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"Juke Joint Jezebel"
Single by KMFDM
from the album Nihil
B-side	"Kraut"
Released	28 February 1995
Genre	Industrial rock
Length	5:40
Label	Wax Trax!/TVT
Songwriter(s)	Sascha Konietzko, Klaus Schandelmaier, Günter Schulz, Raymond Watts
Producer(s)	Sascha Konietzko
KMFDM singles chronology
"Glory" (1994) "Juke Joint Jezebel" (1995) "Brute" (1995)
Audio sample
"Juke Joint Jezebel" file help

"Juke Joint Jezebel" is a song by industrial rock group KMFDM from their 1995 album Nihil. It is KMFDM's most widely known song to date, with around three million copies of the song sold across various releases.

Background and composition

The music for the song was written primarily by KMFDM frontman Sascha Konietzko, who asked returning band member Raymond Watts to write the lyrics for "Juke Joint Jezebel" as well as a few other tracks from Nihil. Also credited as authors are En Esch and Günter Schulz. When mixing the song, Konietzko thought it sounded too "awful" to be included on Nihil, but TVT Records, to whom KMFDM were signed at the time, wanted to put it on the album, certain it would become a hit.

In KMFDM's profile for Trouser Press, Neil Strauss highlights Watts' lyrics and looped guitar riffs and electro-funk beats as the song's main features. In a 2013 book Assimilate: A Critical History of Industrial Music, musician and scholar S. Alexander Reed called the song "iconic", citing it as an example of industrial music's "use of gestures from traditional African-derived musics...", and notes "a massive gospel choir" of backup singers in the chorus. In addition to this, the "sleazy and exuberant" chorus features a harmonic use of the Mixolydian mode, which seems to "set the song apart from industrial conventions," with lyrics describing pleasure from self-destruction, "tapping into shallow perceptions of religious fervor and lasciviousness."

Release

"Juke Joint Jezebel" single was initially released on 28 February 1995. After the release of Nihil, a second version of the single was released with additional remixes by Italian record producer Giorgio Moroder. The Canadian release of Juke Joint Jezebel: The Giorgio Moroder Mixes includes a bonus CD titled The Year of the Pig Collection, which features one track each from KMFDM's previous six studio albums, as well "Fuck Me" from Sin Sex & Salvation. "Juke Joint Jezebel" was also released on a 12" entitled Year of the Pig. The single did not enter the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart, but peaked at number 27 on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart.

The song was accompanied by two music videos, both directed by Eric Zimmerman. The first, set to the single edit of album version and featured later on Beat by Beat by Beat compilation, combines the live footage with the animations from the Patlabor 1 anime. The other video, set to Moroder's "Metropolis" remix, was released to promote the 1995 Mortal Kombat film and uses footage from the film. MTV was reluctant to air the video, objecting to the footage featuring violence.

The original version of the song is used in the 1995 film Bad Boys, while the "Metropolis" remix mentioned above appears on the 1995 Mortal Kombat soundtrack. Both soundtracks eventually went platinum. The album version of the song can also be heard in the "Home Is Where the Tart Is" episode of Beverly Hills, 90210.

The original single version was re-released as a 7" in 2009. On 25 October 2010 "Juke Joint Jezebel" was made available as a downloadable song for the Rock Band Network.

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
Billboard	positive

"Juke Joint Jezebel" has received significant critical acclaim. Heidi MacDonald of CMJ New Music Monthly called the song "nearly flawless". Andy Hinds of AllMusic, mentioning the song in the main album's review, called it "an enduring and indispensable dancefloor favorite at goth/industrial clubs around the world." Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune said it "swaggers like a Bourbon Street hooker, with crunching guitars and a swooping, gospelish chorus". "Juke Joint Jezebel" was listed at No. 23 on COMA Music Magazine's "101 Greatest Industrial Songs of All Time" feature in 2012. The track was also featured on Alternative Press' list of "10 Industrial-Rock Classics That Completely Defined the ’90s."

Holding a negative opinion of the song since mixing it, Konietzko admitted in 2016 he still did not like the song, which was retired from the band's concert setlist in 2003. It was pointedly left off the band's greatest hits album Rocks — Milestones Reloaded, along with other songs such as "Vogue" because the group felt such songs were not part of their ideal setlist. Even so, he was pleased that the song had become successful enough that it continued to sell: "It pays the rent, to this day."

Track listings

Personnel

• Raymond Watts – vocals (Juke Joint Jezebel)
• Sascha Konietzko – vocals, synthesizers, drums
• En Esch – vocals, hi-hat
• Günter Schulz – guitars, vocals
• Jennifer Ginsberg – female vocals (Juke Joint Jezebel)

Production

• Sascha Konietzko – production, mixing
• Chris Shepard – engineering, production, mixing
• Sam Hofstedt – assistant engineering
• David Collins – mastering
• Giorgio Moroder – mixing (The Giorgio Moroder Mixes)
• Chris Cox – mixing (The Giorgio Moroder Mixes)
• Aidan Hughes – artwork
• Chris Z – type
• Greg Knoll – type

References

1. ^ Pettigrew, Jason (July 28, 2020). "10 Industrial-Rock Classics That Completely Defined the '90s". Alternative Press. Retrieved July 30, 2020.
2. ^ Borzillo, Carrie (June 22, 1996). "Wax Trax!/TVT's KMFDM Rides Industrial Revolution with 8th Set". Artists & Music. Billboard Magazine. Vol. 108, no. 25. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. pp. 9, 97. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved October 10, 2017.
3. "Raymond Watts Interview". Unhip #1. 1999. Retrieved October 10, 2017.
4. "Raymond Watts Interview". Sonic Envelope. October 20, 1995. Retrieved October 10, 2017.
5. Nihil (CD booklet). KMFDM. Chicago, Illinois: Wax Trax! Records. 1995. TVT 7199.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
6. ^ Kroll, Katy (September 12, 2016). "KMFDM Reflect on 3-Decade Career & Hating Their Biggest Hit". Billboard Magazine. Retrieved October 10, 2017.
7. Neil Strauss. "KMFDM". Trouser Press. Retrieved November 3, 2017. "Juke Joint Jezebel," later remixed into a great pop single by Giorgio Moroder, matches Watts' deep-voiced musings on sex and religion with looped guitar riffs and electro-funk beats.
8. Reed 2013, p. 287.
9. Reed 2013, pp. 216–217.
10. KMFDM – Year Of The Pig (Vinyl, 12") at Discogs
11. "Hot Dance Music". Billboard Magazine. Vol. 107, no. 30. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. July 29, 1995. p. 25. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved November 1, 2017.
12. "Videography - Juke-Joint Jezebel". KMFDM DOTKOM v4.0. KMFDM. Archived from the original on November 14, 2016. Retrieved October 10, 2017.
13. Atwood, Brett (August 19, 1995). "The Eye". Billboard Magazine. Vol. 107, no. 33. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. p. 47. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved October 10, 2017.
14. Atwood, Brett (October 21, 1995). "The Eye". Billboard Magazine. Vol. 107, no. 42. p. 93. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved October 10, 2017.
15. James, Nick (July 1995). "Bad Boys". Reviews. Sight & Sound. Vol. 5, no. 7. London: British Film Institute. pp. 40–41. ISSN 0037-4806 – via the Internet Archive.
16. Reed 2013, p. 271.
17. "Search Results for Mortal Kombat". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved April 12, 2017.
18. "Search Results for Bad Boys". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved April 12, 2017.
19. "Beverly Hills 90210: Home Is Where the Tart Is". TV.com. CBS Interactive Inc. Archived from the original on May 12, 2009. Retrieved September 2, 2010.
20. "May 01 2009: Transmission 4.540". KMFDM DOTKOM v4.0. KMFDM. May 1, 2009. Archived from the original on March 19, 2017. Retrieved October 10, 2017. The fifteenth release in the KMFDM 24/7 series is the Juke-Joint Jezebel single featuring "Juke-Joint Jezebel (Single Edit)" b/w "Kraut". Juke-Joint Jezebel is out and available now exclusively from the KMFDM Store.
21. "The Rock Band Network Music Store Goes Live". rockband.com. Harmonix Music Systems, Inc. March 4, 2010. Archived from the original on March 7, 2010. Retrieved March 28, 2017.
22. Hinds, Andy. "Juke Joint Jezebel - KMFDM". AllMusic. All Media Network. Retrieved October 10, 2017.
23. Flick, Larry, ed. (July 1, 1995). "KMFDM, 'Juke Joint Jezebel'". Single Reviews. Billboard Magazine. Vol. 107, no. 26. p. 93. Retrieved May 17, 2018.
24. MacDonald, Heidi (May 1995). "Best New Music: KMFDM Nihil". CMJ New Music Monthly. No. 21. Robert K. Haber. p. 15. Retrieved October 10, 2017.
25. Hinds, Andy. "Nihil Review". AllMusic. All Media Network. Retrieved October 10, 2017.
26. Kot, Greg (May 26, 1995). "Industrial Arts: Kmfdm Crafts The Lighter, Brighter Side Of Machine Rock". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved October 10, 2017.
27. Schock, David (March 8, 2012). "Feature: 101 Greatest Industrial Songs of All Time – # 40 – # 21". COMA Music Magazine. Archived from the original on September 18, 2013. Retrieved October 10, 2017.

Bibliography

• Reed, S. Alexander (2013). Assimilate: A Critical History of Industrial Music. Oxford University Press. pp. 216–217, 271, 287. ISBN 978-0-19-983260-6. LCCN 2012042281. OCLC 1147729910 – via the Internet Archive.

External links

• "Juke Joint Jezebel" single (all editions) at Discogs (list of releases)

• 1995 singles
• KMFDM songs
• TVT Records singles
• 1995 songs
• Wax Trax! Records singles
• Songs written by Sascha Konietzko
• Songs written by Günter Schulz
• Songs written by En Esch
• Songs written by Pig (musical project)