"Poison" is a song by English

electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroa ...

group the Prodigy, released on 6 March 1995 as the fourth and final single from their second studio album, ''

Music for the Jilted Generation ''Music for the Jilted Generation'' is the second studio album by English electronic music group the Prodigy. It was first released in July 1994 by XL Recordings in the United Kingdom and by Mute Records in the United States. Just as on the ...

'' (1994).

Maxim Reality Keith Andrew Palmer (born 21 March 1967), better known by his stage name Maxim (previously Maxim Reality), is an English musician, known for being a vocalist of electronic music band the Prodigy. Pre-Prodigy history Palmer was born in Peterboro ...

sings on this track. It was a number one hit in Finland, while peaking inside the top five in Ireland and Norway. Additionally, it peaked within the top 30 in Sweden and Switzerland.

Composition

The drums in the song are samples from "It's a New Day" by

Skull Snaps Skull Snaps was an enigmatic funk group active between 1963 and 1973. The group is known for their mysterious origins and the anonymity of their members, with the identities of their members being unknown for most of their career and long afterw ...

, " Amen, Brother" by

the Winstons The Winstons were an American funk and soul music group based in Washington, D.C. They are known for their 1969 recording featuring a song entitled " Color Him Father" on the A-side, and "Amen, Brother" on the B-side. Halfway into "Amen, Brother ...

, and "Heavy Soul Slinger" by Bernard Purdie.

Critical reception

John Bush from

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

viewed the song as "excellent". Larry Flick from '' Billboard'' noted that it "marks the rave outfit's first foray into hip-hop", adding that "it's an inspired move. The act's penchant for quirky loops and industrial sound effects melds perfectly with the track's approachable downtempo groove." He also described the track as a "juicy jam", voiced by new band member

. Brad Beatnik from ''

Music Week ''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future. History Founded in 1959 as '' Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music W ...

s ''RM'' Dance Update stated that "with its hard hip hop beats yet funky feel, tis the stunning stand-out track" of the album. Another editor, James Hamilton, declared it as a "ponderously rumbling

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...

-ish dub joller". James Hunter from ''

Vibe ''Vibe'' is an American music and entertainment magazine founded by producers David Salzman and Quincy Jones. The publication predominantly features R&B and hip hop music artists, actors and other entertainers. After shutting down producti ...

'' described it as "an excellent post-

techno Techno is a Music genre, genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally music production, produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempo often varying between 120 and 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central Drum beat, rhythm is typ ...

techno thing that ought to become an enormous, obnoxious hit." In 2022, '' Time Out'' ranked "Poison" number 26 in their list of "50 Best '90s Songs". The magazine added, "There are a ton of tracks from the Prodge that could be included in this list, but none sum up

Keith Flint Keith Charles Flint (17 September 1969 – 4 March 2019) was an English singer and member as well as one of the vocalists of the electronic dance act The Prodigy. Starting out as a dancer, he became the vocalist of the group and performed on th ...

and

Liam Howlett Liam Paul Paris Howlett (born 21 August 1971) is an English record producer, musician, songwriter, co-founder and leader of the British electronic band The Prodigy, and an occasional DJ. Early years Howlett was born in Braintree, Essex, En ...

’s rowdy rave punks better than ‘Poison’. The mix of chunky breakbeats, sludgy electronics and wide-eyed carnage was the perfect rhythmical remedy to those who fancied a dab of dance music (and those who wanted to find out what the hell

rave culture A rave (from the verb: '' to rave'') is a dance party at a warehouse, club, or other public or private venue, typically featuring performances by DJs playing electronic dance music. The style is most associated with the early 1990s dance mu ...

might have been about), but just couldn’t get to grips with the eight-minute

Chicago house Chicago house refers to house music produced during the mid to late 1980s within Chicago. The term is generally used to refer to the first ever house music productions, which were by Chicago-based artists in the 1980s. History and origins Disco ...

workouts of the time."

Chart performance

"Poison" reached number one in Finland and was a top-five hit in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

. The song also reached number 24 in Sweden, and number 23 in Switzerland.

Artwork

The packaging for the CD single follows a theme similar to the song:

rat poison Rodenticides are chemicals made and sold for the purpose of killing rodents. While commonly referred to as "rat poison", rodenticides are also used to kill mice, squirrels, groundhog, woodchucks, chipmunks, porcupines, nutria, beavers, and voles ...

. The front cover features a box of said poison, the back shows a picture of a dead and

decomposing Decomposition or rot is the process by which dead organic substances are broken down into simpler organic or inorganic matter such as carbon dioxide, water, simple sugars and mineral salts. The process is a part of the nutrient cycle and is e ...

rodent, and the CD itself has a rat superimposed onto it. The theme of rat poison ties into the music, as the official remix of the song is dubbed "Rat Poison".

Music video

The accompanying

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...

for "Poison" was directed by Walter Stern. The band performs the track in a basement-like location. By the end of the video, the floor has turned into a mud-bath where

mud wrestling Mud wrestling is defined as physical confrontation ( fighting, wrestling, etc.) that occurs in mud or a mud pit. The popular modern interpretation specifies that participants wrestle while wearing minimal clothing and usually going barefoot, wi ...

with other band members. The music video was also shown on an episode of Beavis and Butt-head.

Soundtracks

The song is featured on the soundtracks for the 1999 film '' End of Days'' and the 1997 film '' The Jackal''. It's also featured briefly in the 1999 ''

Robbie the Reindeer ''Robbie the Reindeer'' is a series of three animated comedy television specials co-produced by the BBC and the charity Comic Relief which were broadcast on BBC One between Christmas 1999 and 2007. Although the series is distributed commercially ...

'' film ''

Hooves of Fire "Hooves of Fire" is one of three animated BBC Christmas comedy television specials, filmed using stop motion techniques, and presented in 1999 in aid of Comic Relief. Story Robbie, son of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, arrives at Coldchester, ...

''. it also appeared on the

FIFA 21 ''FIFA 21'' is an association football simulation video game published by Electronic Arts as part of the '' FIFA series''. It is the 28th installment in the ''FIFA'' series, and was released on 9 October 2020 for Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Sw ...

Volta football soundtrack.

Legacy

The spoken words on the introductory of the album version : ''"Liam, someone on the phone for you / Aw fuck's sake, tryin' to write this fuckin' tune, man"'' They were parodied by

Clark Clark is an English language surname, ultimately derived from the Latin with historical links to England, Scotland, and Ireland ''clericus'' meaning "scribe", "secretary" or a scholar within a religious order, referring to someone who was educate ...

on his remix of Milanese's “Mr Bad News”, where a voices with an affected

received pronunciation Received Pronunciation (RP) is the accent traditionally regarded as the standard and most prestigious form of spoken British English. For over a century, there has been argument over such questions as the definition of RP, whether it is geog ...

English accent say “Christopher, somebody's on the telephone for you / Oh for fuck’s sake, I’m trying to write this fucking tune, man”. Electronic rock band

Does It Offend You, Yeah? Does It Offend You, Yeah? are a British dance-punk band from Reading, Berkshire. They played what was to be their final show on 12 December 2015 at the Electric Ballroom, Camden Town. In September 2021, they announced a new album, titled ''We ...

also make reference to the track's opening conversation on their song ''"We Are the Dead"'' from their album

Don't Say We Didn't Warn You ''Don't Say We Didn't Warn You'' is the second and final studio album by dance-punk band Does It Offend You, Yeah?. It was released 14 March 2011. It reached number 3 in the UK dance album charts and number 11 in the Indie charts. Background T ...

Track listing

#"Poison" (95 EQ) – 6:12 dited 4:05 version on CD edition#"Rat Poison" – 5:34 #"Scienide" – 5:54 #"Poison" (Environmental Science Dub Mix) – 6:18 * Tracks 1-2 and 4 written by

and Keith Palmer. Track 2 remixed by Liam Howlett. Track 4 remix and additional production by Environmental Science * Track 3 written by Liam Howlett

Charts

References

External links

* {{Authority control The Prodigy songs 1995 singles XL Recordings singles Songs written by Liam Howlett 1994 songs Music videos directed by Walter Stern Number-one singles in Finland