"Going Out of My Head" is a song by British big beat musician

Fatboy Slim Norman Quentin Cook (born Quentin Leo Cook, 31 July 1963), also known by his stage name Fatboy Slim, is an English musician, DJ, and record producer who helped to popularise the big beat genre in the 1990s. In the 1980s, Cook was the bassist f ...

. It was released as a double A-side single with "Michael Jackson", released as the third and final single from his debut studio album ''

Better Living Through Chemistry The phrase "Better Living Through Chemistry" is a variant of a DuPont advertising slogan, "Better Things for Better Living...Through Chemistry." DuPont adopted it in 1935 and it was their slogan until 1982 when the "Through Chemistry" part was dr ...

'' on 21 April 1997. The song contains prominent samples from

Yvonne Elliman Yvonne Marianne Elliman (born December 29, 1951) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress who performed for four years in the first cast of the stage musical ''Jesus Christ Superstar''. She scored a number of hits in the 1970s and achieved ...

's "

I Can't Explain "I Can't Explain" is a song by the English rock band the Who, written by Pete Townshend, and produced by Shel Talmy. The song was issued as a single on 15 January 1965 in the United Kingdom, on the Brunswick label, and on the Decca label in Am ...

" and

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham. With a heavy, guitar-driven sound, they are ci ...

's " The Crunge". It was featured in the films ''The Jackal'' and ''

Like Mike ''Like Mike'' is a 2002 American sports comedy film directed by John Schultz and written by Michael Elliot and Jordan Moffet. Starring Lil' Bow Wow, Morris Chestnut, Jonathan Lipnicki, Robert Forster, Crispin Glover and Eugene Levy, the film fol ...

.''

Background and composition

Produced by Fatboy Slim for his debut studio album ''Better Living Through Chemistry'' (1996), "Going Out of My Head" features guitar riff samples from American singer

's cover version of "

", originally performed by English rock band

The Who The Who are an English rock band formed in London in 1964. Their classic lineup consisted of lead singer Roger Daltrey, guitarist and singer Pete Townshend, bass guitarist and singer John Entwistle, and drummer Keith Moon. They are considered ...

. It also samples drums from " The Crunge" by English rock band

. A big beat song, "Going Out of My Head" incorporates musical elements such as shuffle drum beats and "

Space Age The Space Age is a period encompassing the activities related to the Space Race, space exploration, space technology, and the cultural developments influenced by these events, beginning with the Sputnik_1#Launch_and_mission, launch of Sputnik 1 ...

sound effects" into its instrumentation. Primarily an

instrumental An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to instru ...

track, the song's vocals consist solely of a repeating sample of a voice singing "Going out of my mind." Journalist Yoshi Kato, writing for the book ''1001 Songs You Must Hear Before You Die'', describes it as a "groovy dance-rock hybrid". Jon Dolan of ''

City Pages ''City Pages'' was an alternative newspaper serving the Minneapolis–St. Paul metropolitan area. It featured news, film, theatre and restaurant reviews and music criticism, available free every Wednesday. It ceased publication in 2020 due to a ...

'' remarked that the song "transmogrif es'64

mod Mod, MOD or mods may refer to: Places * Modesto City–County Airport, Stanislaus County, California, US Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Mods (band), a Norwegian rock band * M.O.D. (Method of Destruction), a band from New York City, US ...

into '97 postmod" with its looping of the "I Can't Explain" riff around a "space-funk tune". "Michael Jackson" features samples of "

Straight Outta Compton ''Straight Outta Compton'' is the debut studio album by rap group N.W.A, which, led by Eazy-E, formed in Los Angeles County's City of Compton in early 1987. Released by his label, Ruthless Records, on August 8, 1988, the album was produced b ...

" by

N.W.A N.W.A (an abbreviation for Niggaz Wit Attitudes) was an American hip hop group whose members were among the earliest and most significant popularizers and controversial figures of the gangsta rap subgenre, and the group is widely considered ...

, "

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...

" by Negativland and "What Have We Got" by

Sham 69 Sham 69 are an English punk rock band that formed in Hersham in Surrey in 1975. They were one of the most successful punk bands in the United Kingdom, achieving five top 20 singles, including "If the Kids Are United" and "Hurry Up Harry". The ...

Critical reception

"Going Out of My Head" received generally positive reviews from contemporary music critics. John Harris of ''

The Independent on Sunday ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publishe ...

'' praised the song's samples of "I Can't Explain" as "extremely artful", while Mark Jenkins of ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'' cited it as the album's most effective tracks. Adam Webb of the ''

Daily Herald Daily or The Daily may refer to: Journalism * Daily newspaper, newspaper issued on five to seven day of most weeks * ''The Daily'' (podcast), a podcast by ''The New York Times'' * ''The Daily'' (News Corporation), a defunct US-based iPad new ...

'' published a rave review of "Going Out of My Head", writing that it "has the potential to be one of the first

techno Techno is a genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempo often varying between 120 and 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central rhythm is typically in common time (4/4) and often ch ...

tracks to cross over into rock anthem territory." Nathan Brackett of ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' was less favourable, remarking that the song "strays into novelty."

Release

"Going Out of My Head" was released as the third single from ''Better Living Through Chemistry'' on 21 April 1997. Fatboy Slim selected the song for release as a single at the insistence of his close friends, British

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 ( electroac ...

duo

The Chemical Brothers The Chemical Brothers are an English electronic music duo formed by Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons in Manchester in 1989. They were pioneers (along with the Prodigy, Fatboy Slim, the Crystal Method, and other acts) in bringing the big beat genre t ...

. It became the first Fatboy Slim release to enter the top 100 of 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 ...

, debuting at its peak position of number 57 on the chart week of 3 May 1997. The single earned Fatboy Slim a place in the ''

Guinness Book of Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...

'' for being the artist with the most entries on the UK Singles Chart under different pseudonyms. He had previously entered the chart under a number of different stage names, including Mighty Dub Katz and Pizzaman. "Going Out of My Head" also became Fatboy Slim's first single to chart in the United States, peaking at number 28 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Alternative Songs Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks (1988–2009) and Alternative Songs (2009–2020)) is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in ''Billboard'' magazine since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-played ...

chart. Initially, Fatboy Slim and his label Skint Records did not get proper clearance for the song's samples of "I Can't Explain". When "Going Out of My Head" was later selected for inclusion on the soundtrack of the 1997 film ''The Jackal'', The Who lead guitarist

Pete Townshend Peter Dennis Blandford Townshend (; born 19 May 1945) is an English musician. He is co-founder, leader, guitarist, second lead vocalist and principal songwriter of the Who, one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s and 1970s. Townsh ...

– who had been given an advance listening of the soundtrack – recognized the samples and reportedly "flipped his wig". Townshend was later given songwriting credits on "Going Out of My Head" for use of the samples, while Fatboy Slim subsequently had to give up publishing royalties for the song. Regarding the sample clearance issue, he later quipped: "I usually fly by on the seat of my pants... but every now and then I get caught."

Music video

The

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 promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

for "Going Out of My Head" was directed by Doug Aitken. Featuring various breakdancers performing a

b-boy Breakdancing, also called breaking or b-boying/b-girling, is an athletic style of street dance originating from the African American and Puerto Rican communities in the United States. While diverse in the amount of variation available in ...

routine to the song, the clip received heavy airplay on the

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

television network. It was later nominated for Dance Video of the Year at the 1997 Music Video Production Association (MVPA) Awards. ''The Washington Post'' cited the video in an article detailing the late 1990s revival of breakdancing culture.

Charts

References

External links

* {{authority control 1997 songs 1997 singles Fatboy Slim songs Songs written by Norman Cook Songs written by Pete Townshend Skint Records singles