Prodigy* ‎– Smack My Bitch Up

It was all very well for Liam Howlett, in the comfort of his country house, to release this irresponsible piece of crap to the world in the late nineties, when everything was post-post-ironic. The facts that the title phrase was sampled (from Ultramagnetic MCs), and that the fistbitingly embarrassing video portrayed the violence as if committed by a girl, excuse nothing. I wonder how many stupid, lager-filled morons heard this back in ’97 and decided it'd be cool to commit a little domestic violence on the side. The whole exercise was a pathetic attempt to further The Prodigy's negligible notoriety.

Even putting aside the misguided ethics, this remains one of The Prodigy's poorest releases sonically. Even minus the sample, this would barely have cut it as an album track, let alone a single.

This is what I call a real value for money maxi single.Four belting tracks;the superb original version of 'Smack My Bitch Up' from one of the finest dance albums of all time-'The Fat Of The Land'. A collaberation made in heaven between Liam Howlett and Tom Morello of Rage Against The Machine, then a brillant remix of another album track-'Minefields' which oozes quality and finally a wicked drum and bass version of 'SMBU' by DJ Hype. No cop out radio edits or filler here, just brilliant music. Say no more.