The Independent

The Prodigy change lyrics to ‘Smack My B***h Up’ – 26 years after song was released

• 27th November 2023
• Roisin O'Connor

Band had previously defended problematic lyrics, despite condemnation from fellow artists and anti-domestic violence charities

Dance band The Prodigy appear to have changed the lyrics to their hit 1997 song “Smack My Bitch Up” after years of controversy.

The Essex-formed group are currently on a tour of Europe, stopping for two nights at London’s Alexandra Palace over the weekend.

Footage from their gig on Friday 24 November, shared by X/Twitter account Secret Drug Addict, shows vocalist Maxim in the opening moments of the song.

He appears to repeat the opening lyric, “Change my pitch up”, instead of the original second line: “Smack my bitch up.”

Representatives for the band declined to comment when contacted by The Independent.

The track, taken from The Prodigy’s breakthrough album The Fat of the Land, caused uproar when it was first released and was once voted the most controversial song of all time.

As well as receiving criticism from artists including Tori Amos and the Beastie Boys, it was condemned by the National Organisation for Women (NOW), who accused it of promoting violence against women as “a form of entertainment”.

In response, the album was removed from a number of stores in the US, while the BBC either banned the song outright from its stations or played a lyric-free version.

Despite the row, it achieved huge success in both the US and the UK, with Fat of the Land topping the charts in the States eight days after its release.

The band defended the track at the time, claiming it was a tribute to early hip-hop “B-boy” culture.

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• Beastie Boys
• Smack My Bitch Up
• Gigs

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