Fight Test

Fight Test
EP by The Flaming Lips
Released April 22, 2003
Recorded 2002
Genre Indie rock
Length 32:47
Label Warner Bros.
Producer The Flaming Lips, Dave Fridmann, Scott Booker
The Flaming Lips EP chronology

The Southern Oklahoma Cosmic Trigger Contest
(2001)		 Fight Test
(2003)		 Ego Tripping at the Gates of Hell
(2003)
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
AllMusic [1]
Pitchfork Media [2]
Stylus Magazine C+[3]

Fight Test is an EP by The Flaming Lips featuring the song of the same name, released on Warner Bros. Records in 2003. The single version of "Fight Test" was released on June 23, 2003, peaking at #28 in the UK Singles Chart. The song is originally from the 2002 album Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots.

It is an enhanced CD, containing covers of Radiohead's "Knives Out", Kylie Minogue's "Can't Get You out of My Head", and Beck's "The Golden Age." In addition, the EP includes two original songs. The UK version was a normal CD single, which also featured some previously unreleased songs.

Plagiarism controversy

"Fight Test" is musically very similar to Cat Stevens's 1970 song "Father and Son." Stevens, now Yusuf Islam, is receiving royalties following a relatively non-contentious settlement.[4] In an interview with The Guardian, front man Wayne Coyne stated

I want to go on record for the first time and say that I really apologize for the whole thing. I really love Cat Stevens. I truly respect him as a great singer-songwriter. And now he wants his money. There was a time during the recording when we said, this has a similarity to 'Father and Son'. Then we purposefully changed those bits. But I do regret not contacting his record company and asking their opinion. Maybe we could have gone 50–50. As it is, Cat Stevens is now getting 75 per cent of royalties from 'Fight Test', We could easily have changed the melody but we didn't. I am really sorry that Cat Stevens thinks I'm purposefully plagiarising his work. I am ashamed. There is obviously a fine line between being inspired and stealing. But if anyone wanted to borrow part of a Flaming Lips song, I don't think I'd bother pursuing it. I've got better things to do. Anyway, Cat Stevens is never going to make much money out of us.'[5]

The opening of "Fight Test" ("The test begins...now") was sampled from one of the sync tests from the Flaming Lips' own Boombox Experiments. The song was also the theme song for the short-lived MTV cartoon 3 South and in the 15th season 2 episode, of The WB (later turned The CW) long-running TV series, Smallville.[6]

Track listing

No. TitleWriter(s) Length
1. "Fight Test"  Wayne Coyne, Steven Drozd, Michael Ivins, Dave Fridmann 4:08
2. "Can't Get You out of My Head" (Recorded live on 5 August 2002 at KEXP, Seattle)Cathy Dennis, Rob Davis 4:06
3. "The Golden Age" (Recorded live on 29 August 2002 at the CD101 "Big Room", Columbus, Ohio)Beck Hansen 3:12
4. "Knives Out" (Recorded on 18 July 2002; broadcast 8 August 2002 on Morning Becomes Eclectic, KCRW (Los Angeles))Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood, Ed O'Brien, Phil Selway, Colin Greenwood 4:21
5. "Do You Realize??" (Scott Hardkiss Floating in Space Mix)Coyne, Drozd, Ivins, Fridmann 9:06
6. "The Strange Design of Conscience"  Coyne, Drozd 4:31
7. "Thank You Jack White (for the Fiber-Optic Jesus That You Gave Me)"  Coyne, Drozd 3:40

Enhanced CD Content

* "Fight Test" Video
* "Christmas on Mars" Movie Trailer

UK CD1

  1. "Fight Test"
  2. "Thank You Jack White (for the Fiber-Optic Jesus That You Gave Me)"
  3. "The Deterioration of the Fight or Flight Response"

UK CD2

  1. "Fight Test"
  2. "The Strange Design of Conscience"
  3. "Fight Test" (primitive demo with helium voice)

UK DVD

  1. "Fight Test" (video)
  2. "Fight Test" (audio)
  3. "Knives Out" (from July 2002 XFM session)
  4. "One More Robot" (from July 2002 XFM session)

Chart positions

EP

Chart (2003) Peak
position
U.S. Billboard Albums Chart 93
Australian ARIA Albums Chart 86

UK single

Chart (2003) Peak
position
UK Singles Chart 28

References

  1. ↑ "Fight Test Review". AllMusic. Retrieved 26 April 2011.
  2. ↑ "Fight Test Review". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved 26 April 2011.
  3. ↑ Howard, Ed (September 1, 2003). "The Flaming Lips – Fight Test EP". Stylus Magazine. Retrieved February 20, 2015.
  4. ↑ "Plastic: 'Father And Son' Cat Fight Ends With Split Lips".
  5. ↑ Raphael, Amy (29 June 2003). "Straight from the Lip". Guardian.co.uk (London: The Guardian). Retrieved 26 April 2011.
  6. ↑ http://www.kryptonsite.com/smallvillemusicseason2.htm

External links