Harder Than You Think

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"Harder Than You Think"
Single by Public Enemy
from the album How You Sell Soul to a Soulless People Who Sold Their Soul?
Released August 13, 2007 (Vinyl Record), August 18, 2012 (iTunes Digital Download)
Format 12" vinyl, digital download
Genre Hip hop
Length 4:10 (album version)
3:10 (UK radio edit)
Label SLAMjamz Records
Writer(s) Chuck D, Flavor Flav, Gary G-Wiz
Producer Gary G-Wiz
Public Enemy chronology
"Amerikan Gangster"
(2007)		 "Harder Than You Think"
(2007/2012)		 "Say It Like It Really Is"
(2010)

"Harder Than You Think", is the first single from Public Enemy's 20th anniversary album How You Sell Soul to a Soulless People Who Sold Their Soul? released in 2007. It was produced by Gary G-Wiz. The song attained popularity in summer 2012 when it was chosen as the theme tune to the 2012 Paralympic Games coverage on Channel 4 in the UK, and became Public Enemy's highest-charting single on the UK Singles Chart in August 2012. The track samples extensively from Shirley Bassey's 1972 track Jezahel[1][2] as well as their own 1987 track Public Enemy No. 1.[2]

Contents

Music video [edit]

The music video was directed by David C. Snyder, and was uploaded unofficially onto YouTube in August 2007. The video has a view count of 4 million as of January 2013.

Following the use of "Harder Than You Think" to soundtrack the UK's Channel 4 coverage of the Summer 2012 Paralympics, a music video including clips from the Channel 4 trailer for the Summer 2012 Paralympics was produced by HWIC Filmworks (founded by John Delserone and David C. Snyder, who directed the original video).[3][4]

Use in media [edit]

The song was featured in Eric Koston's segment in the 2007 skateboarding video "Fully Flared". The song and its beat were used by ESPN for the 2011 Big East Men's Basketball Tournament. The song is also featured on the soundtrack of the video game Skate 2. The song was later featured heavily in a Fall K-Mart ad as of September 2011. It is also one of the lead songs in the commercials for ESPN's broadcasting of the Winter X Games. It also appeared in the trailer for Something from Nothing: The Art of Rap 2012 film. The song is also featured at the opening of the 2012 film End of Watch.

The song featured in the New Year's Eve 2012 celebrations in London.

2012 Summer Paralympics [edit]

In the United Kingdom, it was used as the soundtrack in both the 90 second long trailer for,[5][6] and as the theme tune to Channel 4's coverage of the 2012 Summer Paralympics.[7] The song subsequently experienced a surge in sales, making its first ever entrance on the UK Singles Chart at number 71 on July 22, 2012, entering the Top 40 the following week at number 27, then soon fell out of the Top 100 but re-entered at number 11 on August 26, 2012. The following week "Harder Than You Think" entered the Top 10 for the first time, peaking at number 4 - becoming Public Enemy's first Top 10 single in the UK and their highest-charting single ever in the nation. A reviewer for The Independent said of its re-release in the UK: "Following its prominent use in Channel 4's Paralympics coverage, great lost 2007 single 'Harder Than You Think' had a sales surge that carried it into the UK Top Five, giving the band their biggest hit to date. It'd be a thrilling piece of work in any era, Chuck delivering a typically apocalyptic call to arms over a backing track which uses a horn sample from Shirley Bassey's 'Jezahel', but to hear it blasting from the radio in the second decade of this century is beyond beautiful."[8]

Track listing [edit]

Digital download[9]
  1. "Harder Than You Think" (Radio Edit) - 3:10
12" vinyl[10]
  • Side A
  1. "Harder Than You Think" (Clean Mix)
  2. "Harder Than You Think" (Instrumental)
  • Side B
  1. "Amerikan Gangster" (Dirty Mix)
  2. "Amerikan Gangster" (Clean Mix)
  3. "Amerikan Gangster" (Instrumental)
Other versions[11]
  1. "Harder Than You Think" (Album Version) - 4:10
  2. "Harder Than You Think" (Remix) - 4:38

Chart performance [edit]

Chart (2012) Peak
position
Ireland (IRMA)[12] 23
UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[13] 4
UK R&B (Official Charts Company)[14] 1
UK Indie (Official Charts Company)[15] 1

Release history [edit]

Region Date Format Label
United Kingdom August 13, 2007[10] 12" vinyl SLAMJamz
August 18, 2012[9] Digital download

References [edit]

  1. ^ "Public Enemy:Hero or villain?". Independent.co.uk. Retrieved 22 Sep 2012. 
  2. ^ a b "Public Enemy's Harder Than You Think". Whosampled.com. Retrieved 22 Sep 2012. 
  3. ^ Public Enemy - Harder Than You Think - UK Paralympics version of music video
  4. ^ Eleftheriou-Smith, Loulla-Mae (6 September 2012). "Public Enemy adapts C4 ad for Paralympian tribute". Campaign. Retrieved 3 December 2012. 
  5. ^ Channel 4 90 second long trailer for the 2012 Summer Paralympics
  6. ^ Heath, Sophia (18 July 2012). "London 2012 Paralympics: Channel 4 launches Paralympic Games advert". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 3 December 2012. 
  7. ^ Decoding The Superhumans Trailer | That Paralympic Blog
  8. ^ Price, Simon (4 November 2012). "Public Enemy, The Dome, Brighton Tame Impala, Brixton Academy, London". The Independent. Retrieved 3 December 2012. 
  9. ^ a b "iTunes - Music - Harder Than You Think (Radio Edit) - Single by Public Enemy". iTunes (UK). 2012-08-18. 
  10. ^ a b "Harder Than You Think at Juno Records". Juno Records. 2007-08-13. 
  11. ^ "iTunes - Music - How You Sell Soul to a Soulless People Who Sold Their Soul (Audio Version) by Public Enemy". iTunes (UK). 2007-01-01. 
  12. ^ "Chart Track". Irish Singles Chart. Irish Recorded Music Association.
  13. ^ "Archive Chart" UK Singles Chart. Official Charts Company.
  14. ^ "Archive Chart" UK R&B Chart. Official Charts Company.
  15. ^ "Archive Chart" UK Indie Chart. Official Charts Company.

External links [edit]

Public Enemy
Studio albums
Live releases
Compilations
Singles
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