"(Hurt Me! Hurt Me!) But the Pants Stay On" is a song performed by British singer

Samantha Fox Samantha Karen Fox (born 15 April 1966) is an English pop singer and former glamour model from East London. She rose to public attention aged 16, when her mother entered her photographs in an amateur modelling contest run by ''The Sunday Peopl ...

. It was written and produced by

Full Force Full Force is an American music group of hip hop and R&B singers and producers from Brooklyn, New York. Members *B-Fine (Brian George) - drums and drum programming, backing vocals *Shy Shy (Hugh Junior Clark) - bass guitar, backing vocal ...

, and released in 1991 as the first single from Fox' fourth album, '' Just One Night'' (1991). A

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing devic ...

was produced to promote the single, directed by American director

Jim Swaffield Jim Swaffield is an American music video director and video editor. He has worked with A Tribe Called Quest, DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince and Coolio. He is also known for working with R. Kelly on ''Trapped in the Closet ''Trapped in ...

. Fox personally selected a then-unknown

Jennifer Lopez Jennifer Lynn Affleck (' Lopez; born July 24, 1969), also known as J.Lo, is an American singer, actress and dancer. In 1991, she began appearing as a Fly Girl dancer on the sketch comedy television series '' In Living Color'', where she re ...

as a dancer in the video. The singer initially objected to the "hurt me, hurt me" lyric when first presented with the song by Full Force. She was concerned that the line — which referenced a New York club chant used by patrons calling for more bass — would be misunderstood as something sexually violent. Her fears were realised, when some radio stations in America refused to play the song, believing it to be about S&M. Fox instead insisted the song was actually attacking the expectation by some men that a woman should sleep with her date in exchange for a night out. Fox blamed the track's lack of chart success in America on record label politics and a lack of promotion, after BMG declined to extend its distribution deal with her UK record company,

Jive Records Jive Records was an American independent record label founded by Clive Calder in 1981 as a subsidiary to the Zomba Group. In the US, the label had offices in New York City and Chicago. Jive was best known for its successes with hip hop, R&B, ...

Critical reception

Larry Flick Larry Flick is an American journalist, former dance music columnist, single reviewer, and Senior Talent Editor for ''Billboard'' magazine, where he worked for 14 years. Now he produces and hosts Sirius XM radio shows. Flick started in the music ...

from ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large adverti ...

'' wrote, "Naughty girl seems to be having almost too much fun on this titillating

house A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air cond ...

teaser that revolves around whether or not Fox is going to keep her drawers on. In collaborating with

the singer once again finds all the right buttons to push and has come up with yet another controversial hit that will be crossing over to top-40 radio in no time flat." Another editor declared the song as a "safe-sex anthem".

Chuck Eddy Chuck Eddy (born November 26, 1960) is an American music journalist. Life and career Chuck Eddy was born in Detroit, Michigan. After starting his journalism career with ''The Village Voice'' and ''Creem'', where he published one of the first nat ...

from ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular ...

'' viewed it as "an insanely impudent single". Pan-European magazine ''

Music & Media ''Music & Media'' was a pan-European magazine for radio, music and entertainment. It was published for the first time in 1984 as ''Eurotipsheet'', but in 1986 it changed name to ''Music & Media''. It was originally based in Amsterdam, but later ...

'' found that it's "less poppy than her previous singles and featuring a heavy dance beat."

Track listings

* CD maxi, US #"(Hurt Me! Hurt Me!) But the Pants Stay On" (LP Version) — 5:45 #"(Hurt Me! Hurt Me!) But the Pants Stay On" (Radio Edit - Sam Talks) — 4:06 #"(Hurt Me! Hurt Me!) But the Pants Stay On" (The Pants Come Off Mix) — 6:29 #"(Hurt Me! Hurt Me!) But the Pants Come Off" (DJ Pierre's Remix) — 6:45 #"(Hurt Me! Hurt Me!) But the Pants Stay On" (Instrumental) — 5:45 #"Hot Lovin'" — 3:48

Charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hurt Me Hurt Me But the Pants Stay On 1991 singles 1991 songs Samantha Fox songs Jive Records singles House music songs Song recordings produced by Full Force