| "Bring the Noise" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Artwork of the UK commercial vinyl single | ||||
| Single byPublic Enemy | ||||
| from the albumIt Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us BackandLess Than Zero | ||||
| A-side | "Are You My Woman?" (by The Black Flames)(US single) | |||
| B-side | "Sophisticated"(UK single) | |||
| Released | February 6, 1988[1] | |||
| Recorded | 1987 | |||
| Genre | Hip hop[2] | |||
| Length | 3:45 | |||
| Label | Def Jam | |||
| Songwriters | ||||
| Producer | The Bomb Squad | |||
| Public Enemy singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"Bring the Noise" is a song by the Americanhip hop groupPublic Enemy. It was included on thesoundtrack of the 1987 filmLess than Zero; the song was also released as asingle that year. It later became the first song on the group's 1988 album,It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back. The single reached No. 56 on theBillboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.
The song'slyrics, most of which are delivered byChuck D with interjections fromFlavor Flav, include boasts of Public Enemy's prowess, an endorsement ofNation of Islam leaderLouis Farrakhan, retorts to unspecifiedcritics, and arguments forrap as a legitimatemusical genre on par withrock. The lyrics also have a notable metrical complexity, making extensive use of meters likedactylic hexameter. The title phrase appears in the chorus. The song includes severalshout-outs to fellow hip hop artists likeRun-D.M.C.,Eric B,LL Cool J and, unusually for a rap group,Yoko Ono,Sonny Bono and the thrash metal bandAnthrax. Anthrax later collaborated with Chuck D to cover the song.
The song'sproduction bythe Bomb Squad, which exemplifies their characteristic style, features adissonant mixture offunksamples,drum machine patterns, recordscratching byDJTerminator X,sirensound effects and otherindustrial noise.
CriticRobert Christgau has described the song as "postminimal rap refracted throughBlood Ulmer andOn the Corner, as gripping as it is abrasive, and the black militant dialogue-as-diatribe that goes with it is almost as scary as "Stones in My Passway" or "Holidays in the Sun".[3] "Bring the Noise" was ranked No. 160 onRolling Stone'slist of the 500 greatest songs of all time.
The recording begins with a sample ofMalcolm X's voice saying "Too black, too strong" repeatedly from his public speech at the Northern Negro Grass Roots Leadership Conference on November 10, 1963, in King Solomon Baptist Church in Detroit, Michigan entitledMessage to the Grass Roots.
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"Bring the Noise" has been sampled in many other songs; among them "Much More" byDe La Soul, "Here We Go Again!" byPortrait, "I Know" bySeo Taiji & Boys, and "World Wide Noise" byClascyJitto. "Everything I Am" byKanye West and "Here We Go Again" byEverclear all sample the Chuck D line "Here we go again". His exclamation "Now they got me in a cell" from the first verse of the song is also sampled in theBeastie Boys song "Egg Man". The track "Undisputed", from the 1999 albumRave Un2 The Joy Fantastic byPrince samples Chuck D's voice saying "Once again, back, it's the incredible" in its chorus and also features an appearance from Chuck D himself. This same sample is used onFat Joe's albumAll or Nothing on the track "Safe 2 Say (The Incredible)".Rakim's 1997 single "Guess Who's Back" also uses the same sample. The gameSonic Rush samples the beginning of "Bring the Noise" in the music for the final boss battle. In addition,Ludacris' hit "How Low" samples Chuck D's "How low can you go?" line. In 2010, it was sampled byAdil Omar andDJ Solo ofSoul Assassins on their single "Incredible".LL Cool J used a sample of Chuck D's line "I want bass" during the final verse on the song "The Boomin' System" from theMama Said Knock You Out album. Also, the lines "[To save] face, how low can you go" and "[So keep] pace how slow can you go" inLinkin Park's song "Wretches and Kings" on their albumA Thousand Suns (which is also produced byRick Rubin) refer to Chuck D's line "Bass! How low can you go?".[4]Francis Magalona's 1993 songs "Ito ang Gusto Ko" and "Meron Akong Ano" both sample "Bring the Noise".
Additionally, Public Enemy sampled the song themselves in several other songs onIt Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, including the lines "Now they got me in a cell" and "Death Row/What a brother knows" in "Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos" and the lines "Bass!" and "How low can you go?" in "Night of the Living Baseheads".
| "Bring the Noise" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single byAnthrax andPublic Enemy | ||||
| from the albumAttack of the Killer B's(Anthrax album) andApocalypse 91... The Enemy Strikes Black(Public Enemy album) | ||||
| B-side |
| |||
| Released | July 9, 1991 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 3:34 | |||
| Label | Island | |||
| Songwriters | ||||
| Producers | ||||
| Anthrax singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Music video | ||||
| “Bring the Noise” onYouTube | ||||
Thrash metal bandAnthrax recorded a version of "Bring the Noise", which sampled the vocals from the original Public Enemy recording.[5] Chuck D has stated that upon the initial request of Anthrax, he "didn't take them wholehearted seriously", but after the collaboration was done, "it made too much sense",[6] and it was eventually included on both the Anthrax compilationAttack of the Killer B's and as the final track on Public Enemy's ownApocalypse 91... The Enemy Strikes Black album.
The song's release was followed by a joint-tour featuring the two groups, with shows ending with both groups on stage performing the song together. Chuck D went on to say that shows on the tour were "some of the hardest" they ever experienced,[6] and that at the start of the tour, Anthrax "commenced to destroy, slaughter and wipe the fuckin' stage" with Public Enemy as the opener,[7] forcing the group to not only up the intensity of their set, but to innovate by having a dedicatedlight board operator - a first in hiphop.[7] According to Chuck D, the show intensities eventually began to even out,[7] and when the two bands joined on stage for "Bring the Noise", "it was shrapnel".[6] Anthrax first played "Bring the Noise" live in 1989, two years before the Public Enemy collaboration was released, and it has been a live staple ever since.[8]
The recording was ranked No. 12 onVH1's 2006 list of the 40 Greatest Metal Songs[9] and is featured in thevideo gamesDie Hard Trilogy,WWE SmackDown! vs. RAW,WWE WrestleMania 21,WWE Day of Reckoning,Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2,Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD,Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 andRock Band 4 as DLC.
The title of the Anthrax version is sometimes spelled "Bring tha Noise" or "Bring tha Noize".
| Chart (1988) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| USHot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks (Billboard) | 56 |
| Chart (1991) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[10] | 10 |
| UK Singles (OCC)[11] | 14 |
In 2007, "Bring the Noise" wasremixed by ItalianhouseDJBenny Benassi as well asFerry Corsten. Benassi's remix slowed the track down, and cut off many of the lyrics. Benassi mixed two versions of the song. The Pump-kin version exemplifies a heavy melody, while the S-faction edit added more emphasis to the bassline. The S-faction version won a Grammy Award for best remixed recording at the2008 Grammy Awards. The Pump-kin remix appeared on his albumRock 'n' Rave (2008). The song was also used for theEA Sports game,NBA Live 09. Ferry Corsten only mixed one version which was released around the same time as Benny Benassi's remixes, it was released on February 26, 2008 oniTunes.
In 2007,Gigi D'Agostino also released a track called "Quoting", a remix of the song. He made it in the style ofLento Violento, a style ofHardstyle focusing on slow and hard sound.
Thealternative metal bandStaind covered "Bring the Noise" withLimp Bizkit vocalistFred Durst on theTake a Bite Outta Rhyme: A Rock Tribute to Rap 2000compilation album. This version also appeared on the advance version of their 1999 albumDysfunction.
A remix of "Bring the Noise" titled "Bring the Noise 20XX", featuringZakk Wylde, is a playable track in the video gamesGuitar Hero 5 andDJ Hero.
A traditional country version by Unholy Trio is included on theBloodshot Records sampler "Down to the Promised Land".
An unofficial remix entitled "Bring DA Noise", (based on Led Zeppelin's – "Immigrant Song") was released for free download in 2005 by Irish radio presenter DJ Laz-e.
The 2012 video gameYakuza 5 features a track titled “Skankfunk - Vendor Pop”, which samples the ending of theAnthrax version of “Bring The Noise”, which plays during one of Tatsuo Shinada’s substories titled “Shinada’s Interview.”
When did we record with Chuck? I have to tell you that Chuck and Flavor Flav never came into the studio. We got their vocals from [the master to] Bring The Noise and sat there without sampling technology and cut them into the track word by word until we made it work. I've never told anybody that because nobody's actually asked when we cut it together. It took forever. Our version was in a different key but in the end we were even more stoked with the results because it was so great.
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