"Flat Beat" is an

instrumental An instrumental or instrumental song is music without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through Semantic change, semantic widening, a broader sense of the word s ...

by French musician Mr. Oizo. It was released on 22 March 1999 through

F Communications F Communications, also known as FCom, was a French record label based in Paris. It was founded in 1994 by Eric Morand and Laurent Garnier. It produces dance and electronic music by artists like Avril, Garnier, and Mr. Oizo amongst many others. ...

and was included as a bonus track on his debut studio album, ''

Analog Worms Attack ''Analog Worms Attack'' is the debut studio album by French musician Mr. Oizo, released on 11 October 1999 through F Communications. The album is mostly instrumental and minimal, taking cues from French house and early American hip hop. All ...

''. An accompanying music video was released on

VHS VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s. Ma ...

. The music video features Flat Eric, a puppet, head banging to the track. Widely publicised by Flat Eric's appearance in many commercials for

Levi's Levi Strauss & Co. ( ) is an American clothing company known worldwide for its Levi's ( ) brand of denim jeans. It was founded in May 1853 when German-Jewish immigrant Levi Strauss moved from Buttenheim, Bavaria, to San Francisco, California, ...

and the popularity of the music video, the track became a surprise European hit. "Flat Beat" peaked at number five on the

French Singles Chart SNEP (, in English National Syndicate of Phonographic Publishing) is the inter-professional organisation that protects the interests of the French record industry. Originally known under the acronym SNICOP, the organisation was established in ...

and reached number one in Austria, Finland,

Flanders Flanders ( or ; ) is the Dutch language, Dutch-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, la ...

, Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom. In 2003, ''

Q Magazine ''Q'' was a British popular music magazine. It was founded in 1986 by broadcast journalists Mark Ellen and David Hepworth, who were presenters of the BBC television music series ''The Old Grey Whistle Test''. ''Q'' was published in print in the ...

'' ranked "Flat Beat" number 175 in their list of the "1001 Best Songs Ever".

Background

In an interview with ''XLR8R'' magazine,

Quentin Dupieux Quentin Dupieux (, born 14 April 1974), also known by his musical stage name Mr. Oizo (), is a French electronic musician, record producer, songwriter, and filmmaker. Dupieux is credited with his legal name for his films, while the name "Mr. Oiz ...

stated that it took him only two hours with a

Korg MS-20 The Korg MS-20 is a patchable semi-modular monophonic analog synthesizer which Korg released in 1978 and which was in production until 1983. It was part of Korg's MS series of instruments, which also included the single oscillator MS-10, the ke ...

to produce. The instrumental is mainly composed of a repeated bassline, and it samples "Put Your Love in My Tender Care" by the

Fatback Band The Fatback Band (later, simply Fatback) is an American funk and disco band that was popular in the 1970s and 1980s. The Fatback Band is most known for their R&B hits: "(Do the) Spanish Hustle", "I Like Girls", "Gotta Get My Hands on Some (Mone ...

Reception

Critical reception

Stevie Chick from ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

'' wrote, "Leading sociologists are calling it the ' Flat Eric Phenomenon'. Red-top tabloids print instructions for the Flat Eric window moves and White Van Man is overjoyed. Yes, helped along by his friends at the

company, Mr Oizo could soon be celebrating the inevitable outcome of such a profitable partnership, a Number One record. And that would be a fine thing, not least because 'Flat Beat' is a sleek slice of supremely filtered, speaker-busting electro that would undoubtedly be a minor specialist hit in its own right if released without the might of this high-profile campaign, but also because Flat Eric, the ice-cool yellow muppet, is one of the most fascinating creatures to have entered the crazy world of

rock'n'roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll, and rock 'n' roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African American music such as jazz, rhythm and ...

in recent memory."

Commercial reception

The song was a surprise international success in Europe, topping the charts in Austria, Finland,

, Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom. In the latter country, it was the seventh song featured in a Levi's advert to top the UK Singles Chart and the 25th instrumental single to top the chart. On the

Eurochart Hot 100 The European Hot 100 Singles was compiled by ''Billboard'' and ''Music & Media'' magazine from March 1984 until December 2010. The chart was based on national singles sales charts in 17 European countries: Austria, Belgium (two charts separately f ...

, "Flat Beat" peaked at number two and was Europe's 11th-most-successful hit of 1999. "Flat Beat" was not as successful in France, where it peaked at number five and did not receive airplay, selling only a quarter of the copies as it did in the UK.

Legacy

In 2003, ''

'' ranked "Flat Beat" number 175 in their list of the "1001 Best Songs Ever". In September 2005, ''

Stylus Magazine ''Stylus Magazine'' was an American online music and film magazine, launched in 2002 and co-founded by Todd L. Burns. It featured long-form music journalism, four daily music reviews, movie reviews, podcasts, an MP3 blog, and a text blog. Addi ...

'' included the track's bassline at number 13 in their list of the "Top 50 Basslines of All Time", while ''

Mixmag ''Mixmag'' is a British electronic dance and clubbing magazine published in London. Launched in 1983 as a print magazine, it has branched into dance events, including festivals and club nights. History The first issue of ''Mixmag'' was printe ...

'' included it in their "The Best Basslines in Dance Music" in 2020. The magazine added, "Disclaimer: it's likely you'll be thinking there's a bees' nest in the corner of your room after listening to it. Don't let that put you off, though. "Flat Beat" boasts one of the best basslines of all time."

Music video

Prior to the "Flat Beat", Dupieux created Flat Eric, a fictional puppet character, for

commercials for Sta-Prest One Crease Denim Clothing, built by

Jim Henson's Creature Shop Jim Henson's Creature Shop is an American animation and special/visual effects company founded in 1979 by Jim Henson, creator of The Muppets. The company is based in Hollywood, California, United States. History Jim Henson's Creature Shop was ...

. The popularity of the commercials lead to a music video for the song being created, also featuring Flat Eric. The accompanying music video for "Flat Beat" was directed by

and released alongside the single release. The video was released on

and later on

digital download Digital download may refer to: *Downloading, the processing of copying data to a computer from an external source *Digital distribution, a method of downloading software or audio-visual media as opposed to buying it at a traditional point of sale * ...

services and

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

on the official

channel. The video was listed in ''

Maxim Maxim or Maksim may refer to: Entertainment *Maxim (magazine), ''Maxim'' (magazine), an international men's magazine ** Maxim (Australia), ''Maxim'' (Australia), the Australian edition ** Maxim (India), ''Maxim'' (India), the Indian edition *Maxim ...

''s list of ''Best Puppets in a Music Video''.

Track listings

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

External links

Flat Eric - French website
{{Authority control 1999 songs 1999 singles Electro house songs Electronic instrumentals French electronic songs Music videos featuring puppetry Number-one singles in Austria Number-one singles in Finland Number-one singles in Germany Number-one singles in Italy Number-one singles in Scotland Techno songs UK Independent Singles Chart number-one singles UK singles chart number-one singles Ultratop 50 Singles (Flanders) number-one singles 1990s instrumentals