Bonkers

Album: Tongue 'n' Cheek (2009)
Charted: 1
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Songfacts®:

  • On this thumping dance floor number, rapper Dizzee Rascal collaborates with the American record producer Armand Van Helden, whose re-mix of Tori Amos' "Professional Widow" and his own "You Don't Know Me" both reached #1 in the UK in the 1990s. Rascal told MTV: "Armand approached me and sent me an email saying he wanted to work together. As soon as I heard the name I was on to it."
  • This debuted at #1 in the UK on the chart for week ending May 24, 2009. In its first seven days the song shifted over 114,000 copies thus becoming the first single in 2009 to break the 100,000 weekly sales barrier.
  • Rascal told The Sun August 28, 2009: "For all my other albums, I did a thing where the first track was to ease people into the album. This time, I literally want people to party, so bang, straight away you know what it's about. The song came with the 'bonkers' bit on it so it was almost a no-brainer for me. The song needed to be about being bonkers."
  • Mojo magazine named this as their Track Of The Year for 2009. Rascal responded: "That means so much to me, man. To be honest, Armand Van Helden just put that track in my lap, man. I get it! It's party music, man. I knew it wasn't a lyrical assault."
  • Rascal performed the song during the London 2012 Olympic Games opening ceremony. As a result, it returned to the UK singles chart in the week after the event.

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