The Prodigy - Breathe

Second Kings 2

בראשית י"ב

History

Thee first ever performance of the song was held at a concert at the Pionir hall in Belgrade, Republic of Serbia, on December 8, 1995, 11 months prior to its release. It was the first major international music act to play in Belgrade since the breakup of Yugoslavia, and came shortly after UN sanctions were partially lifted. Breathe thus became an iconic song for Serbia's urban youth.

Composition

The song features a drum break from the song "Johnny the Fox Meets Jimmy the Weed" of the group Thin Lizzy. The whiplashing sword sound effect is a sample of the song "Da Mystery of Chessboxin", by Wu-Tang Clan. As in "Firestarter", Jim Davies played the guitar in the song.

Music video

The music video was directed by Walter Stern and took place in what resembled an abandoned, decrepit apartment building, with the band members experiencing various aural, visual and psychological phenomena, with Keith Flint and Maxim representing the phenomena. Various animals, like an alligator, and crickets, make an appearance, evoking different types of phobias. The music video won the 1997 MTV Video Music Award for Viewer's Choice and International Viewer's Choice Award for MTV Europe. The video was also the band’s final video to feature dancer Leeroy Thornhill.

Popular culture

An edited version of the song is featured as the opening track on MuchMusic's Diamond-Certified compilation album, Big Shiny Tunes 2. The song also featured in a 2012 television commercial for Tooheys Extra Dry

Al Snow used this song as his entrance theme during his days with Extreme Championship Wrestling.

Up until the 2012 PDC World Darts Championship, Dutch darts player Michael van Gerwen used the song as his walk-on theme.