"(Hurt Me! Hurt Me!) But the Pants Stay On" is a song performed by British singer

Samantha Fox Samantha Karen Fox (born 15 April 1966) is an English pop singer and former glamour model from Crouch End in North London. She has appeared on reality television shows and has occasionally worked as a television presenter and actress. Fox beg ...

. It was written and produced by

Full Force Full Force is an American music group of hip hop and R&B singers, songwriters and producers from Brooklyn, New York. Members *B-Fine (Brian George) – drums and drum programming, backing vocals *Shy Shy (Hugh Junior Clark) – bass guita ...

, and released in 1991 as the first

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

from Fox' fourth album, '' Just One Night'' (1991). A

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

was produced to promote the single, directed by American director Jim Swaffield. Fox personally selected a then-unknown

Jennifer Lopez Jennifer Lynn Lopez (born July 24, 1969), also known by her nickname J.Lo, is an American singer, songwriter, actress, dancer and businesswoman. Lopez is regarded as one of the most influential entertainers of her time, credited with breaking ...

as a dancer in the video. The singer initially objected to the "hurt me, hurt me" lyric when first presented with the song by Full Force. She was concerned that the line — which referenced a New York club chant used by patrons calling for more bass — would be misunderstood as something sexually violent. Her fears were realised, when some radio stations in America refused to play the song, believing it to be about S&M. Fox instead insisted the song was actually attacking the expectation by some men that a woman should sleep with her date in exchange for a night out. Fox blamed the track's lack of chart success in America on record label politics and a lack of promotion, after

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declined to extend its distribution deal with her UK record company,

Jive Records Jive Records (later stylized as JIVE Records) was a British-American independent record label founded by Clive Calder in 1981 as a subsidiary of the Zomba Group of Companies, Zomba Group. In the US, the label had offices in New York City and Chic ...

Critical reception

Larry Flick Larry Flick is an American journalist, former dance music columnist, single reviewer, and Senior Talent Editor for ''Billboard'' magazine, where he worked for 14 years. Now he produces and hosts Sirius XM radio shows. Flick started in the musi ...

from ''

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'' wrote, "Naughty girl seems to be having almost too much fun on this titillating

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teaser that revolves around whether or not Fox is going to keep her drawers on. In collaborating with

the singer once again finds all the right buttons to push and has come up with yet another controversial hit that will be crossing over to top-40 radio in no time flat." Another editor declared the song as a "safe-sex anthem".

Chuck Eddy Chuck Eddy (born November 26, 1960) is an American music journalist. Life and career Chuck Eddy was born in Detroit, Michigan. After starting his journalism career with ''The Village Voice'' and ''Creem'', where he published one of the first nati ...

from ''

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'' viewed it as "an insanely impudent single". Pan-European magazine ''

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'' found that it's "less poppy than her previous singles and featuring a heavy dance beat."

Track listings

* CD maxi, US #"(Hurt Me! Hurt Me!) But the Pants Stay On" (LP Version) — 5:45 #"(Hurt Me! Hurt Me!) But the Pants Stay On" (Radio Edit - Sam Talks) — 4:06 #"(Hurt Me! Hurt Me!) But the Pants Stay On" (The Pants Come Off Mix) — 6:29 #"(Hurt Me! Hurt Me!) But the Pants Come Off" (DJ Pierre's Remix) — 6:45 #"(Hurt Me! Hurt Me!) But the Pants Stay On" (Instrumental) — 5:45 #"Hot Lovin'" — 3:48

Charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hurt Me Hurt Me But the Pants Stay On 1991 singles 1991 songs Samantha Fox songs Jive Records singles English house music songs Song recordings produced by Full Force