"Don't You Want Me" is a song recorded by British DJ and producer Francis Wright, known under the pseudonym of Felix, released in July 1992 as his debut single from his album, '' #1'' (1993). Musically, it samples Jomanda's "Don't You Want My Love" and credited as Felix featuring Jomanda (remixed by

Rollo Rollo (, ''Rolloun''; ; ; – 933), also known with his epithet, Rollo "the Walker", was a Viking who, as Count of Rouen, became the first ruler of Normandy, a region in today's northern France. He was prominent among the Vikings who Siege o ...

and Red Jerry). Released on 27 July 1992 by various labels, the song reached number six on the UK Singles Chart reached number one in Finland, Spain, and Switzerland. It also went to number one on the US ''

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 advertis ...

Hot Dance Club Play The Dance Club Songs (also known as National Disco Action, Hot Dance/Disco Club Play, and Hot Dance Club Play) was a chart published weekly between 1976 and 2020 by ''Billboard'' magazine. It used club disc jockeys set lists to determine the mos ...

chart and on the

European Hot 100 Singles 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 ...

chart. In 1995 and 1996, the song charted in the UK again, but in remixed form. British clubbing magazine ''

Mixmag ''Mixmag'' is a British electronic dance and clubbing magazine published in London. Launched in 1983 as a print magazine, it has branched into dance events, including festivals and club nights. History The first issue of ''Mixmag'' was printe ...

'' ranked the song number 98 in its "100 Greatest Dance Singles of All Time" list in 1996.

Background and release

Felix was born in

Chelmsford, Essex Chelmsford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Colchester and Southend-on-Sea. It ...

and at the age of 15 he decided to create his own music. He began getting involved with DJing, and after a handful of releases, his track "Don't You Want Me" was released in 1992. It

sampled Sample or samples may refer to: * Sample (graphics), an intersection of a color channel and a pixel * Sample (material), a specimen or small quantity of something * Sample (signal), a digital discrete sample of a continuous analog signal * Sample ...

Jomanda's "Don't You Want My Love", which was remixed by

and Red Jerry. The production process with the track was very quick. Felix had done a demo version, which was like a piano based kind of thing. It was structured like music by

Steve "Silk" Hurley Steve W. "Silk" Hurley (born November 9, 1962), also known as J. M. Silk (for "Jack Master Silk"), is an American club DJ, house music producer, and songwriter. From 1985 to 1988, he had four top-10 singles on the US Dance chart, including th ...

and the house sound at that time. He sent it to independent label

Hooj Choons Hooj Choons is a house record label co-founded in 1990 by Alex Simons and Red Jerry (real name Jeremy Dickens). The first release was "Carnival da Casa" by Rio Rhythm Band, however, it was not until the 1992 release of Felix (dance music), Fel ...

, which asked him to come up with an alternative version. That was when he came up with the version which had the organ sound. Felix recorded it in a studio in Essex Road in London, and the whole thing was done within a day and a night. After the release, it did well in the clubs and some of the underground clubs.

Pet Shop Boys Pet Shop Boys are an English synth-pop duo formed in London in 1981. Consisting of vocalist Neil Tennant and keyboardist Chris Lowe, they have sold more than 100 million records worldwide and were listed as the most successful duo in UK music h ...

did a hosting session on Radio One, got hold of the record and played it all the time.

Deconstruction In philosophy, deconstruction is a loosely-defined set of approaches to understand the relationship between text and meaning. The concept of deconstruction was introduced by the philosopher Jacques Derrida, who described it as a turn away from ...

heard it and they decided to sign it to the label. They promoted the track and made the single big. It is now largely considered to be the track that launched the hardbag explosion. "Don't You Want Me" appears on the compilation '' The Best Dance Album in the World... Ever!'' in remixed form, and was used in the episode "New Girl" of the TV series ''

The Office ''The Office'' is the title of several mockumentary sitcoms based on a British series originally created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant as '' The Office'' in 2001. The original series also starred Gervais as manager and primary charac ...

''. It was also famously featured in ''

St George Saint George (;Geʽez: ጊዮርጊስ, , ka, გიორგი, , , died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was an early Christian martyr who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to holy tradition, he was a soldier in the R ...

'', a 1996 Tango Blackcurrant advertisement for television. On the single re-release, which features the version from the advert which also samples dialogue from the advert, the Tango Blackcurrant logo even appears several times on the artwork.

Critical reception

Upon the release of the 1992 version,

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 ''

'' found that "requisite harsh synths are tempered with a retro,

Giorgio Moroder Giovanni Giorgio Moroder (, ; born 26 April 1940) is an Italian composer and music producer. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Father of Disco", Moroder is credited with pioneering Euro disco and electronic dance music. His work ...

-esque electro-beat". A reviewer from ''

Music & Media ''Music & Media'' was a pan-European magazine for radio, music and entertainment. It was published for the first time in 1984 as ''Eurotipsheet'', but in 1986 it changed name to ''Music & Media''. It was originally based in Amsterdam, but later m ...

'' wrote about the 1995 remix, "In the ''

Classic'' series, here's Patrick Prins' remix interpretation of Felix's 1992 dance hit. It's much heavier now with souped up sequencers and percussion." British magazine ''

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 We ...

'' described the first version as a "hand-waving progressive

house A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air c ...

anthem". Kris Needs from ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

'' remarked its "nuclear-fuelled muscle riff", commenting, "Described as 'the keyboard riff from hell, once heard it can't be dislodged', I swear the middle breakdown where the girl comes back with that ''don'tyawantmalove?'' was going to spark mass levitation at

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...

Venus!

James Hamilton James Hamilton may refer to: Dukes *James Hamilton, 1st Duke of Hamilton (1606–1649), heir to the throne of Scotland *James Hamilton, 4th Duke of Hamilton (1658–1712), Scottish nobleman *James Hamilton, 5th Duke of Hamilton (1703–1743), Sco ...

from the ''

Record Mirror ''Record Mirror'' was a British weekly music newspaper published between 1954 and 1991, aimed at pop fans and record collectors. Launched two years after ''New Musical Express'', it never attained the circulation of its rival. The first UK Album ...

'' Dance Update declared it as a "distinctive organ/synth driven" track.

Impact and legacy

"Don't You Want Me" won the 1992 DMC/''

'' Awards in the category of Best House Record at the

Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London, England. It has a seating capacity of 5,272. Since the hall's opening by Queen Victoria in 1871, the world's leading artists from many performance genres ...

. British hardhouse and

trance music Trance is a genre of electronic dance music that emerged from Electronic body music, EBM in Frankfurt, Germany, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and quickly spread throughout Europe. Trance music is typically characterized by a tempo between ...

record producer Jon the Dentist named it one of his favourites in 1995, adding, "When this came out we finally got some

techno Techno is a genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempos being in the range from 120 to 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central rhythm is typically in common time ( ) and often ...

ey sounds back after two years of drongo

disco Disco is a music genre, genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the late 1960s from the United States' urban nightclub, nightlife, particularly in African Americans, African-American, Italian-Americans, Italian-American, LGBTQ ...

ey sounds. It was how I got into hardcore. Felix was a groundbreaker, he finally got the

back on its track." Clubbing magazine ''Mixmag'' ranked the song number 98 in its "100 Greatest Dance Singles Of All Time" list in 1996 and included it in their "The Biggest Drops in Dance Music" in 2020. They wrote, "Its neon stabs perfect for cutting shapes to in a field or warehouse wherever dance music was taking hold and kicking off. It soups up Jomanda's vocal and launches into a universe of smiley faces, baggy fits and getting home at breakfast time."

Track listings

* 12" maxi # "Don't You Want Me" (Hooj Mix) – 5:58 # "Don't You Want Me" (Red Jerry's Holiday Mix) – 4:39 # "Don't You Want Me" (Fierce Mix) – 5:07 * 12" maxi # "Don't You Want Me" (Hooj Mix) – 5:58 # "Don't You Want Me" (Original) – 4:43 # "Yes You Do" – 4:47 * 7" single / CD single # "Don't You Want Me" (Hooj Mix Edit) – 3:11 # "Don't You Want Me" (Original Mix) – 4:53 * CD maxi # "Don't You Want Me" (Hooj Mix Edit) – 3:11 # "Don't You Want Me" (Hooj Mix) – 5:58 # "Don't You Want Me" (Red Jerry's Holiday Mix) – 4:39 # "Don't You Want Me" (Fierce Mix) – 5:07 * CD maxi # "Don't You Want Me" (Hooj Mix Edit) – 3:11 # "Don't You Want Me" (Hooj Mix) – 5:58 # "Don't You Want Me" (Original Mix) – 4:53 # "Don't You Want Me" (Red Jerry's Holiday Mix) – 4:40 # "Don't You Want Me" (Fierce Mix) – 5:06 * Cassette # "Don't You Want Me" (Hooj Mix Edit) # "Don't You Want Me" (Original Mix) # "Don't You Want Me" (Hooj Mix Edit) # "Don't You Want Me" (Original Mix) * CD maxi - 1995 remixes # "Don't You Want Me (Patrick Prins Remix Edit) – 3:23 # "Don't You Want Me (Hooj Mix Edit) – 3:11 # "Don't You Want Me (Patrick Prins Remix) – 6:17 # "Don't You Want Me (Hooj Mix) – 5:53 # "Don't You Want Me (DJ Professor Mix) – 7:54 # "Don't You Want Me (Candy Girls Remix) – 7:30 * 12" maxi - 1995 remixes # "Don't You Want Me" (Patrick Prins Remix) – 6:17 # "Don't You Want Me" (Candy Girls Remix) – 7:30 # "Don't You Want Me" (Hooj Mix) – 5:53 # "Don't You Want Me" (DJ Professor Mix) – 7:54 * CD maxi - 1996 remixes # "Don't You Want Me" (Remix '96 Pugilist Mix) – 3:40 # "Stars" (Felix Mix Edit) – 3:37 # "It Will Make Me Crazy" (Big Mix Edit) – 3:52 # "Don't You Want Me" (Hooj Mix) – 5:58 * Digital Downloading - 2015 remixes # "Don't You Want Me" (

Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike (previously Dnm) are a Belgian–Greek DJ duo composed of brothers Dimitri Thivaios and Michael Thivaios. They were ranked No. 1 on ''DJ Magazine, DJ Mag''s Top 100 DJs list in 2015 and 2019, and No. 2 in 2014, 2016 thr ...

remix) – 5:07 # "Don't You Want Me" (Atjazz remix) – 6:35 # "Don't You Want Me" (Brodanse Bass Hall remix) – 6:35 * Digital Downloading - Timmy Trumpet remix # "Don't You Want Me" ( Timmy Trumpet x Felix) - 4:21 * Digital Downloading - KI/KI remix # "Don't You Want Me" (KI/KI Remix) - 5:25

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Cover versions

*A remix of the song "Don't You Want Me (Pugilist Mix)" formed the soundtrack to the multi award-winning

TV commercial A television advertisement (also called a commercial, spot, break, advert, or ad) is a span of television programming produced and paid for by an organization. It conveys a message promoting, and aiming to market, a product, service or idea. ...

for Blackcurrant Tango. *In 2003, NFK feat. East End Rockers – Don't You Want Me *In 2005, Crazy Frog made its own version of the song, available on the album '' More Crazy Hits''. *In 2007, it was sampled by Meck to provide the majority of the music for his single "Feels Like Home". In 2008, Madonna used elements of Meck's version during " Like a Prayer" on the Sticky & Sweet Tour. *The song was also covered by Belgian jazz musician

Jef Neve Jef Neve (born 8 March 1977) is a Belgian jazz and Classical music, classical music pianist and composer. Life and career Neve was born in Turnhout, Belgium.Hope, Alan (22 July 2014"Face of Flanders: Jef Neve" Flanders Today. By the age of 14 he ...

as part of the soundtrack for the movie adaptation of

Dimitri Verhulst Dimitri Verhulst (born 2 October 1972) is a Belgian writer and poet. He is best known for his novels ''Problemski Hotel'' and ''The Misfortunates''. Biography Verhulst was an unwanted child in a violent home and spent his later childhood in a f ...

's ''De Helaasheid der Dingen''. *In 2011,

David Guetta Pierre David Guetta (; born 7 November 1967) is a French DJ and record producer. He has sold over 10 million albums and 65 million singles globally, with more than 30 billion streams on Spotify. Guetta was voted the number one DJ in the DJ Mag ...

used the track for the basis of the radio remix for

Snoop Dogg Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr. ( ; born October 20, 1971), better known by his stage name Snoop Dogg (previously Snoop Doggy Dogg), is an American rapper, record producer, and actor. Rooted in West Coast hip-hop, he is widely regarded as one of t ...

's single " Sweat (Wet)". *In 2024, Switch Disco, Charlotte Haining & Felix – I Found You

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Don't You Want Me (Felix Song) 1992 songs 1992 singles 1995 singles 1996 singles Felix (musician) songs Deconstruction Records singles Music Week number-one dance singles Number-one singles in Finland Number-one singles in Spain Number-one singles in Switzerland Tango (drink)