.

It's not even really a song, is it??! It's just a loop. There's no focal point to it, no progression, no nothing.

Which is very shit obviously, but I'm just surprised no-one talked in terms of the song being a complete non-event. To call it shit kind of implies it was a failed effort, rather than a complete absence of effort.

23:14 / 01.05.04

Just saw the Windowlicker video on the Chris Cunningham DVD. I certainly don't think it qualifies as racist, it's making fun of a certain segment of black culture, not black people on the whole. It's like saying that fun of the Southern gun toting white racist is making fun of the entire race. The video is poking fun at a stereotype, the urban male so often presented in music videos. The way they speak in the opening is taking to the extreme the typical bad opening of a music video dialogue, by composing virtually every sentence solely with the words "Bitch," "Motherfucker," and "Nigga." I found it hilarious.

The second part of the video is so bizarre and off putting (in a good way), I would hesitate to call it all racist. I think it's more about the way women are portrayed in these videos, by creating an incongruity between the typical sexy female body, and the awful face, it forces you to look at the "booty video" in a different way.

I don't think Cunningham is so much addressing real black people as he is the stereotypical image of black people. I don't find that racist, and I don't find it outdated either, because what he's doing is far from a strict parody, it's really something unto itself.

02:53 / 02.05.04

It's two black guys ad-libbing, Flyboy. Cunningham left it in because he said it was so good.

I suppose they were given the premise.

I'm Rick Jones, bitch

11:28 / 16.07.04

Most of the new Prodigy stuff sounds nowt like BGaT, thank christ. I'm up to track 5 thanks to some evil russkie site, and there's a strong female bias to the vocals so far: save #4, which is kind of "Lucky Star"'s evil universe B twin, all of em are female leads. That girl from Natural Born Killers and Strange Days does a couple and she's ace. BGaT made this album: Liam realised he was going to fuck it up, so he pulled it back. It's bass heavy techno sans Keif and Keif, and it's different to Liam's other stuff, which is a nice tradition in Prodge albums.

Relevant thread.

Re: this thread: Saying "Smack My Bitch Up" inspires violence against women* is like saying GTA 3 inspires drive bys - if you're going to beat women, you'll do it without a Kool Keith sample telling you to. It was a snotty, childish addition to the track designed to make middle england's monocle pop out, and piss off a few anal fuckers who probably analyse the socio-political impact of their toast every morning.

To quote: GWB: MISSON ACCOMPLISHED!!!

*Which I detest

The Natural Way

12:33 / 16.07.04

That's interesting, Dunc. Still, there could be an argument for the idea that the black guys and bling have been hijacked by the big, white dream of Richard James.

But I'm not going to bother making it. I love the idea that the Aphex is more *real* than anyone else, even if that does mean conflating gangsta rappers/gangsta rap/gangsta rap videos with a whole bunch of stereotypes and stuff.

Now I've said that, it doesn't sound quite so cool. Hmmm, Modern notions of blackness run through the Aphex filter and used as a foil for his cool.... Hmmm.

But he does it with such a sense of grotesque fun. He's not taking himself seriously, is he? But he is branding and selling records........ Oh, I don't know.

I give up. But I don't know if I can be bothered to be offended right now.

Anyway, this is much easier to deal with:

It's not even really a song, is it??! It's just a loop. There's no focal point to it, no progression, no nothing.

Which is very shit obviously, but I'm just surprised no-one talked in terms of the song being a complete non-event. To call it shit kind of implies it was a failed effort, rather than a complete absence of effort.

Anyone would think that dance music never happened!

Here's to an end to progress! Permanent revolution!

And with that, runce bedonned his lennons, beads, sinbads and hoodie and left. For the rave.

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