Fuck Them All
Encyclopedia
"Fuck Them All" is a 2005
song recorded by French
singer-songwriter
Mylène Farmer
. It was the lead single from her sixth studio album, Avant que l'ombre...
, and was released on 14 March 2005. Like all tracks from the album, the lyrics were written by the singer with music composed by Laurent Boutonnat. "Fuck Them All" combines pop music
elements with acoustic guitar
, electronic beats
and synths, with a musical bridge sung as a rap in English. As a result it is often compared to Madonna
's early 2000s songs. Lyrically, the song is about the war between the sexes and can be considered a feminist plea in which women are presented as warriors. The accompanying music video for the song, filmed by Agustí Villaronga
in Romania
, shows Farmer portraying two women in a warehouse. In spite of some success on the French and Belgian (Wallonia) charts, where it reached number two – the album's best-selling charting – the song received mixed reviews and was generally deemed a disappointment.
, which also provided the theme of the song – the war of the sexes. Thus, as noted by author and expert of French charts Élia Habib, the song title was in "the language of Shakespeare, which the singer had not used since her 1992 single "Beyond My Control
"". At the time, many fans, however, believed that this title was a joke or a rumor as it sounded like a too direct provocation, even a scathing insult, which was rather unusual in Farmer's career. As with other singles from Avant que l'ombre..., the lyrics were written by Mylène Farmer with the music composed by Laurent Boutonnat
.
The single was eventually played for the first time on 8 February 2005 on many radio stations, including NRJ which broadcast it every 30 minutes, preceded by a medley of Farmer's previous hits. The song was announced with the comment: "This is the new sound of Mylène Farmer". It was also the singer's first song to be available as a digital download, and was released as a single twice: first, the CD single
on 14 March, then the CD maxi and the vinyl, which contain the remixes, on 18 April. There were three official remix versions: 'mother f... vocal mix' and 'mother f... dub mix', by Joachim Garraud, as well as 'the martyr's remix', by Y-Front, who had already remixed "Libertine" on the album RemixeS
. The photo for the cover was taken by Robin and shows Farmer sitting on the roof of a building near the Gare du Nord
in Paris
. An international CD maxi version was also released but under the title "F**k Them All" to avoid censorship, with a sticker "Parental advisory – Explicit content" attached.
This song is characterized by its music produced from synthetic keyboard
s, and has been criticized for its lack of innovation, its musical bridge containing vulgar lyrics (with rap
) reminiscent of the Madonna's song "American Life
", and choirs of children on guitar
riff
s which are actually the singer's voice remixed. According to journalist Alice Novak, the song begins with "trippy and mysterious" notes played on keyboards, then continues with "fast and nervous" sounds on the drum machine; the tone is "rather dark, hypnotic", with an "swaying and repetitive" end which uses "the machinery of the lyrics of some rap groups". Author Erwan Chuberre deemed the lyrics "easy, but deep" and contain an allusion to Farmer's friend Marie Trintignant
, who died in 2003.
The song deals with a feminist theme of the war between the sexes. It is a "feminist plea about women's place in History" with the title referring to the "cowardice of men". In the song, Farmer "reverses the roles", and "presents women as warriors". In the first couplet, she evokes "the role of women in History", recalling that "all the great men had on their side a woman to support, assist and advise them". However, the singer said that "all this was done to the detriment of women and cites as example, Mary
, Jesus Christ's mother, a symbol of martyrdom and self-sacrifice". She denounces "the hypocrisy and the chatter of men who think only about power and sex". In the refrain, she advises women to rebel by taking up arms.
In the lyrics, Farmer "is angry with men and the song is a form of feminist anthem
". According to Ouest-France, the combination of an acoustic guitar
, electronic
beats and synths in the second part of the song, evoke very strongly what Madonna had produced in previous years, and the ethereal song is typical of Farmer. A rap interlude sung in English launches a few insults sometimes thrown at women, before the final refrain. To Marc Bitton of Public who wrote his article before the single release, "lyrics are both crude and colorful", including "sex and vulgarity", and said that the song was likely to be censored, which was, at his point of view, the real purpose of the singer. According to the psychologist Hugues Royer, the song is "an artistic utopia" and a call to feminists, including the novelist Catherine Breillat
, but is not a "political project". Novak said that lyrics surprised many fans, as although Farmer has always been a feminist, she had never expressed a so direct message on the subject.
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Shot in Romania
over two days, the video cost approximately 150,000 euros. The scenario was written by Farmer and directed by Agustí Villaronga
, then broadcast on television from 9 March. The video for "Peut-être toi
" was originally intended to illustrate this song. The scarecrows which feature in the video were made by Swiss artist Martial Leiter. Farmer contacted him after seeing a documentary on France 3
about an open-air exhibition of scarecrows which theoretically represent the human soul in its worst states. Leiter explained that he was very surprised when he was contacted by the singer's producers and that he was first hesitating, but finally agreed after a discussion with Farmer. He also stated that he was satisfied with the work and was happy to see that Farmer mentioned his name at the end of the video. Initially, Farmer wanted to use the scarescrows seen in the documentary, but Leiter refused to give her those from his exhibition, instead preferring to create some new scarecrows that were easier to break. In the music video, the scarecrows have a black bird skull and wear torn black veils that float in the wind. Several components often used in Farmer's previous music videos appear in this one: snow, a horse, and some crows. The video and its making-of
were released as a DVD bonus available free with the second edition of the studio album. In the making-of, Villaronga provides explanations about the video, while Farmer appears "distant and very professional", according to Télé 2 Semaines.
The video starts showing a woman galloping through a snowy forest on horseback. She enters a warehouse where a cage surrounded by crows is suspended by chains. Nearby there is a trapped short-haired woman with a flayed face and crow-like eyes. The first woman stops under the cage and looks up at it. She casts a stone against a wall that reflects her like a mirror and the building collapses. In the snow, she finds a body – the second woman, inanimate and frozen – hidden under a blanket. She closes her eyes, plunges her hands into the body and pulls out a sword
. Entering the forest, she sees numerous flying crows and ends up on a snowy plain on which there are erected many scarecrows. During the refrains, she uses her sword to destroy scarecrows, rip their sails and breaks the wooden crosses. Scarecrows' eyes weep black blood that turns to crow. Then we understand how the other woman was killed: the big peaks which covered the ceiling of her cage had gradually collapsed on her. Finally, the living woman plants her sword in the snow, then disappears into the air. Farmer plays the role of both women.
The video received a mixed reception among the singer's fans. Deemed as "gothic
" by Télé Star, the video has "undeniable aesthetic qualities" and allows "great freedom of interpretation", according to Erwan Chuberre. The French magazine Télé 7 Jours
published several analyses proposed on the Internet, which gave mixed reviews, and provided results from a survey revealing that 54% of respondents deemed the video as "pleasant", while 36% expressed total satisfaction. Reviewing the video in Elle
magazine, the sociologist Divina Frau-Meigs wrote: "This a coherent video, with an echo of her previous provocations", adding that Farmer's sword is the symbol of the phallus, and desolate landscapes represent the impossible reconciliation of the sexes. According to Royer, the video shows a personal dimension in which Farmer "finally crushes her interior demons" and "wants to get rid of her trappings as a scapegoat". Despite this, French daily newspaper France Soir
deemed the video disappointing because of its lack of innovation. In contrast, the video was the number one choice of voters viewing the TV music program Les 100 Meilleurs clips du XXIè siècle (The best videos of the twenty-first century), aired on MCM
on 25 February 2007.
, the French musicians' society, the song was downloaded over 5,000 times from official websites during its first week of release, and over one million times illegally. French newspaper Ouest-France
gave a rather negative review of the song, saying ""Fuck Them All" is done to revive the provocative aura which is the singer's business (...). [The song] amounts with a bit of confusion, between outrageously precious rhymes and vulgar slogans against male hegemony. (...) With a hint of sulphur as a supplement, it is a choir of young boys who sings 'fuck them all' in the chorus". The single was deemed "unconvincing" in another article of the same newspaper. However, there were also more positive reviews. According to TV Magazine, the single is "catchy both through its provocative title and its quite blooming lyrics". Despite being highly critical of the album Avant que l'ombre..., Swiss magazine L'Hebdo
stated: "Very good time surprisingly succeeded, "Fuck Them All" furiously avenges all women sacrificed on the altar of male conquest". As for Novak, "we can only applaud this bold choice". The song and the remixes were rated at 2.5 stars by Allmusic.
's hit "Un Monde parfait
" which topped the chart then. Élia Habib, an expert on the French charts, said: "For "Fuck Them All", to succeed in persisting on the podium, it will have to count on a broader basis of support than that of her traditional fans, [because they are] sufficiently numerous to send the single of their idol in the top 10 in its first week of release, but not to retain it inside the following weeks, as the last superstar's singles had regularly proved it, except "Les Mots" and "C'est une belle journée", which were general public hits". In the following four weeks, the single dropped in the chart, then jumped from number 21 to number three on 3 April, selling 14,701 units that week, through the releases of the CD maxi and vinyl. The record's chart position began to fall again, it remained in the top 50 for eleven weeks then left the top 100 after 19 weeks. Certified Silver
by the Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique
on 25 May 2005, "Fuck Them All" was the 70th best-selling single of 2005.
In Belgium, the single entered the Ultratop 40
Singles Chart on 24 March at number three, then moved up to peak at number two and spent a total of eight weeks in the top ten and 14 weeks on the chart. "Fuck Them All" was the 26th best selling single in 2005. In Switzerland, the single debuted at its peak of number 14 on 27 March and immediately dropped, although as in France previously, it climbed again on 1 May thanks to CD maxi and vinyl's sales, then began to drop again and remained on the chart for a total of 16 weeks, which was Farmer's longest single chart trajectory on the Swiss Singles Chart at that time. The song began at a peak of number six on the chart edition of 2 April 2005 of the European Hot 100 Singles, then dropped.
Mother F... vocal club mix and Mother F... dub mix
The martyr's remix
2005 in music
-Events:*During the year 2005, 12 rock music albums scored number 1 in the USA. This was the first time even ten albums have scored number 1 since 1996.-January:...
song recorded by French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
Mylène Farmer
Mylène Farmer
Mylène Farmer, , born Marie-Hélène Jeanne Gautier, , , is a French singer, songwriter, occasional actress and author....
. It was the lead single from her sixth studio album, Avant que l'ombre...
Avant que l'ombre...
Avant que l'ombre... is the sixth studio album by Mylène Farmer, released on April 4, 2005. Mainly composed of acoustic ballads, this album produced five singles which were all top ten hits in France, including "Fuck Them All" and "L'amour n'est rien..."...
, and was released on 14 March 2005. Like all tracks from the album, the lyrics were written by the singer with music composed by Laurent Boutonnat. "Fuck Them All" combines pop music
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
elements with acoustic guitar
Acoustic guitar
An acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only an acoustic sound board. The air in this cavity resonates with the vibrational modes of the string and at low frequencies, which depend on the size of the box, the chamber acts like a Helmholtz resonator, increasing or decreasing the volume of the sound...
, electronic beats
Electronic Beats
Electronic Beats is a T-Mobile funded lifestyle concept which is composed of four projects:*Magazine: Electronic Beats Magazine is a quarterly publication, revolving around music, culture, fashion, travel and lifestyle issues...
and synths, with a musical bridge sung as a rap in English. As a result it is often compared to Madonna
Madonna (entertainer)
Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...
's early 2000s songs. Lyrically, the song is about the war between the sexes and can be considered a feminist plea in which women are presented as warriors. The accompanying music video for the song, filmed by Agustí Villaronga
Agustí Villaronga
Agustí Villaronga Riutort is a Balearic Spanish film director, screenwriter and actor. He has directed eleven films since 1976. His film El niño de la luna was entered into the 1989 Cannes Film Festival....
in Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
, shows Farmer portraying two women in a warehouse. In spite of some success on the French and Belgian (Wallonia) charts, where it reached number two – the album's best-selling charting – the song received mixed reviews and was generally deemed a disappointment.
Background and release
On 16 December 2004, Farmer gave a press conference to talk about her planned thirteen concerts at Paris-Bercy in January 2006 and the release of her new album in March 2005, but said nothing about the lead single of her next album. When this new single was announced in the media, persistent rumors claimed that the title would be "Aime". On January 2005, the exact title, "Fuck Them All", was eventually presented as a strong probability by the French magazine VoiciVoici
Voici is a French weekly celebrity, women's magazine and tabloid, published by Prisma Presse . It was founded in 1987, and believes television reality shows in 2002 boosted circulation to 12.4 million copies per month . It claims the title of best selling French celebrity magazine, and second or...
, which also provided the theme of the song – the war of the sexes. Thus, as noted by author and expert of French charts Élia Habib, the song title was in "the language of Shakespeare, which the singer had not used since her 1992 single "Beyond My Control
Beyond My Control
"Beyond My Control" is a 1991 song recorded by French singer-songwriter Mylène Farmer. It was the fourth single from her third studio album L'Autre... and was released in May 1992. The song probably remains well known for its music video that caused controversy and was censored at the time because...
"". At the time, many fans, however, believed that this title was a joke or a rumor as it sounded like a too direct provocation, even a scathing insult, which was rather unusual in Farmer's career. As with other singles from Avant que l'ombre..., the lyrics were written by Mylène Farmer with the music composed by Laurent Boutonnat
Laurent Boutonnat
Laurent Pierre Marie Boutonnat is a French composer and film and music video director, best known as the songwriting partner of Mylène Farmer and the director of moody, provocative and literature-inspired music videos.- Career :...
.
The single was eventually played for the first time on 8 February 2005 on many radio stations, including NRJ which broadcast it every 30 minutes, preceded by a medley of Farmer's previous hits. The song was announced with the comment: "This is the new sound of Mylène Farmer". It was also the singer's first song to be available as a digital download, and was released as a single twice: first, the CD single
CD single
A CD single is a music single in the form of a standard size Compact Disc, not to be confused with the 3-inch CD single, which uses a smaller form factor. The format was introduced in the mid-1980s, but did not gain its place in the market until the early 1990s...
on 14 March, then the CD maxi and the vinyl, which contain the remixes, on 18 April. There were three official remix versions: 'mother f... vocal mix' and 'mother f... dub mix', by Joachim Garraud, as well as 'the martyr's remix', by Y-Front, who had already remixed "Libertine" on the album RemixeS
RemixeS
RemixeS is a compilation of French singer Mylène Farmer's singles by various famous DJ's, including JXL, Felix Da Housecat and Paul Oakenfold.-Brackground, writing and release:...
. The photo for the cover was taken by Robin and shows Farmer sitting on the roof of a building near the Gare du Nord
Gare du Nord
Paris Nord is one of the six large terminus railway stations of the SNCF mainline network for Paris, France. It offers connections with several urban transportation lines, including Paris Métro and RER...
in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. An international CD maxi version was also released but under the title "F**k Them All" to avoid censorship, with a sticker "Parental advisory – Explicit content" attached.
Music and lyrics
 Fuck Them AllFaites l'amour Nous la guerre Nos vies à l'envers...  |
| — Beginning of the chorus |
This song is characterized by its music produced from synthetic keyboard
Electronic keyboard
An electronic keyboard is an electronic or digital keyboard instrument.The major components of a typical modern electronic keyboard are:...
s, and has been criticized for its lack of innovation, its musical bridge containing vulgar lyrics (with rap
Rapping
Rapping refers to "spoken or chanted rhyming lyrics". The art form can be broken down into different components, as in the book How to Rap where it is separated into “content”, “flow” , and “delivery”...
) reminiscent of the Madonna's song "American Life
American Life (song)
"American Life" is a song written and performed by American singer-songwriter Madonna. It was the first single from her 2003 studio album American Life...
", and choirs of children on guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
riff
RIFF
The Resource Interchange File Format is a generic file container format for storing data in tagged chunks. It is primarily used to store multimedia such as sound and video, though it may also be used to store any arbitrary data....
s which are actually the singer's voice remixed. According to journalist Alice Novak, the song begins with "trippy and mysterious" notes played on keyboards, then continues with "fast and nervous" sounds on the drum machine; the tone is "rather dark, hypnotic", with an "swaying and repetitive" end which uses "the machinery of the lyrics of some rap groups". Author Erwan Chuberre deemed the lyrics "easy, but deep" and contain an allusion to Farmer's friend Marie Trintignant
Marie Trintignant
-Early life:She was born in Boulogne-Billancourt, the daughter of actor Jean-Louis Trintignant and his second wife Nadine Marquand. She first appeared on screen aged 4 in her mother's film, My Love, My Love. When Marie's baby sister Pauline died when Marie was 8, she became withdrawn and virtually...
, who died in 2003.
The song deals with a feminist theme of the war between the sexes. It is a "feminist plea about women's place in History" with the title referring to the "cowardice of men". In the song, Farmer "reverses the roles", and "presents women as warriors". In the first couplet, she evokes "the role of women in History", recalling that "all the great men had on their side a woman to support, assist and advise them". However, the singer said that "all this was done to the detriment of women and cites as example, Mary
Mary (mother of Jesus)
Mary , commonly referred to as "Saint Mary", "Mother Mary", the "Virgin Mary", the "Blessed Virgin Mary", or "Mary, Mother of God", was a Jewish woman of Nazareth in Galilee...
, Jesus Christ's mother, a symbol of martyrdom and self-sacrifice". She denounces "the hypocrisy and the chatter of men who think only about power and sex". In the refrain, she advises women to rebel by taking up arms.
In the lyrics, Farmer "is angry with men and the song is a form of feminist anthem
Anthem
The term anthem means either a specific form of Anglican church music , or more generally, a song of celebration, usually acting as a symbol for a distinct group of people, as in the term "national anthem" or "sports anthem".-Etymology:The word is derived from the Greek via Old English , a word...
". According to Ouest-France, the combination of an acoustic guitar
Acoustic guitar
An acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only an acoustic sound board. The air in this cavity resonates with the vibrational modes of the string and at low frequencies, which depend on the size of the box, the chamber acts like a Helmholtz resonator, increasing or decreasing the volume of the sound...
, electronic
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
beats and synths in the second part of the song, evoke very strongly what Madonna had produced in previous years, and the ethereal song is typical of Farmer. A rap interlude sung in English launches a few insults sometimes thrown at women, before the final refrain. To Marc Bitton of Public who wrote his article before the single release, "lyrics are both crude and colorful", including "sex and vulgarity", and said that the song was likely to be censored, which was, at his point of view, the real purpose of the singer. According to the psychologist Hugues Royer, the song is "an artistic utopia" and a call to feminists, including the novelist Catherine Breillat
Catherine Breillat
Catherine Breillat is a French filmmaker, novelist and Professor of Auteur Cinema at the European Graduate School.-Life and career:Breillat was born in Bressuire, Deux-Sèvres, but grew up in Niort...
, but is not a "political project". Novak said that lyrics surprised many fans, as although Farmer has always been a feminist, she had never expressed a so direct message on the subject.
Music video
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
over two days, the video cost approximately 150,000 euros. The scenario was written by Farmer and directed by Agustí Villaronga
Agustí Villaronga
Agustí Villaronga Riutort is a Balearic Spanish film director, screenwriter and actor. He has directed eleven films since 1976. His film El niño de la luna was entered into the 1989 Cannes Film Festival....
, then broadcast on television from 9 March. The video for "Peut-être toi
Peut-être toi
"Peut-être toi" is a 2005 song recorded by the French artist Mylène Farmer. It was the fifth single from her sixth studio album, Avant que l'ombre..., and was released on 21 August 2006. The music video was produced as an animated feature and the lyrics deals with a love relationship...
" was originally intended to illustrate this song. The scarecrows which feature in the video were made by Swiss artist Martial Leiter. Farmer contacted him after seeing a documentary on France 3
France 3
France 3 is the second largest French public television channel and part of the France Télévisions group, which also includes France 2, France 4, France 5, and France Ô....
about an open-air exhibition of scarecrows which theoretically represent the human soul in its worst states. Leiter explained that he was very surprised when he was contacted by the singer's producers and that he was first hesitating, but finally agreed after a discussion with Farmer. He also stated that he was satisfied with the work and was happy to see that Farmer mentioned his name at the end of the video. Initially, Farmer wanted to use the scarescrows seen in the documentary, but Leiter refused to give her those from his exhibition, instead preferring to create some new scarecrows that were easier to break. In the music video, the scarecrows have a black bird skull and wear torn black veils that float in the wind. Several components often used in Farmer's previous music videos appear in this one: snow, a horse, and some crows. The video and its making-of
Making-of
In cinema, a making-of, also known as behind-the-scenes, is a documentary film that features the production of a film or television program...
were released as a DVD bonus available free with the second edition of the studio album. In the making-of, Villaronga provides explanations about the video, while Farmer appears "distant and very professional", according to Télé 2 Semaines.
The video starts showing a woman galloping through a snowy forest on horseback. She enters a warehouse where a cage surrounded by crows is suspended by chains. Nearby there is a trapped short-haired woman with a flayed face and crow-like eyes. The first woman stops under the cage and looks up at it. She casts a stone against a wall that reflects her like a mirror and the building collapses. In the snow, she finds a body – the second woman, inanimate and frozen – hidden under a blanket. She closes her eyes, plunges her hands into the body and pulls out a sword
Sword
A sword is a bladed weapon used primarily for cutting or thrusting. The precise definition of the term varies with the historical epoch or the geographical region under consideration...
. Entering the forest, she sees numerous flying crows and ends up on a snowy plain on which there are erected many scarecrows. During the refrains, she uses her sword to destroy scarecrows, rip their sails and breaks the wooden crosses. Scarecrows' eyes weep black blood that turns to crow. Then we understand how the other woman was killed: the big peaks which covered the ceiling of her cage had gradually collapsed on her. Finally, the living woman plants her sword in the snow, then disappears into the air. Farmer plays the role of both women.
The video received a mixed reception among the singer's fans. Deemed as "gothic
Goth subculture
The goth subculture is a contemporary subculture found in many countries. It began in England during the early 1980s in the gothic rock scene, an offshoot of the post-punk genre. The goth subculture has survived much longer than others of the same era, and has continued to diversify...
" by Télé Star, the video has "undeniable aesthetic qualities" and allows "great freedom of interpretation", according to Erwan Chuberre. The French magazine Télé 7 Jours
Télé 7 Jours
Télé 7 Jours is a French weekly magazine published by Hachette Filipacchi Médias. It publishes news and materials relating to French radio and television programming.-History:...
published several analyses proposed on the Internet, which gave mixed reviews, and provided results from a survey revealing that 54% of respondents deemed the video as "pleasant", while 36% expressed total satisfaction. Reviewing the video in Elle
Elle (magazine)
Elle is a worldwide magazine of French origin that focuses on women's fashion, beauty, health, and entertainment. Elle is also the world's largest fashion magazine. It was founded by Pierre Lazareff and his wife Hélène Gordon in 1945. The title, in French, means "she".-History:Elle was founded in...
magazine, the sociologist Divina Frau-Meigs wrote: "This a coherent video, with an echo of her previous provocations", adding that Farmer's sword is the symbol of the phallus, and desolate landscapes represent the impossible reconciliation of the sexes. According to Royer, the video shows a personal dimension in which Farmer "finally crushes her interior demons" and "wants to get rid of her trappings as a scapegoat". Despite this, French daily newspaper France Soir
France Soir
France Soir is a French daily newspaper that prospered during the 1950s and 1960s, but it has declined since then under various owners. It was re-launched as a populist tabloid in 2006.-History:...
deemed the video disappointing because of its lack of innovation. In contrast, the video was the number one choice of voters viewing the TV music program Les 100 Meilleurs clips du XXIè siècle (The best videos of the twenty-first century), aired on MCM
MCM (French TV)
MCM is a French music video TV channel owned by Groupe MCM. It was started in 1989 by Groupe Europe following the MTV model. MCM broadcasts 3 encrypted music TV channels "MCM France", "MCM Pop" and "MCM Top" as part of the "CanalSat France" subscription TV package from the Astra 19.2°E cluster of...
on 25 February 2007.
Promotion and live performances
The song was never performed on television, but was sung during the 2006 series of concert at Bercy. According to a description by author Julien Rigal on his website and in his book, Farmer performed the song with the seven dancers of Los Vivancos and her female dancers dressed as Japanese. She asked the audience to shout the 'fuck them all' of the refrain. The bridge of the stage was then lowered and Farmer finished the song on the central cross. She then presented the dancers and said goodnight to the audience. Farmer also sang "Fuck Them All" at the Stade de France in September 2009, in a performance available on the corresponding DVD.Critical reception
"Fuck Them All"'s music and lyrics received a mixed reception from fans and the general public. According to Société des auteurs, compositeurs et éditeurs de musiqueSociété des auteurs, compositeurs et éditeurs de musique
Société des auteurs, compositeurs et éditeurs de musique is a French professional association collecting payments of artists’ rights and distributing the rights to the original songwriters, composers and music publishers.-History:...
, the French musicians' society, the song was downloaded over 5,000 times from official websites during its first week of release, and over one million times illegally. French newspaper Ouest-France
Ouest-France
Ouest-France is a provincial daily French newspaper known for its emphasis on local news and events. The paper is produced in 47 different editions covering events in different French départments within the régions of Brittany, Lower Normandy and Pays de la Loire...
gave a rather negative review of the song, saying ""Fuck Them All" is done to revive the provocative aura which is the singer's business (...). [The song] amounts with a bit of confusion, between outrageously precious rhymes and vulgar slogans against male hegemony. (...) With a hint of sulphur as a supplement, it is a choir of young boys who sings 'fuck them all' in the chorus". The single was deemed "unconvincing" in another article of the same newspaper. However, there were also more positive reviews. According to TV Magazine, the single is "catchy both through its provocative title and its quite blooming lyrics". Despite being highly critical of the album Avant que l'ombre..., Swiss magazine L'Hebdo
L'Hebdo
L'Hebdo is a weekly French language magazine published from the city of Lausanne, Switzerland. It claims a circulation of 44,870 copies and a readership of 217 000. Its current editor in chief is Alain Jeannet....
stated: "Very good time surprisingly succeeded, "Fuck Them All" furiously avenges all women sacrificed on the altar of male conquest". As for Novak, "we can only applaud this bold choice". The song and the remixes were rated at 2.5 stars by Allmusic.
Chart performances
In France, at that time released only as a CD single, "Fuck Them All" entered the chart at number two on 19 March 2005, after selling 26,688 units, being unable to dislodge Ilona MitreceyIlona Mitrecey
Ilona Mitrecey is a teenage French singer.-Biography:She became famous in France after the release of her hit single, "Un Monde parfait" , a high-energy eurodance song which had already been released in Italy in March 2004 under the name 'Très Bien featuring Ilona', on 28 February 2005...
's hit "Un Monde parfait
Un monde parfait
"Un Monde parfait" is a 2005 song recorded by French young artist Ilona Mitrecey. Based on a traditional Neapolitan song, it was the first single from her debut album Un Monde parfait and was released in February 2005...
" which topped the chart then. Élia Habib, an expert on the French charts, said: "For "Fuck Them All", to succeed in persisting on the podium, it will have to count on a broader basis of support than that of her traditional fans, [because they are] sufficiently numerous to send the single of their idol in the top 10 in its first week of release, but not to retain it inside the following weeks, as the last superstar's singles had regularly proved it, except "Les Mots" and "C'est une belle journée", which were general public hits". In the following four weeks, the single dropped in the chart, then jumped from number 21 to number three on 3 April, selling 14,701 units that week, through the releases of the CD maxi and vinyl. The record's chart position began to fall again, it remained in the top 50 for eleven weeks then left the top 100 after 19 weeks. Certified Silver
Music recording sales certification
Music recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies, where the threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory .Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories,...
by the Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique
Syndicat National de l'Edition Phonographique
The Syndicat national de l'édition phonographique is the inter-professional organization which protects the interests of the French record industry...
on 25 May 2005, "Fuck Them All" was the 70th best-selling single of 2005.
In Belgium, the single entered the Ultratop 40
Ultratop 40
Ultratop 40 singles, often just Ultratop 40, is the weekly chart of best-selling singles in Wallonia and Brussels Capital Region, the french-speaking parts of Belgium. Its equivalent covering the Flanders region is Ultratop 50. Both charts are produced and published by the Ultratop organization...
Singles Chart on 24 March at number three, then moved up to peak at number two and spent a total of eight weeks in the top ten and 14 weeks on the chart. "Fuck Them All" was the 26th best selling single in 2005. In Switzerland, the single debuted at its peak of number 14 on 27 March and immediately dropped, although as in France previously, it climbed again on 1 May thanks to CD maxi and vinyl's sales, then began to drop again and remained on the chart for a total of 16 weeks, which was Farmer's longest single chart trajectory on the Swiss Singles Chart at that time. The song began at a peak of number six on the chart edition of 2 April 2005 of the European Hot 100 Singles, then dropped.
Formats and track listings
These are the formats and track listings of single releases of "Fuck Them All":- CD single
- CD maxi - Digipack
- CD maxi - International
- 7" maxi / 7" maxi - Promo - Limited edition (500)
- Digital download
- 7" maxi - Monoface, promo - Limited edition (200)
- CD single - Promo / CD single - Promo - Luxury envelope
- DVD - Promo
Official versions
| Version | Length | Album | Remixed by | Year | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Album/Single version | 4:30 | Avant que l'ombre... Avant que l'ombre... Avant que l'ombre... is the sixth studio album by Mylène Farmer, released on April 4, 2005. Mainly composed of acoustic ballads, this album produced five singles which were all top ten hits in France, including "Fuck Them All" and "L'amour n'est rien..."... |
— | 2005 | See the previous sections |
| Radio edit | 3:55 | — | — | 2005 | The musical introduction is almost fully deleted, as well as the last refrain, and the musical bridge is shortened. |
| Instrumental | 4:32 | — | Laurent Boutonnat Laurent Boutonnat Laurent Pierre Marie Boutonnat is a French composer and film and music video director, best known as the songwriting partner of Mylène Farmer and the director of moody, provocative and literature-inspired music videos.- Career :... |
2005 | This instrumental version is identical to the album version, but piano Piano The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal... and guitar Guitar The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with... s are added. |
| The martyr's remix | 5:20 | — | Y-Front | 2005 | This version contains all the lyrics of the album version and has hard rock Hard rock Hard rock is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock... sonorities with many guitar Guitar The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with... riff RIFF The Resource Interchange File Format is a generic file container format for storing data in tagged chunks. It is primarily used to store multimedia such as sound and video, though it may also be used to store any arbitrary data.... s in the refrain Refrain A refrain is the line or lines that are repeated in music or in verse; the "chorus" of a song... s. The rap Rapping Rapping refers to "spoken or chanted rhyming lyrics". The art form can be broken down into different components, as in the book How to Rap where it is separated into “content”, “flow” , and “delivery”... bridge Bridge (music) In music, especially western popular music, a bridge is a contrasting section which also prepares for the return of the original material section... from the original version is sample Sampling (music) In music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or a different sound recording of a song or piece. Sampling was originally developed by experimental musicians working with musique concrète and electroacoustic music, who physically... d at the beginning of the remix. |
| Mother f... dub mix | 7:50 | — | Joachim Garraud Joachim Garraud Joachim Garraud, was born in 1968 in Nantes, is a French DJ, but he is also a remixer and producer. He is the producer of stars such as Geyster, Paul Johnson, Deep Dish, David Bowie, OMD, Kylie Minogue, Mylène Farmer, Cassius, Belamour, Kid Vicious, Saffron Hill and Culture Club.Known for his many... |
2005 | All the lyrics from the original version are deleted, and only some 'fuck them all' are shouted throughout the remix. The musical introduction lasts four minutes. |
| Mother f... vocal club mix | 8:30 | — | Joachim Garraud | 2005 | Devoted to the nightclub Nightclub A nightclub is an entertainment venue which usually operates late into the night... s, this techno Techno Techno is a form of electronic dance music that emerged in Detroit, Michigan in the United States during the mid to late 1980s. The first recorded use of the word techno, in reference to a genre of music, was in 1988... version has a musical introduction which lasts about four minutes, then Farmer almost sings a cappella A cappella A cappella music is specifically solo or group singing without instrumental sound, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. It is the opposite of cantata, which is accompanied singing. A cappella was originally intended to differentiate between Renaissance polyphony and Baroque concertato... . |
| Music video | 5:02 | Music Videos IV Music Videos IV Music Video IV is a DVD recorded by the French singer Mylène Farmer, containing all the singer's videoclips from 2001 to 2006. It was released in October 2006 in France.... |
— | 2005 | |
| Live version (recorded in 2006) |
6:42 (audio) 8:18 (video) |
Avant que l'ombre... à Bercy Avant que l'ombre... à Bercy Avant que l'ombre... à Bercy is the fourth live album by Mylène Farmer, released on December 4, 2006.- Background :Six years after her Mylenium Tour, Mylène Farmer came back on stage with a tour in 2006 which included 13 shows at Bercy, in Paris. This very successful series of concerts started on... |
— | 2006 | This version is similar to the album one, with more rhythm. The DVD version is longer as it also contains the presentation of the musicians and dancers. (see Avant que l'ombre... à Bercy (tour) Avant que l'ombre... à Bercy (tour) Avant que l'ombre... à Bercy is the Mylène Farmer's 2006 concert tour in support of her sixth studio album, Avant que l'ombre.... It was the fourth tour of the singer.More than 169,000 tickets were sold one about one year before the concert.-Set list:... ) |
Credits and personnel
These are the credits and the personnel as they appear on the back of the single:- Mylène Farmer – lyrics
- Laurent BoutonnatLaurent BoutonnatLaurent Pierre Marie Boutonnat is a French composer and film and music video director, best known as the songwriting partner of Mylène Farmer and the director of moody, provocative and literature-inspired music videos.- Career :...
– music - Requiem Publishing – editions
- Polydor – recording company
- Robin – photo
- Henry Neu – design
Mother F... vocal club mix and Mother F... dub mix
- Joachim Garraud / Square Prod – remix
The martyr's remix
- Y Front / Volvox Music – remix
Peak positions
| Chart (2005) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Belgian (Flanders) Ultratip Chart | 17 |
| Belgian (Wallonia) Singles Chart | 2 |
| Eurochart Hot 100 Singles | 6 |
| French Airplay Chart | 19 |
| French SNEP Singles Chart | 2 |
| Swiss Singles Chart | 14 |
Year-end charts
| Chart (2005) | Position |
|---|---|
| Belgian (Wallonia) Singles Chart | 26 |
| French Singles Chart | 70 |
Sales
| Country | Certification | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| France Syndicat National de l'Edition Phonographique The Syndicat national de l'édition phonographique is the inter-professional organization which protects the interests of the French record industry... |
Silver | 100,000 |
Release history
| Region | Date | Format |
|---|---|---|
| France, Belgium, Switzerland | February 2005 | Digital download |
| 9 February 2005 | Promo CD single | |
| 14 March 2005 | CD single | |
| Early April 2005 | Promo vinyl | |
| 18 April 2005 | CD maxi, vinyl | |
| Europe, Canada | 3 May 2005 | CD maxi |
