"Papa's Got a Brand New Pigbag" 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 ...

performed by British

dance-punk Dance-punk (also known as disco-punk) is a post-punk subgenre that emerged in the late 1970s, and is closely associated with the disco, post-disco and new wave movements.Rip It Up and Start Again: Post Punk 1978-1984. Simon Reynolds.Faber an ...

band

Pigbag Pigbag were a British post-punk band, best known for their instrumentals, active between 1980 and 1983. Origin and formation Pigbag were formed in Cheltenham in late 1980 by Chris Hamlin, a fashion student at Cheltenham Art College. Hamlin ...

and released as a single in 1981. The track was written by Chris Hamlin and James Johnstone before Pigbag was formed and produced by Dave Hunt and Dick O'Dell. In the United States, it was released as an import on the Rough Trade label, where it made it to number 56 on the US dance chart. A 1982 re-release of "Papa's Got a Brand New Pigbag" went to number three in the United Kingdom. Several covers of the instrumental have been released, including popular versions by Perfecto Allstarz and

Thunderpuss Thunderpuss is the (mainly dance) remix/ production team of Los Angeles–based music producers Barry Harris and Chris Cox. Harris had previously worked as part of several music groups including Kon Kan, Top Kat, Killer Bunnies and Outta C ...

. The piece's title is a play on the

James Brown James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, musician, and record producer. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th-century music, he is referred to by Honorific nick ...

song "

Papa's Got a Brand New Bag "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" is a song written and recorded by James Brown. Released as a two-part single in 1965, it was Brown's first song to reach the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 Top Ten, peaking at number eight, and was a number-one R&B hit, top ...

". Whilst the track is well known for its brass riff, the bassline of the track was also ranked by ''

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 ...

'' at number 40 in their 2005 list of the "Top 50 Basslines of All Time".

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Perfecto Allstarz version

On 23 January 1995,

Paul Oakenfold Paul Mark Oakenfold (; born 30 August 1963), formerly known mononymously as Oakenfold, is an English record producer, remixer and trance DJ. He has provided over 100 remixes for over 100 artists including U2, Moby, Madonna, Britney Spears, Ma ...

released the track "Reach Up (Papa's Got a Brand New Pigbag)", credited to Perfecto Allstarz. The single, released by

EastWest East West Records (stylized as east''west'') is a record label formed in 1955, distributed and owned by Warner Music Group, headquartered in New York City. History After its creation in 1955 by Atlantic Records, the label had its first hit wit ...

and

Perfecto Records Perfecto Records is a British trance record label, founded by Paul Oakenfold in 1989. Perfecto was also a remix team consisting of Paul Oakenfold and Steve Osborne and in its later years, Osborne was replaced by Andy Gray. Perfecto Records ha ...

, went to number six in the United Kingdom, topped the

UK Dance Chart The Dance Singles Chart and the Dance Albums Chart are music charts compiled in the United Kingdom by the Official Charts Company from sales of songs in the electronic dance music, dance music genre (e.g. house music, house, trance music, trance, ...

, and also charted in Australia, Ireland, the Netherlands and Switzerland.

Critical reception

In his weekly UK chart commentary,

James Masterton James Masterton (born 2 September 1973) is a British music critic and columnist, his work focusing on the UK Singles Chart having been an online fixture on various sites since the 1990s. Masterton is also a producer for talkSPORT, and has worke ...

stated, "The track has lost nothing with time, a glorious catchy

soul-funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the mi ...

instrumental that looks set to dominate dancefloors just as it did 13 years ago." 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 m ...

'' wrote, "Britain's

dance Dance is an The arts, art form, consisting of sequences of body movements with aesthetic and often Symbol, symbolic value, either improvised or purposefully selected. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

and remix culture started through

Adrian Sherwood Adrian Maxwell Sherwood (born 20 January 1958) is an English record producer specialising in the genre of dub music. He has created a distinctive production style based on the application of dub effects and dub mixing techniques to other forms ...

's productions of the Pop Group, to which family tree Pig Bag belonged. So recycling the 1982 instrumental "Papa's Got a Brand New Pig Bag" is only fair."

James Hamilton James Hamilton may refer to: Dukes *James Hamilton, 1st Duke of Hamilton (1606–1649), heir to the throne of Scotland *James Hamilton, 4th Duke of Hamilton (1658–1712), Scottish nobleman *James Hamilton, 5th Duke of Hamilton (1703–1743), Sco ...

from ''

Music Week ''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future. History Founded in 1959 as ''Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music We ...

s ''RM'' Dance Update described it as a "

's braying brass from 1982 driven now by bursts of Goodmen-ish percussion like Postflix's 'Rototom', in organ and ''reach up'' divas prodded 136.2bpm rack. Mark Sutherland from ''

Smash Hits ''Smash Hits'' was a British music magazine aimed at young adults, originally published by EMAP. It ran from 1978 to 2006, and, after initially appearing monthly, was issued fortnightly during most of that time. The name survived as a brand ...

'' gave it a top score of five out of five, writing, "This is a trendy rave-up "reinterpretation" of that very moment and is therefore ace in the extreme. Dance craze of the fortnight."

Track listings

* 12-inch, UK (1995) # "Reach Up (Papa's Got a Brand New Pig Bag)" (Perfecto remix) # "Reach Up (Papa's Got a Brand New Pig Bag)" (Indian Summer remix) # "Zed's Dead" * CD single, Europe (1995) # "Reach Up (Papa's Got a Brand New Pig Bag)" (radio edit) – 3:40 # "Reach Up (Papa's Got a Brand New Pig Bag)" (Perfecto remix) – 7:02 # "Reach Up (Papa's Got a Brand New Pig Bag)" (Indian Summer remix) – 6:47 # "Zed's Dead" – 6:40

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Thunderpuss version

In 2001,

had a number-one dance hit on the US

Hot Dance Club Songs 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), Billboard'' magazine. It used club disc jockeys set list ...

chart when they covered the track.

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In popular culture

* English darts player

Adrian Lewis Adrian Lewis (born 21 January 1985) is an English professional darts player who formerly competed in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. Nicknamed "Jackpot", he is a two-time PDC World Champion, having won the title in 2011 and 2012. ...

uses "Reach Up" as his pre-match walk-on song. Former 3-times Lakeside World Champion

Glen Durrant Glen Durrant (born 24 November 1970), nicknamed "Duzza", is an English former professional darts player who competed in British Darts Organisation (BDO) and Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. Durrant is a three-time BDO World Champi ...

used the same song in his BDO years, however he was forced to change it as he switched to the PDC circuit to avoid clash with Lewis. *

Molly McCann Molly Maria McCann Pearson (born 4 May 1990) is an English former mixed martial artist. She is a former Cage Warriors Flyweight Champion and formerly competed in the women's Strawweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). Ear ...

at UFC Fight Night 208 led the crowd in a chant of "fuck the Tories" using this riff. * Dutch DJ duo Carte Blanq sampled "Papa's Got a Brand New Pigbag" for their tribute song on Dutch

Formula 1 Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

driver

Max Verstappen Max Emilian Verstappen (; born 30 September 1997) is a Dutch and Belgian racing driver who competes under the Dutch flag in Formula One for Red Bull Racing. Verstappen has won four Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles, which he w ...

's first World Drivers' Championship victory, "33 Max Verstappen". *

EFL Championship The English Football League Championship, known simply as the Championship and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Bet Championship, is a professional association football league in England and Wales. Contested by 24 clubs, it is the highest divi ...

club

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional association football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English f ...

have used "Papa's Got a Brand New Pigbag" when the home team scores at

Loftus Road Loftus Road, currently known as MATRADE Loftus Road Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a football stadium in Shepherd's Bush, West London, Greater London, England, which is home to Queens Park Rangers F.C., Queens Park Rangers Football Club, w ...

since 1995. *

club

Middlesbrough FC Middlesbrough Football Club ( ) is a professional association football club based in Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Nicknamed the Boro, they were fo ...

uses "Reach Up" as their club anthem as the players walk out onto the pitch for home games at the

Riverside Stadium The Riverside Stadium is a football stadium in Middlesbrough, England, which has been the home of Middlesbrough since its opening in 1995. It has an all-seated capacity of 34,742, although provisional planning permission is in place to expan ...

. * The Dutch TV series 'Je Ziet Maar' (You'll see) presented by Hanneke Kappen made "Papa got a brandnew pigbag" the opening and closing tunes of the program a top 10 hit on the Dutch charts.

References

{{Reflist 1981 songs 1981 debut singles 1982 singles 1995 singles 2001 singles 1980s instrumentals New wave instrumentals Dance-punk songs English rock songs East West Records singles Fire Records (UK) singles Perfecto Records singles Rough Trade Records singles UK Independent Singles Chart number-one singles

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Perfecto Allstarz version

Critical reception

Track listings

Charts

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Certifications

Thunderpuss version

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

In popular culture

See also

References