"Machine Gun" is a song by English band
Portishead. The song made its radio and download debut on 24 March 2008, acting as the lead single from their third studio album, ''
Third
Third or 3rd may refer to:
Numbers
* 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3
* , a fraction of one third
* Second#Sexagesimal divisions of calendar time and day, 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute''
Places
* 3rd Street (d ...
'' (2008). It premiered on
Zane Lowe's
BBC Radio 1 show and was made available for download on the band's official website. A UK one-sided
12 inch vinyl was released on 14 April 2008.
Release
The 12-inch vinyl was released on 14 April, while a digital version was made available from the official site on 10 April. A
music video for the song was released. It features the band playing the song at the studio. On 29 May, during the first concert at the
Estrella Damm Primavera Sound Festival in
Barcelona,
Chuck D
Carlton Douglas Ridenhour (born August 1, 1960), known professionally as Chuck D, is an American rapper, best known as the leader and frontman of the hip hop group Public Enemy, which he co-founded in 1985 with Flavor Flav. Chuck D helped creat ...
of
Public Enemy joined the band onstage to perform a rap section on the instrumental part at the end of the song.
The song's beat was sampled by
The Weeknd on his song "
Belong to the World
"Belong to the World" is a song by Canadian singer the Weeknd from his debut studio album ''Kiss Land'' (2013). The song was released as the album's second single on July 16, 2013.
Background and lyrics
On July 6, 2013, the Weeknd unveiled "Belo ...
" from his debut album ''
Kiss Land''. According to
Geoff Barrow
Geoffrey Paul Barrow (born 9 December 1971) is an English music producer, composer, and DJ. He is a member of the bands Portishead, Beak and supergroup Quakers, and has scored several films.
Portishead—formed in 1991—was named after the s ...
, the sample was used without the band's permission.
Track listing
#"Machine Gun" – 4:45
In popular culture
*A different version of the song appeared in the teaser for the video game ''
Metro: Last Light''.
*The song was featured in an episode of the British teen drama ''
Skins'', which is set in Bristol, where the band is from.
*The song was used in the credit sequence of "Well This Took a Dark Turn", a season 6 episode of the
Netflix series ''
Orange Is the New Black
''Orange Is the New Black'' (sometimes abbreviated to ''OITNB'') is an American comedy-drama streaming television series created by Jenji Kohan for Netflix. The series is based on Piper Kerman's memoir '' Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Wo ...
''.
*The song was also featured at the end of Netflix Italian drama ''
Curon
''Curon'' is an Italian supernatural drama television series created by Ezio Abbate, Ivano Fachin, Giovanni Galassi, and Tommaso Matano for Netflix. The series stars Valeria Bilello and Luca Lionello.
The first seven-episode season premiered o ...
'' as a closure with the lyrics depicting some instances of the plot of the series.
Charts
"Machine Gun" entered the
UK Singles Chart at number 52 on 30 March 2008, their first singles chart entry for ten years since "
Only You" in March 1998.
References
External links
Machine Gunvinyl 12-inch edition at
Discogs.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Machine Gun (Portishead Song)
2008 singles
Portishead (band) songs
Songs written by Geoff Barrow
Songs written by Beth Gibbons
2008 songs