"Juke-Joint Jezebel" is a song by

industrial rock Industrial rock is a fusion genre that fuses industrial music and rock music. It initially originated in the 1970s, and drew influence from early experimental and industrial acts such as Throbbing Gristle, Einstürzende Neubauten and Chrom ...

group

KMFDM KMFDM (originally Kein Mehrheit Für Die Mitleid, loosely translated by the band as "no pity for the majority") is a multinational industrial rock band from Hamburg led by Sascha Konietzko, who founded the band in 1984 as a performance art proje ...

from their 1995

album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

'' Nihil''. It is KMFDM's most widely known song to date, with around three million copies of the song sold across various releases.

Background and composition

The music for the song was written primarily by

frontman

Sascha Konietzko Sascha Kegel Konietzko (born 21 June 1961), also known as Sascha K and Käpt'n K, is a German musician and record producer. He is the founder, frontman and "anchor" of the industrial band KMFDM. Konietzko jokingly purports himself to be the fat ...

, who asked returning band member

Raymond Watts Raymond is a male given name of Germanic origin. It was borrowed into English from French (older French spellings were Reimund and Raimund, whereas the modern English and French spellings are identical). It originated as the Germanic ᚱᚨᚷ� ...

to write the lyrics for "Juke-Joint Jezebel" as well as a few other tracks from '' Nihil''. Also credited as authors are

En Esch Nicklaus Schandelmaier, (born 23 March 1968) is a German musician, better known by his stage name En Esch, and has been a member of the bands KMFDM, Pigface, Slick Idiot, and . History En Esch, born near Frankfurt, is an orchestra percussio ...

and

Günter Schulz Günter Schulz (or Guenter Schulz) is a German musician, songwriter and former member of the industrial band KMFDM. Biography Schulz's first credited appearance (as Svetlana Ambrosius, or Svet Am) was on the band KMFDM's album '' Naïve'' in ...

. When mixing the song, Konietzko thought it sounded too "awful" to be included on ''Nihil'', but

TVT Records TVT Records, originally Tee-Vee Toons, was an American record label founded by Steve Gottlieb in 1984. Initially created to release the '' Television's Greatest Hits'' series of classic TV theme tune compilations, the label would expand into ra ...

, to whom KMFDM were signed at the time, wanted to put it on the album, certain it would become a hit. In KMFDM's profile for ''

Trouser Press ''Trouser Press'' was a rock and roll magazine started in New York in 1974 as a mimeographed fanzine by editor/publisher Ira Robbins, fellow fan of the Who, Dave Schulps, and Karen Rose under the name "Trans-Oceanic Trouser Press" (a reference ...

'',

Neil Strauss Neil Darrow Strauss (born March 9, 1969), also known by the pen names Style and Chris Powles, is an American author and journalist. His book ''The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists'', describes his experiences in the seducti ...

highlights Watts' lyrics and looped guitar riffs and

electro-funk Electro (also known as electro-funk, and sometimes referred to as electro-pop)
Gl ...

beats as the song's main features. In a 2013 book '' Assimilate: A Critical History of Industrial Music'', musician and scholar S. Alexander Reed called the song "iconic", citing it as an example of industrial music's "use of gestures from traditional African-derived musics...", and notes "a massive gospel choir" of backup singers in the chorus. In addition to this, the "sleazy and exuberant" chorus features a harmonic use of the

Mixolydian mode Mixolydian mode may refer to one of three things: the name applied to one of the ancient Greek ''harmoniai'' or ''tonoi'', based on a particular octave species or scale; one of the medieval church modes; or a modern musical mode or diatonic s ...

, which seems to "set the song apart from industrial conventions," with lyrics describing pleasure from self-destruction, "tapping into shallow perceptions of religious fervor and lasciviousness."

Release

"Juke-Joint Jezebel" single was initially released on 28 February 1995. After the release of ''Nihil'', a second version of the single was released with additional remixes by Italian

record producer A record producer or music producer is a music creating project's overall supervisor whose responsibilities can involve a range of creative and technical leadership roles. Typically the job involves hands-on oversight of recording sessions; ensu ...

Giorgio Moroder Giovanni Giorgio Moroder (, ; born 26 April 1940) is an Italian composer and music producer. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Father of Disco", Moroder is credited with pioneering Euro disco and electronic dance music. His work ...

. The Canadian release of ''Juke-Joint Jezebel: The Giorgio Moroder Mixes'' includes a bonus CD titled ''The Year of the Pig Collection'', which features one track each from KMFDM's previous six studio albums, as well "Fuck Me" from '' Sin Sex & Salvation''. "Juke-Joint Jezebel" was also released on a 12" entitled ''Year of the Pig''. The single did not enter the ''Billboard''

Modern Rock Tracks Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks between 1988 and 2009, and Alternative Songs between 2009 and 2020) is a music chart published in the American magazine ''Billboard'' since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-playe ...

chart, but peaked at number 27 on the

Hot Dance Music/Club Play The Dance Club Songs (also known as National Disco Action, Hot Dance/Disco Club Play, and Hot Dance Club Play) was a chart published weekly between 1976 and 2020 by ''Billboard'' magazine. It used club disc jockeys set lists to determine the mos ...

chart. The song was accompanied by two music videos, both directed by Eric Zimmerman. The first, set to the single edit of album version and featured later on '' Beat by Beat by Beat'' compilation, combines the live footage with the animations from the ''

Patlabor 1 is a 1989 Anime, Japanese animated science fiction film directed by Mamoru Oshii and written by Kazunori Itō, with an original story by Headgear (artist group), Headgear. It was produced by Bandai Visual, Tohokushinsha and animated by Producti ...

anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...

. The other video, set to Moroder's "Metropolis" remix, was released to promote the 1995 ''Mortal Kombat'' film and uses footage from the film.

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

was reluctant to air the video, objecting to the footage featuring violence. The original version of the song is used in the 1995 film '' Bad Boys'', while the "Metropolis" remix mentioned above appears on the 1995 ''Mortal Kombat'' soundtrack. Both soundtracks eventually went platinum. The album version of the song can also be heard in the "Home Is Where the Tart Is" episode of ''

Beverly Hills, 90210 ''Beverly Hills, 90210'' (often referred to as ''90210'') is an American teen drama television series created by Darren Star and produced by Aaron Spelling via his production company Spelling Television. The series ran for 10 seasons on Fo ...

''. The original single version was re-released as a 7" in 2009. On 25 October 2010 "Juke-Joint Jezebel" was made available as a downloadable song for the ''Rock Band'' Network.

Critical reception

"Juke-Joint Jezebel" has received significant critical acclaim. Heidi MacDonald of ''

CMJ New Music Monthly CMJ Holdings Corp. is a music events, online media company and a distributor of up and coming music CDs, originally founded in 1978, which ran a website, hosted an annual festival in New York City, and published two magazines, ''CMJ New Music ...

'' called the song "nearly flawless". Andy Hinds of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

, mentioning the song in the main album's review, called it "an enduring and indispensable dancefloor favorite at goth/industrial clubs around the world."

Greg Kot Greg Kot (born March 3, 1957) is an American music journalist and author. From 1990 until 2020, Kot was the rock music critic at the ''Chicago Tribune'', where he covered popular music and reported on music-related social, political and busines ...

of the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...

'' said it "swaggers like a Bourbon Street hooker, with crunching guitars and a swooping, gospelish chorus". "Juke-Joint Jezebel" was listed at No. 23 on ''COMA Music Magazines "101 Greatest Industrial Songs of All Time" feature in 2012. The track was also featured on ''

Alternative Press Alternative press may refer to: Individual publications * ''Alternative Press'' (magazine), an American music magazine Alternative journalism * Alternative media ** Alternative media (U.S. political left) ** Alternative media (U.S. political r ...

'' list of "10 Industrial-Rock Classics That Completely Defined the ’90s." Holding a negative opinion of the song since mixing it, Konietzko admitted in 2016 he still did not like the song, which was retired from the band's concert setlist in 2003. It was pointedly left off the band's

greatest hits A greatest hits album or best-of album is a type of compilation album that collects popular and commercially successful songs by a particular artist or band. While greatest hits albums are typically supported by the artist, they can also be creat ...

album ''Rocks — Milestones Reloaded'', along with other songs such as "

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" because the group felt such songs were not part of their ideal setlist. Even so, he was pleased that the song had become successful enough that it continued to sell: "It pays the rent, to this day."

Track listings

Personnel

–

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

(Juke-Joint Jezebel) *

– vocals,

synthesizer A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

– vocals,

hi-hat A hi-hat (hihat, high-hat, etc.) is a combination of two cymbals and a pedal, all mounted on a metal stand. It is a part of the standard drum kit used by drummers in many styles of music including rock music, rock, popular music, pop, jazz, an ...

–

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

s, vocals *Jennifer Ginsberg – female vocals (Juke-Joint Jezebel)

Production

*Sascha Konietzko –

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stat ...

, mixing *

Chris Shepard Chris Shepard is an American recording engineer and general manager at Chicago Recording Company. He is best known for his work with KMFDM, having engineered some of their most popular albums. He also worked on some of Sascha Konietzko's side ...

– engineering, production, mixing *Sam Hofstedt – assistant engineering *David Collins – mastering *

– mixing (The Giorgio Moroder Mixes) * Chris Cox – mixing (The Giorgio Moroder Mixes) *

Aidan Hughes Aidan Hughes is a commercial artist. He was born in 1956 in Wallasey, Wallasey, Merseyside, England, and was trained as an artist by his father, himself a landscape painter. In the 1980s, Hughes published a Pulp magazine, pulp-style magazine cal ...

– artwork *Chris Z – type *Greg Knoll – type

References

Bibliography

External links

* {{authority control 1995 singles KMFDM songs TVT Records singles 1995 songs Wax Trax! Records singles Songs written by Sascha Konietzko Songs written by Günter Schulz Songs written by En Esch Songs written by Pig (musical project)