Going Out Of My Head

Album: Better Living Through Chemistry (1996)
Charted: 57
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Songfacts®:

  • "Going Out Of My Head" was the third and final single from Fatboy Slim's debut album, Better Living Through Chemistry. Released at the insistence of his friends, British electronic music duo The Chemical Brothers, the song became his first single to break into the Top 100 in the UK, peaking at #57 on May 3, 1997. It also marked his first charting single in the US, reaching #28 on the Billboard Alternative Songs chart.
  • "Going Out of My Head" prominently features the guitar riff from Yvonne Elliman's cover of "I Can't Explain" by The Who, a sample Fatboy Slim initially did not clear. In 1997, The Who's guitarist, Pete Townshend, heard the song on the soundtrack of the Bruce Willis-starring action thriller film The Jackal and was reportedly infuriated. Townshend was subsequently given songwriting credits, and Fatboy Slim had to relinquish publishing royalties. Reflecting on the incident, Norman Cook, aka Fatboy Slim, remarked to SPIN in 1998: "I usually fly by the seat of my pants, but every now and then I get caught."

    The song also samples drums from "The Crunge" by Led Zeppelin and "Dance to the Music" by Sly & the Family Stone, along with crowd noise from "Roadhouse Blues" by The Doors.
  • The official music video for "Going Out Of My Head" was directed by Doug Aitken. It begins with the song playing on a boom box that gets passed from person to person, culminating in breakdancers performing to the track on the street and later in a club. The clip received significant airplay on MTV, and The Washington Post highlighted the music video in an article discussing the late 1990s revival of breakdancing culture.
  • In 1999, the song was featured in the official trailer for the teenage cult classic 10 Things I Hate About You, directed by Gil Junger and starring Julia Stiles and Heath Ledger. It also appeared in the 2002 sports comedy film Like Mike, directed by John Schultz and starring Lil' Bow Wow.

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