Info → Superpredators
Rare Japanese promo CD of Superpredators. Superpredators was also included as a bonus track on the Japanese issue of Mezzanine in 1998.
UK Release: 7th July 1997 (Risingson)
Track Duration: 05:13
Formats: CD, Vinyl. View Discography Entry.
Written By: Robert Del Naja, Grant Marshall and Andrew Vowles
Produced By: Robert Del Naja, Grant Marshall and Andrew Vowles
The director of film The Jackal, Michael Caton-Jones specially commissioned Massive Attack to contribute to the soundtrack to the film while he was lensing the movie back in 1996. Massive Attack would choose to sample extensively an old song from Siouxsie And The Banshees called Metal Postcard. The working title for the Massive Attack song was also Metal Postcard, as it started out as basically a cover version of the original before Massive Attack added enough new elements to make it a song of their own.
Superpredators is sampled heavily from a 1978 song “Metal Postcard” by Siouxsie And The Banshees.
Being speculative, the Superpredators title could have come from the main plotline of The Jackal film – that of two highly trained assassins (played by Bruce Willisand Richard Gere), hot on each others trail.
The director of film The Jackal, Michael Caton-Joneswho had commissioned the song in the first place ended up with a thank you on the inner sleeve notes ofMezzanine.
Superpredators was played at a few dates during the second half of the 1998 tour, making it a very rare live performance. When it did appear, it was as the opening song – a three minute intro before segueing directly into Angel. The first time it was played was at the Valby Hallen, Copenhagen, Denmark on 2nd November 1998. It has never been played since the 1998 tour.
The Jackal Mix – This is the original mix of Superpredators, that was mixed solely by Massive Attack. Massive Attack then allowed the Mad Professor to remix the track. The Mad Professor remix would end up being by far the more commonly available of the two versions of the song available (upon its release in July 1997 on the Risingson single), with the original Massive Attack mix being more harder to find. This mix is on no physical release, but does appear during the opening credits of the film “The Jackal”. Many outside audio elements to the mix, were added by the producers of the film, such as the famous Ronald Reagan quote “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” and many other sounds of riots and carnage and TV reports about the fall of Russian Communism.
Superpredators uses a sample from the song “Metal Postcard” by Siouxsie And The Banshees. It appears primarily on their 1978 release “The Scream”. It is credited officially by Massive Attack. The Jackal soundtrack CD actual lists Superpredators as being Superpredators (Metal Postcard), obviously owing its extra Metal Postcard title to the use of the Siouxsie And The Banshees sample. As another aside, Massive Attack had previously tried and failed to convince the lead singer of Siouxsie And The Banshees, Siouxsie Sioux to appear as a guest vocalist on the album Protection.