I Wanna Be a Hippy

"I Wanna Be a Hippy" is a song by English electronic group Technohead. The vocals were taken from David Peel's song "I Like Marijuana", which he sung in the movie Rude Awakening. It was first released in early 1995 on the Dutch hardcore techno label Mokum Records as the B side of the Mary Jane EP. John Peel featured the track "Mary Jane" on his show on 10 February 1995, which helped give the release recognition.

"I Wanna Be a Hippy"
Single by Technohead
from the album Headsex
Released9 July 1995
Genre
Length5:03
LabelMokum
Songwriter(s)
  • Lee Newman
  • Michael Wells
Producer(s)GTO
Technohead singles chronology
"I Wanna Be a Hippy"
(1995)		 "Headsex"
(1995)
Music video
"I Wanna Be a Hippy" on YouTube

"I Wanna Be a Hippy" was also released in March 1995 as the lead single from their album Headsex and was later re-released as its own single due to its popularity, which included a remix by Dutch-American production duo Flamman & Abraxas. The song appeared on the mainstream charts later that year, peaking at number one in Austria, Flanders, Germany and the Netherlands and reaching the top ten in several other countries. In the United Kingdom, the song peaked at number 77 during its original release, but when re-released in early 1996, it reached a new peak of number six.

In January and February 1996, Technohead performed the song live on Top of the Pops twice, although both performances had the references to marijuana censored.[1]

In September 2019, in celebration of Mokum Records' 200th release, Tellurian and Technohead released a remix of the song known as the "Panama 2019 Mix".[2]

Background

In a 2018 interview with AT5 commemorating 25 years of Mokum Records, Flamman & Abraxas revealed that their remix of the song was meant to be a joke and for the song to get played on the radio. The duo also revealed that when the song first came out, the song was insanely popular at Amnesia, a gabber club the duo opened up in Amsterdam. It reached the point where the song was requested as often as five times a night, leading the duo to contact Technohead about remixing the song due to how frequent it was played. Additionally, they added that despite the massive worldwide chart success of the song, they received no royalties due to a swap deal they did with Technohead. They made this remix for Technohead, in exchange Technohead did a remix for them, but both duo's kept the rights to their song. DJ Dano, who also did a remix of the song that was sold alongside the Flamman & Abraxas remix, didn't get any royalties either because he also made such a swap deal with Technohead.

It was also revealed in the AT5 interview that the song led to the downfall of gabber music in general when "Gabbertje" by Hakkuhbar, also released by Mokum, was released, spurring a wave of "funny gabbers" that made commercial hardcore, which showed similarities to Flamman & Abraxas' style. Despite this, Jeff "Abraxas" Porter joked that because of the remix's success and the string of number-one hits the duo had with the Party Animals, "[They] took over Mokum like Trump took over the Republican Party."[3]

Music video

The music video, which uses the Flamman & Abraxas mix, shows three gabbers wearing Mokum Records shirts chasing after a hippy on a bike through Vondelpark[4] in Amsterdam with inflatable hammers. The hippy eventually escapes by walking into a funhouse mirror and disappearing. The video was directed by Matthijs Van Heyningen Jr.[5]

Track listings

CD Maxi-single (Europe, 1995)

  1. "I Wanna Be a Hippy" (Flamman & Abraxas Radio Mix) – 3:17
  2. "I Wanna Be a Hippy" (Original Mix) – 5:03
  3. "I Wanna Be a Hippy" (Speedfreak Mix) – 6:04
  4. "I Wanna Be a Hippy" (Zippy Mix) – 4:17
  5. "I Wanna Be a Hippy" (Dano No Sweat Mix) – 5:12

Charts and certifications

Covers and parodies

In 1996, The Smurfs released a parody of the song called "I've Got a Little Puppy" which was included on the album The Smurfs Go Pop! The parody charted within the top 10 in the United Kingdom, peaking at number four for two weeks in September.[33]

References
  1. "Technohead Performing "I Wanna Be a Hippy"". YouTube. Retrieved 4 April 2016.
  2. "Tellurian vs Technohead – I Wanna Be A Hippy (Panama 2019 Mix)". YouTube. Retrieved 25 September 2019.
  3. "How "I Wanna Be a Hippy" Became a Worldwide Hit (in Dutch w/ English subtitles)". YouTube. Retrieved 13 July 2018.
  4. "How "I Wanna Be a Hippy" Became a Worldwide Hit (in Dutch w/ English subtitles)". YouTube. Retrieved 13 July 2018.
  5. "technohead – i wanna be a hippy ( viva tv )". YouTube. Retrieved 16 December 2018.
  6. "Australian-charts.com – Technohead – I Wanna Be a Hippy". ARIA Top 50 Singles.
  7. "Austriancharts.at – Technohead – I Wanna Be a Hippy" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40.
  8. "Ultratop.be – Technohead – I Wanna Be a Hippy" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50.
  9. Billboard, October 14, 1995: Hits of the World Section
  10. "Technohead: I Wanna Be a Hippy" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland.
  11. "Offiziellecharts.de – Technohead – I Wanna Be a Hippy". GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 13 May 2019.
  12. "The Irish Charts – Search Results – I Wanna Be a Hippy". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved 13 May 2019.
  13. "Nederlandse Top 40 – week 28, 1995" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40 Retrieved 13 May 2019.
  14. "Dutchcharts.nl – Technohead – I Wanna Be a Hippy" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved 27 June 2018.
  15. "Official Scottish Singles Sales Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 13 May 2019.
  16. "Swisscharts.com – Technohead – I Wanna Be a Hippy". Swiss Singles Chart.
  17. "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 13 May 2019.
  18. "Official Scottish Singles Sales Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 13 May 2019.
  19. "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 13 May 2019.
  20. "Official Dance Singles Chart Top 40". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 13 May 2019.
  21. "The ARIA Australian Top 100 Singles 1995". ARIA. Retrieved 13 May 2019.
  22. "Jahreshitparade Singles 1995" (in German). Retrieved 13 May 2019.
  23. "Jaaroverzichten 1995" (in Dutch). Ultratop. Retrieved 13 May 2019.
  24. "1995 Year-End Sales Charts: Eurochart Hot 100 Singles" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 12 no. 51/52. 23 December 1995. p. 14. Retrieved 2 December 2019.
  25. "Top 100 Singles – Jahrescharts 1995" (in German). GfK Entertainment. Retrieved 13 May 2019.
  26. "Jaarlijsten 1995" (in Dutch). Stichting Nederlandse Top 40. Retrieved 2 December 2019.
  27. "Jaaroverzichten – Single 1995" (in Dutch). MegaCharts. Retrieved 13 May 2019.
  28. "Schweizer Jahreshitparade 1995" (in German). Retrieved 13 May 2019.
  29. "Top 100 Singles 1996". Music Week. 18 January 1997. p. 25.
  30. "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (Technohead; 'I Wanna Be A Hippy')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie. Retrieved 13 May 2019.
  31. "Dutch single certifications – Technohead – I Wanna Be a Hippy" (in Dutch). Nederlandse Vereniging van Producenten en Importeurs van beeld- en geluidsdragers. Retrieved 13 May 2019. Enter I Wanna Be a Hippy in the "Artiest of titel" box.
  32. "British single certifications – Technohead – I Wanna Be a Hippy". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
  33. "Official Singles Chart Top 100 01 September 1996 - 07 September 1996". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 13 May 2019.
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