#TBT || The Chemical Brothers – Hey Boy Hey Girl

This week’s #TBT takes us back almost twenty years ago when The Chemical Brothers would deliver what would ultimately become a timeless piece of house music history!

May of 1999 would be a moment forever captured in time as The Chemical Brothers were wrapping up their three UK tour dates in Manchester, Sheffield, and Brighton. It was during this period that Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons would unleash their first new original material in two years. What was the track, you ask? Well, it was a little controversial tune called “Hey Boy Hey Girl“, and unless you have been living under a rock, I am sure that most of us have been privy to the grand hold that this track has had on us throughout the years.

As one of their more commercially accessible tracks, “Hey Boy Hey Girl”, from their third album Surrender, quickly went to number three in the UK charts before taking a hold of dance music enthusiasts all over the planet. Focusing on more of a house influence rather than their big beat sound, Rowlands and Simons unveiled that it was from their nights out at Sheffield club Gatecrasher that culminated in the production of “Hey Boy Hey Girl”. But it is the cornerstone of UK nightlife found among the walls of Ministry of Sound that lends the backdrop for an intense music video that would bring the track to life.

Now, as mentioned earlier “Hey Boy Hey Girl” is a track that has found itself smack dab in the middle of controversy, as not only did The Chemical Brothers pull vocals from “The Roof is on Fire” by Rock Master Scott & the Dynamic Three, but was said to have taken the drum programming used in “I Sit On Acid 2000” released by Lords of Acid. But, as history has shown, it is through a little controversy that will ultimately aid in garnering the most attention.

In the end, The Chemical Brothers have emerged successfully, as fast forward almost twenty years later and “Hey Boy Hey Girl” has risen above all the “he said she said,” focusing on its mission to demolish the grim grasp of time as it goes down in history as one of the most recognizable, relevant, and adored house tracks to ever grace our scene!

Before you go, explore another historical track from The Chemical Brothers! Check out our January 28, 2016, Throwback Thursday featuring The Chemical Brothers – “Block Rockin Beats”!

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