Headhunter (song)
"Headhunter" | |
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Wax Trax! Animalized | |
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"Headhunter" is a 1988 song by the Belgian EBM band Front 242. The song was a major hit in the electronic and industrial music scenes, and Front By Front subsequently became the top selling album in the history of Wax Trax! Records.
Release
"Headhunter" was released as a single in 1988, as a 12" (Version 1.0) and a 7" (Version 2.0). Each featured a corresponding version of "Welcome to Paradise" as the
When asked during an interview about the concept for the song, Front 242's vocalist and lyricist Jean-Luc De Meyer replied, "I had the chance to work in an insurance company before, and I worked in the department of human resources and I saw the way that this company was trying to hire people. It was very polite and very nice with men in suits, but at the same time it was very cut-throat. I wanted to make a parallel between tribal warfare and these activities. The song means both of these activities."[4]
After a long hiatus from 1993 onward, Front 242 regrouped to re-record the song in late 1999, releasing it with multiple remixes on the dual-CD single Headhunter 2000.
Reception
COMA Music Magazine ranked "Headhunter" as the greatest industrial song of all time in 2012.[5] In 2022, Rolling Stone ranked it at number 60 in its list of the "200 Greatest Dance Songs of All Time".[6]
Headhunter track listing (CD, 1988)
- Headhunter (v1.0)
- Welcome to Paradise (v1.0)
- Headhunter (v2.0)
Headhunter 2000 track listing (1999)
- Disc 1:
- Headhunter (Front Line Assembly mix) - 5:55
- Headhunter (Aqualite mix) - 5:20
- Headhunter (Haujobb mix) - 5:29
- Headhunter (Beefcake mix) - 5:09
- Headhunter (Xingu mix) - 4:18
- Headhunter (Talla 2XLC mix) - 8:54
- Headhunter (Doug Laurent mix) - 6:31
- Headhunter (Noisexmix) - 6:19
- Headhunter (Substanz T mix) - 4:59
- Disc 2:
- Headhunter (Apoptygma Berzerk mix) - 5:43
- Headhunter (Leæther Strip mix) - 5:39
- Headhunter (Funker Vogt mix) - 4:46
- Headhunter (Empirion mix) - 7:14
- Headhunter (Galan Pixs mix) - 6:33
- Headhunter (Resistance D mix) - 6:41
- Headhunter (Suspicious mix) - 8:29
- Headhunter (Space Frog mix) - 6:50
The above tracks for Headhunter 2000 were split across four discs in another version of the release. Other versions of the release are listed here at
- Headhunter (Peak mix) - (3:36)
- Headhunter (Children Within mix) - (4:09)
- Headhunter (M.I.K.E. & B'sGenerator mix) - (7:43)
- Headhunter (Talla 2XLC Vocal Club Mix) - (8:50) (by Talla 2XLC and Vernon B.)
Other known covers and remixes
References
- ^ "ASCAP Repertory entry for this song". ASCAP. Retrieved June 4, 2021.
- ^ 3AM Magazine: Friday I'm in Love, 28 August 2009
- Canvas.
- ^ Moore, Paul. "Front 242 Interview". Technology Works magazine #7. Retrieved 14 April 2013.
- ^ Schock, David (March 9, 2012). "Feature: 101 Greatest Industrial Songs of All Time – #1". COMA Music Magazine. Archived from the original on September 18, 2013. Retrieved August 27, 2012.
- ^ Dolan, Jon; Lopez, Julyssa; Matos, Michaelangelo; Shaffer, Claire (22 July 2022). "200 Greatest Dance Songs of All Time". Rolling Stone.
- ^ "Bonde Do Tigrão's 'Cerol Na Mão/Entra E Sai' sample of Front 242's 'Headhunter'". WhoSampled. Retrieved 3 April 2014.
- ^ "Front 242 acusa Bonde do Tigrão de plágio". Estadão. 31 October 2003. Retrieved 3 April 2014.
External links
- "Headhunter" at Discogs (list of releases)