"Men's Needs" was released in May 2007 as the first single taken from the third studio album by

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English ...

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...

band

The Cribs The Cribs are a British indie rock band originally from Wakefield, West Yorkshire, that formed in 2001. The band consists of twins Gary and Ryan Jarman and their younger brother Ross Jarman. They were subsequently joined by ex-The Smiths guit ...

. The song provided listeners with new material for the first time since December 2005, and later found release on third LP ''

Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever ''Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever'' is the third studio album by English indie rock band The Cribs. It was released on 21 May 2007 through Wichita Recordings in the UK and Warner Bros. Records in the U.S. Critically acclaimed, the album pr ...

'' in May 2007. Recorded at the Warehouse Studio in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. Th ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include ...

with

Franz Ferdinand Archduke Franz Ferdinand Carl Ludwig Joseph Maria of Austria, (18 December 1863 – 28 June 1914) was the heir presumptive to the throne of Austria-Hungary. His assassination in Sarajevo was the most immediate cause of World War I. F ...

vocalist and guitarist

Alex Kapranos Alexander Paul Kapranos Huntley (born 20 March 1972) is a Scottish musician, singer, songwriter, record producer and author. He is best known as the lead singer and guitarist of Scottish rock band Franz Ferdinand. He has also been a part of the ...

, the song received additional treatment at Alchemy,

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

Physical release

The song received a physical release in numerous forms, through two seven inch records and a CD single, in addition to digital download. Frequent band collaborator Nick Scott designed the sleeve, whereas Bob Taylor provided band photography for the releases. The release featured the catalogue numbers 'WEBB124S', 'WEBB124SX' and 'WEBB124SCD'.

B-sides

"Tonight", the seven-inch vinyl one B-side, came from the same sessions as the rest of the album, whereas "Fairer Sex", the CD single flip, found completion at Avatar Studios,

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

along with "Be Safe" and "Shoot the Poets". The acoustic version of "I've Tried Everything", the 7" vinyl two b-side, came from a Board of Trade Building session in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populou ...

, with

Joe Plummer Joseph E. Plummer is an American drummer from Portland, Oregon. From 2004 to 2012 Plummer was a percussionist and drummer for the indie rock band Modest Mouse and performed on their album, ''We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank''. Before jo ...

providing additional percussion duties.

Chart position

The song reached number seventeen in 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 ...

, the highest position to date for the band.

Critical reception

The song featured at number three on the ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'' 'Songs of the Year 2007', named 'Single of the Year' by the ''

Metro Metro, short for metropolitan, may refer to: Geography * Metro (city), a city in Indonesia * A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center Public transport * Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urban ...

'' newspaper and finished in the 'Top 100 Songs of 2007' published by ''

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

'' in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

. In 2009, ''

'' also named "Men's Needs" as one of the 'Songs of the Decade', saying that this took them "from cult favourites to one of Britain's best loved bands". Furthermore, in October 2011, ''NME'' placed the song at number ninety-eight on a list '150 Best Tracks of the Past Fifteen Years'.

Music video

Directed by

Diane Martel Diane Martel (also known as Bucky Chrome) is an American music video director and choreographer. Awards Diane Martel was nominated for the Video of the Year for her work in "Blurred Lines" – Robin Thicke feat. Pharrell & T.I. in 2013. Fil ...

, the video depicts the band playing "Men's Needs" in front of a yellow background. A nude woman (censored due to watershed restrictions) licks and kisses vocalist and guitarist Ryan, dances and trashes

amplifiers An amplifier, electronic amplifier or (informally) amp is an electronic device that can increase the magnitude of a signal (a time-varying voltage or current). It may increase the power significantly, or its main effect may be to boost the ...

, performs household tasks, punches the band members and interrupts proceedings. Near the middle of the video, she throws a knife at drummer

Ross Ross or ROSS may refer to: People * Clan Ross, a Highland Scottish clan * Ross (name), including a list of people with the surname or given name Ross, as well as the meaning * Earl of Ross, a peerage of Scotland Places * RoSS, the Republic of Sout ...

and severs his arm. Using Ross' severed arm she then cuts off Ryan's head, which she then holds in her arms during his guitar solo. Both have their limbs back on their bodies for the third verse. Oblivious to all these actions, the band plays on. The graphic nature of the video led to a ban on

MTV2 MTV2 (formerly M2) is an American pay television channel owned by the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. The channel launched initially as an all-music video service, once the original MTV had started to shift its programmin ...

before the watershed due to

Ofcom The Office of Communications, commonly known as Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, telecommunications and postal industries of the United Kingdom. Ofcom has wide-ranging powers acros ...

complaints about violence and nudity. Three versions of the video exist: the first censored version as described above, a second version that shows the woman wearing a

leotard A leotard () is a unisex skin-tight one-piece garment that covers the torso from the crotch to the shoulder. The garment was made famous by the French acrobatic performer Jules Léotard (1838–1870). There are sleeveless, short-sleeved, and ...

and a third uncensored version.

Track listing

Footnotes

External links

official band websiteofficial record label website
{{authority control 2007 singles The Cribs songs Music videos directed by Diane Martel Songs written by Gary Jarman Songs written by Ross Jarman Songs written by Ryan Jarman 2007 songs Wichita Recordings singles