Reader’s Choice/Tom’s Top Tunes…Song #45/250: Weapon of Choice by Fatboy Slim

“Weapon of Choice” by Fatboy Slim is one of those songs that comes along every once in a while that seems to exist on a musical island all of its own. The song comes from an album called Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars, which draws its inspiration from a quote by Oscar Wilde that states, “We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars”. The album was released in 2001. The single “Weapon of Choice” was the big hit song from that album. It was co-written by a man named Bootsy Collins, who had a long and storied career as a member of the seminal Funk band Parliament-Funkadelic, as well as helping to provide the grooves for none other than James Brown as a member of his band in the 1960s, too. Not surprisingly, Collins adds his trademark funk stylings to “Weapon of Choice”, which gives the song an infectious beat that is easy to move to. As for Fatboy Slim, he is a DJ by trade and first came to fame in the field of electronic dance music. As a DJ, Fatboy Slim (whose real name is Norman Cook) is well skilled in the art of sampling. You will remember from previous posts that sampling is when a series of pre-recorded sound effects and/or music clips are pieced together, either separately or over top of each other in such a way that a new soundscape is created. A DJ like Fatboy Slim often gives concerts in which no actual musical instruments are used. Instead, he plays everything from turntables and from computers. Knowing this is important when it comes to understanding why “Weapon of Choice” is as appealing a song as it turned out to be. 

In fact, “Weapon of Choice” is a musical experience that is best enjoyed in two completely different ways: aurally and visually. While it is not completely necessary, the best way to listen to “Weapon of Choice” is through good quality headphones. Your listening pleasure will still be had if you listen to this song through regular speakers, but using headphones is the optimal way. The reason for this is because of the way the song’s samples are arranged. One of the goals of “Weapon of Choice” is to get the listener moving. One of the ways that this is accomplished is by recording the music tracks and vocal tracks separately for each channel of your headphones. For example, when Bootsy Collins recorded each line of the song, Fatboy Slim took that recorded vocal line and reproduced it at a slightly deeper level to create a new, separate track. These two vocal tracks are then laid down in such a way that one appears to play on the left side of your headphone while the other, slightly higher vocal track plays on the right. This same technique is used on the bass beats as well. Thus, when you listen to the song, it appears as though the beats, notes and words are bouncing back and forth, from side to side in a very subtle, almost indistinguishable way. When you have headphones on, this alternating soundscape comes across as a full, rich, clear wall of sound. So before we talk about anything else to do with this song, one thing that can be said for sure is that “Weapon of Choice” has a sound structure that captures the attention of all who listen to it regardless of how they listen to it.

Secondly, many people are drawn to this song because they enjoy the challenge of deciphering where Fatboy Slim got his samples from. If you were to take a look at the complete lyrics to “Weapon of Choice”, it almost reads as snippets of random phrases and thoughts. However, some of these random snippets have meaning that helps to shed some light on Fatboy Slim’s thought processes as he put his samples together. For instance, there is a repeated line that states, “Walk without rhythm, it won’t attract the worm”. This is a reference to the movie Dune. The line “Don’t be shocked by the tone of my voice, it’s my new weapon, weapon of choice” is also a Dune reference.  The opening lines that state, “You can blow wit’ this or you can blow wit’ that” is a tip of the hat to a Hip Hop duo out of New York called Black Sheep. Even though these lines don’t necessarily combine to form a linear narrative throughout the song, the purpose they serve is more the rhythm of the syllables and how they rise and fall in time as they are repeated at various pitches. When you sprinkle in the funked up beats by Bootsy Collins, then you have a soundscape that is not just full and rich but one that appears to undulate as well.

“Weapon of Choice” could stand alone as a creative and original song that people would enjoy listening to on headphones, through speakers or live, in person, at a concert. But, if we were all being honest, the real reason that “Weapon of Choice” went on to become the award-winning song that it did was because of the absolutely stellar video that accompanies it. The video for “Weapon of Choice” was directed by Academy Award winner Spike Jonze. The video boasts an incredibly simple concept. It stars actor Christopher Walken as a bored, middle-aged businessman who finds himself alone in a corporate hotel lobby. As he sits there, he happens to hear a song coming out of a tinny little radio speaker that belongs to a member of the hotel cleaning crew. The music energizes Walken’s character, and in response, he begins to dance exuberantly throughout the lobby area of the downtown Los Angeles Marriott Hotel. The beauty of this video rests in the expectations that we, as an audience, bring to it. When we first encounter Walken he is sitting slumped and bored in a beige suit with his tie slightly loosened. He looks like I might look in the same situation. He knows that he is a nameless nobody sitting by himself in an environment where no one really cares who he is or what he does. He is a commodity and he feels it. Then the music begins to play, and the rhythm of the beats begin to take hold of him and Walken springs to life. When he first begins to move, he does so stiffly, as we would expect a middle aged guy with a dad bod to do. But the real surprise comes when we watch Walken transform into the professionally trained dancer that he actually is. His movements are fluid and effortless and graceful. Right before our eyes, Walken transforms from an invisible nobody to someone who appears to be having the time of his life! 

The video for “Weapon of Choice” ended up winning six MTV Video awards, as well as winning the Grammy Award for Best Music Video for 2002. The idea for the video started when Christopher Walken mentioned to Spike Jonze one day that he would consider it a favour if Jonze would take a video of him dancing before he got too old to do it properly anymore. Jonze, in turn, mentioned to Fatboy Slim that he was about to shoot a video for Walken of him tap dancing up a storm. Fatboy Slim immediately felt that the idea of Jonze’s video of Walken video would mesh well with a song he was putting the finishing touches on called “Weapon of Choice”. So, Fatboy Slim contacted Walken and offered him the chance to star in the video for his song and promised that Jonze would be doing the filming. Walken agreed to give it a go. The result turned out to be a video that many critics believe is one of the top five music videos ever made. The sight of the beige-suited Walken effortlessly flitting about the empty lobby of a grand hotel to the funked up sound of Bootsy Collins’ multi-layered voice and beats worked better than one might expect. The video shows us all that it is possible for a song to bring magic into our lives and that there is joy to be felt as a result. All in all, the song “Weapon of Choice” in combination with the music video’s great visuals is an unbeatable combination and is a pleasure to experience.

The link to the video for the song “Weapon of Choice” by Fatboy Slim can be found here. ***There is no lyrics version of this video.

The link to the official website for Fatboy Slim can be found here.

The link to the official website for director Spike Jonze can be found here.

The link to the official website for actor Christopher Walken can be found here.

The link to the official website for Bootsy Collins can be found here.

***As always, all original content contained within this post remains the sole property of the author. No portion of this post shall be reblogged, copied or shared in any manner without the express written consent of the author. ©2024 http://www.tommacinneswriter.com