The Prodigy: Why MTV Banned the Song Smack My B*tch Up

In 1997, The Prodigy’s third album, The Fat  of the Land, signaled a turning point in the band’s career, as it was a crossover  hit with both rave and rock audiences, and went on to sell over 10 million copies, making  it their most successful album of their career But its third and final single, which for this video  and because it’s youtube we’ll refer to the BBC way of referencing the song I’ll simply title it  “Smack”. This song would be the subject of much controversy. Let’s take a look at the controversy  behind the song and why MTV rejected it.

Before we get into the controversy around the  track, let’s talk a bit about its background. “Smack" was produced by bandleader Liam Howlett, and Howlett would send the track to three  separate DJs to be remixed – including Jonny L, the late Slacker, and DJ Hype. The song’s title comes from the opening verse of the album track “Give the Drmmer  Some” by the hip hop group Ultramagnetic MCs, off their 1988 debut Critical Beatdown.

This is  where part of the controversy would stem from, as rapper Kool Keith transitions between the lines  “Change my pitch up” and “Smack my expletive up, like a pimp. ” Howlett would sample the two  rhyming lines for the refrain of his own song, while choosing the latter line for its title.  He’d later tell the publication Addicted to Noise that his decision to integrate this sample  into his song was spontaneous, recalling, “The sample just works.

There's not really  one explanation why I put it in there. When I was young, and I was listening to [songs by]  Ultramagnetic MCs, Public Enemy, Schooly D about guns, drugs and women, it just had a good vibe.  I just liked the vibe it had and tried to pick some of that up in that song, really" he'd say.

Once it came time to put out the song as a single for The Prodigy, he’d go with the DJ Hype remix.  The single would be released on November 17th, 1997 and aired regularly on alternative station  Radio X (which at the time called XFM), where it would eventually reach number one on their top  30 charts. It also received another boost through the live chart show Top of the Pops, where it was  featured as part of their top 10 countdown.

Over 3,000 promotional posters would be made using  the name of the single as a promotional tool. As the song rose in popularity, it began to  receive harsh criticism from feminist groups, particularly the National Organization for  Women, or NOW, who deemed the song misogynistic, given its refrain, and the fact that it’s repeated  multiple times throughout. BBC’s Radio 1 would air an instrumental version of the song, while their  World Service chart simply referred to the song as i do in this video as “Smack,” and chose to not  play it.

The single’s accompanying music video, which premiered on MTV’s 120 Minutes  program, brought more fuel to the fire, as The Prodigy were accused by the same  demographic of promoting violence against women. The video centers on the first person view of  a violent man engaging in hardcore drug use, drunk driving, and the assault. Janice Rocco,  who was NOW LA’s chapter president at the time, was quoted by the San Francisco Chronicle, “This teaches violence is a form of entertainment.

This message is damaging in general, but  particularly to children, she’d say. ” The song would be released as a single on  Madonna’s Maverick label, which was half-owned by Warner Bros. Records, a subsidiary of Time  Warner.

Time Warner five years earlier went through another media firestorm when they put out  bodycount’s debut album with the song cop killer. “Smack” strangely enough would make it through  their American parent label Warner Brothers internal review committee, resulting in the record  not being sold with a parental advisory sticker, and it was being sold by Wal-Mart and other big  box retailers who frequently said no to selling albums with violent or sexually explicit themes. Bob Merlis, senior vice president of worldwide corporate communications for Warner Bros. 

Records, who said the company has received no complaints from consumers  or retailers about the song As a result of this reaction, the video  was heavily edited, and would be relegated to late-night rotation, and by the 22nd of  December, it was taken off rotation entirely, although MTV would later issue a statement  claiming their decision to remove the video wasn’t influenced by the reaction to the song. On the other hand, Howlett would maintain a neutral stance on the song’s theme,  stating that it’s simply about and i quote “doing anything intensely. ” In a  separate interview, he’d tell Addicted to Noise that the song was based more so on a  rhythmic influence rather than lyrical, saying, "That song is probably the most  pointless song I've ever written.

But live, it works. It works well. Sometimes  things can be so f’ing simple and you don't need an explanation of the lyrics.

Why explain the  lyrics? It either works or it doesn't. And for us, it works well live.

It's a really exciting  track and it's just a good hard track" he'd say Howell elaborated further on  the song’s intention saying "I was into hip-hop and I was into the  fact that MCs could rap about anything, it'd just be more comical than anything else.  Howell would also come to recognize the impact of the song’s sample in retrospect, saying, “[It] became apparent to me…after I'd written the track, that it would be a real piss-take  on the English press, the fact that they will pick up on it and create something out of it. If  you can create that much trouble in one vocal, then let's create some trouble.

For us, it's  just about doing what we want, doing it our way, having fun. That's our way of just having fun.  But it's serious in other ways.

It's not a joke. This song isn't meant to be taken like a joke. ” Luckily, the controversy wouldn’t deter the song’s success.

The single would reach number 1  in Finland, Sweden, and on the UK Dance Charts, while also charting highly throughout the  continent, as well as across the pond in Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Following Prodigy  frontman Keith Flint’s passing on March 4th, 2019, the song was placed at number 23 on Billboard’s  Dance/Electronic Digital Song Sales chart, a considerable jump from its debut on the Hot  100 Chart at 89. The music video despite being taken on mtv would be nominated in four separate  categories at the 1998 MTV Video Music Awards and won two of them – one for Best Dance  Video and another for Breakthrough Video.

Four years later, the song would  air on MTV2 fully uncensored during a special called Most Controversial Videos. As recently as 2020, the influence of the song would impact video games. The game Cyberpunk  2077 has a main quest called Chipin’ In, in which some of the protagonist’s motions mimic  those of the man in the original music video, with a companion song on the soundtrack called  “Smack My Chip Up.

” Another game released later that year, Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla, has a  side quest called The Prodigy, which includes a boxing match against a clergyman. While your  character, , engages in battle, a character you meet called Keith, named after frontman Keith  Flint, yells “Smack my bishop! ” from time to time.

That does it for today’s episode of Rock N’  Roll True Stories, guys; thanks for watching. Be sure to hit the like button and subscribe,  and I’ll see you in the next video. Take care.