"Hammer to the Heart" is the third single released by Italian

dance music Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement. In terms of performance, the major categories are live dance music and recorded danc ...

group

the Tamperer featuring Maya The Tamperer featuring Maya was an Italian dance music group consisting of Italian record producers Mario Fargetta and Alex Farolfi, and American singer Maya Days. Later, Giuliano Saglia and GianLuca Mensi would join the project. It achieved Euro ...

. The track samples the

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

riff from Swedish pop group

ABBA ABBA ( , , formerly named Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid or Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Frida) are a Swedish supergroup formed in Stockholm in 1972 by Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. The group's ...

's 1979 song "

Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight) "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)" is a song by Swedish band ABBA. It was recorded in August 1979 in order to help promote their North American and European tour of that year, and was released on ABBA's '' Greatest Hits Vol. 2'' album ...

". "Hammer to the Heart" was released on 31 January 2000 as the group's first standalone single and their last release until the 2009 remix of their 1998 hit, " Feel It". The song became the group's third top-10 single in the United Kingdom, reaching number six on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

, and entered the top 30 in Ireland and Sweden, peaking at number 23 in both nations.

Critical reception

British music website

Popjustice Popjustice is a music website founded in 2000 by UK freelance music journalist Peter Robinson, who has worked for ''NME'', ''The Guardian'', ''Attitude'' and many others. It is composed of the work of editor Robinson, features editor Michael Cra ...

praised "Hammer to the Heart", labelling it as "amazing" and referring to it as a mashup between two then unmade tracks: "

Hung Up "Hung Up" is a song by American singer Madonna from her tenth studio album ''Confessions on a Dance Floor'' (2005). Initially used in a number of television advertisements and serials, the song was released as the album's lead single on October ...

" by

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone (; ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Widely dubbed the " Queen of Pop", Madonna has been noted for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting, a ...

(2005) and "

Something Kinda Ooooh "Something Kinda Ooooh" is a song by British all-female pop group Girls Aloud, taken from their first greatest hits collection '' The Sound of Girls Aloud: The Greatest Hits'' (2006). The song was written by Miranda Cooper, Brian Higgins and his ...

" by

Girls Aloud Girls Aloud were an pop girl group that was created through the ITV talent show '' Popstars: The Rivals'' in 2002. The group comprised singers Cheryl, Nadine Coyle, Sarah Harding, Nicola Roberts and Kimberley Walsh. The group achieved a str ...

(2006). The publication also praised the use of crowd noise and

bell A bell is a directly struck idiophone percussion instrument. Most bells have the shape of a hollow cup that when struck vibrates in a single strong strike tone, with its sides forming an efficient resonator. The strike may be made by an inter ...

s in the instrumentation.

Chart performance

Released on 31 January 2000, the single began to appear on national music charts in early February. In the United Kingdom, it debuted and peaked at number six on the

on 6 February 2000, going on to spent a total of 10 nonconsecutive weeks in the top 100. It was the group's third and final top-ten hit in the UK. In Ireland, it spent three weeks on the

Irish Singles Chart The Irish Singles Chart is the Republic of Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA) and compiled on their behalf by the Official Charts Company. Chart rankings are bas ...

, settling at a peak of number 23. On 10 February, "Hammer to the Heart" debuted at number 41 on the

Swedish Singles Chart Sverigetopplistan (, lit. "the Sweden top list") is the Swedish national record chart, formerly known as Topplistan (1975–1997) and Hitlistan (1998–2007) and known by its current name since October 2007, based on sales data from the Swedish R ...

and ascended to its highest position of number 23 two weeks later. The song first appeared on the

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

and

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

singles charts on the same day, 12 February; in the former country, it debuted at its peak, number 45, while in the Netherlands, it rose to number 88 during its second of three weeks in the top 100. On the

Eurochart Hot 100 The European Hot 100 Singles was compiled by '' Billboard'' and ''Music & Media'' magazine from March 1984 until December 2010. The chart was based on national singles sales charts in 17 European countries: Austria, Belgium (two charts separately ...

, "Hammer to the Heart" debuted and peaked at number 29. The song also found moderate success in Australia, where it reached number 67.

Track listings

Italian 12-inch vinyl :A1. "Hammer to the Heart" (Metro extended mix) – 5:30 :A2. "Hammer to the Heart" (Metro 7-inch mix) – 3:18 :B1. "Hammer to the Heart" (Pure Energy extended mix) – 5:02 :B2. "Step Out" – 3:05 European CD single # "Hammer to the Heart" (F.A.F. radio edit) – 3:30 # "Hammer to the Heart" (Metro radio edit) – 3:08 UK CD single # "Hammer to the Heart" (F.A.F. radio edit) – 3:30 # "Hammer to the Heart" (Dynamic remix) – 4:38 # "Step Out" – 3:05 UK cassette single # "Hammer to the Heart" (F.A.F. radio edit) – 3:30 # "Step Out" – 3:05 Australian maxi-single # "Hammer to the Heart" (F.A.F. radio edit) # "Hammer to the Heart" (Metro radio edit) # "Hammer to the Heart" (Dynamic remix) # "Hammer to the Heart" (Firewall vocal remix) # "Hammer to the Heart" (

DJ Fergie A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music festival), mobile ...

remix) # "Step Out"

Charts

References

{{Reflist 2000 singles Jive Records singles Songs written by Mark Taylor (record producer) Songs written by Paul Barry (songwriter) The Tamperer songs Virgin Records singles