"Toxygene" is a single by electronic music artist The Orb

The Orb

Throughout 1989, the Orb, along with Martin Glover, developed the musical genre of ambient house through the use of a diverse array of samples and recordings. The culmination of its musical work came toward the end of the year when the group recorded a session for John Peel on BBC Radio 1...

. It was released in 1997 as the first single from the album Orblivion

Orblivion

Though Orblivion was recorded in May 1996, it was not released until almost a year later, due to Island Records' desire to promote it as a follow up to U2's techno-rock album Pop. Orblivion sold very well in Europe as well as the United States, where it reached the Billboard Top 200...

.

"Toxygene" was originally commissioned as a remix of Jean Michel Jarre

Jean Michel Jarre

Jean Michel André Jarre is a French composer, performer and music producer. He is a pioneer in the electronic, ambient and New Age genres, and known as an organiser of outdoor spectacles of his music featuring lights, laser displays, and fireworks.Jarre was raised in Lyon by his mother and...

's "Oxygène 8" from Oxygène 7–13. However, The Orb "obliterated it" and reassembled only a few fragments for their remix, much to the chagrin of Jarre, who reportedly "threw a fit and refused to release it". The Orb released the track themselves under the name "Toxygene", which further irritated Jarre, to whom Paterson retorted "The French are always five years behind us, anyway." In statements made after the release of "Toxygene", Jarre denied the reports: "It's not that I didn't like it, but I wanted the first wave of remixes to be linked to Oxygene's theme and textures."

"Toxygene", was the highest charting single by The Orb, reaching #4 in the UK on 8 February 1997. The release was accompanied by a music video directed by Ben Stokes.

CD 1

1. "Toxygene (Edit)" – 3:37
2. "Toxygene (Way Out West Begbie Mix)" – 7:40

   Remix - Way Out West

3. "Delta MK II (Dal Vivo A Roma)" – 7:14

   Written by Giraudy, Hillage, Fehlmann

4. "Toxygene (Kris Needs Up For A Fortnight Mix)" – 7:17

   Remix - Henry Cullen, Kris Needs

CD 2

1. "Toxygene (Edit)" – 3:37
2. "Toxygene (Fila Brazillia Mix)" – 6:10

   Remix - Fila Brazillia

3. "Rose Tinted (Dal Vivo A Roma)" – 7:14

   Written by Lewis Keogh, Thomas Fehlmann

4. "Toxygene (Toxic Genes Mix)" – 7:59

12" single

• A1 "Toxygene (Toxic Genes Mix)" – 7:59
• A2 "Delta MK II (Dal Vivo A Roma)" – 6:15
• B "Toxygene (Kris Needs Up For A Fortnight Mix)" – 9:50

Remix - Henry Cullen, Kris Needs

Music Video

The video for the song is inspired by the CIA's

Central Intelligence Agency

The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...

 experimental mind control program: MK-ULTRA

Project MKULTRA

Project MKULTRA, or MK-ULTRA, was the code name for a covert, illegal CIA human experimentation program, run by the CIA's Office of Scientific Intelligence. This official U.S. government program began in the early 1950s, continued at least through the late 1960s, and used U.S...

.

As the Orb's highest charting single, the band appeared on Top of the Pops

Top of the Pops

Top of the Pops, also known as TOTP, is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly from 1 January 1964 to 30 July 2006. After 25 December 2006 it became a radio program, now hosted by Tony Blackburn...

to promote the song. The TOTP pretence of a live performance was avoided, instead the group danced around on playground rides.