Satisfaction (Benny Benassi song)

Background and composition

Benassi stated that the inspiration for “Satisfaction” came from his personal experiences as a DJ and the desire to create a track that would connect with people on a deeper level. He aimed to capture the feeling that occurs on the dance floor when the music takes control and unites a crowd as one. Benassi explained that the identifying melody of the song was brought to him by his cousin Alle Benassi: "When my cousin came to the studio after his tour in Tunisia, he played me a bunch of notes." Alle told DJ Mag: "When I was in Tunisia I was playing the clarinet in my room and there was a traffic jam under the street. And it fixed a bunch of notes into my brain". Following the composition of the instrumental they needed a vocal part, but according to Benassi "getting a vocalist" in Italy wasn't easy, so he "tried with this vocoder". The track is in the key of B-flat minor and plays at 130 beats per minute.

Music videos

The first version of the music video was directed by Mauro Vecchi**,** and features Benny and Alle Benassi, Paul French, and Violeta as they are seen on the album cover of Hypnotica. It consists of one three-second take of the four turning to face the camera and smiling, played in slow-motion to match the length of the song. Overlaid are various animations including close-up pictures of the lips of a man and a woman singing along to the song. This music video was barely played on music channels, although in some countries, it replaced the "construction" version.

The second version of the music video was directed by Dougal Wilson, and features women in skimpy construction outfits. The video plays almost as a musical advertisement for a variety of power tools. All are used in a sexual manner. This version was mainly relegated to nighttime hours. It stars British lad mag models Jerri Byrne, Thekla Roth, Lena Frank and Natasha Mealey, and American Playboy Playmate Suzanne Stokes.

Remakes

In 2008, men from Viborg, Denmark, got together to re-enact the music video with middle-aged men. It gained some popularity in Denmark and was covered on TV.

On the International Women's Day in 2011, the women's associations of the General Federation of Belgian Labour and Socialistische Partij Anders released a "Granny Remake" of the original video. It was made to raise awareness of the gender pay gap by showing the scantily clad women still working the same jobs at 60–70 years of age.

2018 Russian protest parodies

In late 2017, cadets at Russia's Ulyanovsk Institute of Civil Aviation marked the end of their term by making a parody of the video that drew on a similar parody four years earlier by British soldiers. Wearing just their uniform caps and ties, belts worn around their shoulders, underwear (with the crotches stuffed) and black boots, the cadets twerked, gyrated suggestively, and performed maintenance tasks and cleanup in a fashion similar to the video as the cameraman moved from one to the other in their dormitory. The video, which soon went viral, had strong homoerotic elements and suggestions of BDSM culture.

Officials at the institute, described as the oldest and most prestigious pilot training school in Russia, were furious, particularly since the cadets had used school property and worn their uniform caps. Sergey Krasov, the institute's director, said: "If they had joked like that at home, nobody would have batted an eyelid." Shortly after the video became a subject of national discussion, the Federal Air Transport Agency convened a commission to investigate the video and identify the cadets, believed to be in their first year at the institute, who had made it. "Frivolous dances in underwear with the uniform cap of the Institute covering the face on the grounds of the aviation university are unacceptable" the agency said. Any cadets found to be involved could face expulsion.

While some prominent Russian commentators expressed similar outrage on government-run television channels, many more sympathized with the cadets, and made videos of their own in support of them. Most were from other groups of students at trade schools for farmers, construction workers and emergency services, but the Russian women's biathlon team also made one. A Ukrainian swim club filmed part of its video underwater, and a group of retired women living in a St. Petersburg communal apartment contributed their own. Russian American journalist Masha Gessen wrote in The New Yorker that the videos were an unexpected and widespread protest against the state's anti-LGBT policies. "Each clip is at once a show of solidarity with a group of young strangers and a show of ordinary people’s ability to organize and act together—an ability that the state would seem to have stamped out."

Legacy

"Satisfaction" is credited for playing a pivotal role in shaping the electronic music scene and solidifying Benny Benassi's status as a leading figure in the genre. The song's success opened doors for both Benassi and the genre as a whole, bringing electronic music further into the mainstream and gaining recognition from a broader audience. "Satisfaction" is also considered to be the forerunner of electro house that brought the genre into the mainstream.

Sampling and other versions

• American rapper Ludacris sampled "Satisfaction" in his song "Ultimate Satisfaction" for his 2006 album Release Therapy.
• Cuban-American DJ Laz used the song's instrumental in his song "Move Shake Drop".
• American rapper Flo Rida's "Touch Me" from his 2009 album R.O.O.T.S. also interpolates parts of "Satisfaction".
• On 12 August 2022, French DJ and producer David Guetta released his remix of "Satisfaction", initially created as a sound design exercise. The Guetta remix mixes the original track's sound with future rave music. Keeping Benassi's synthesizers and vocoders intact, Guetta added "eerie arpeggios" and a "thumping electro sound design" to the track.

Track listings

Italian CD single

1. "Satisfaction (Isak original edit) – 4:44
2. "Satisfaction (Greece dub) – 6:38
3. "Satisfaction (B-Deep remix) – 6:27
4. "Satisfaction (Voltaxx extended remix) – 5:39
5. "Satisfaction (DJ I.C.O.N. remix) – 5:29
6. "Satisfaction (Poxymusic No School remix) – 7:11
7. "Satisfaction (Robbie Rivera remix) – 7:51

German CD single

1. "Satisfaction (Isak original) – 6:36
2. "Satisfaction (Greece dub) – 6:38

UK CD single

1. "Satisfaction (radio edit)
2. "Satisfaction (Isak original)
3. "Satisfaction (Steve Murano remix)
4. "Satisfaction (video)

UK 12-inch single :A. "Satisfaction (Isak original) :B. "Satisfaction (Steve Murano remix) UK cassette single

1. "Satisfaction (radio edit)
2. "Satisfaction (Isak original)
3. "Satisfaction (Robbie Rivera remix)

US CD single

1. "Satisfaction (radio edit)
2. "Satisfaction (Isak original)
3. "Satisfaction (Greece dub)
4. "Satisfaction (Steve Murano remix)
5. "Satisfaction (Robbie Rivera remix)
6. "Satisfaction (video)

Australian CD single

1. "Satisfaction (radio edit)
2. "Satisfaction (Isak original)
3. "Satisfaction (Poxymusic No School remix)
4. "Satisfaction (Odd School mix)
5. "Satisfaction (Steve Murano remix)
6. "Satisfaction (Radio Slave remix)

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

References

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    [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucOhxo9ivg0 army satisfaction]. 8 February 2013. [[YouTube]]. Retrieved 26 January 2018.
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17. (15 August 2022). "20 years on Benny Benassi and David Guetta get their Satisfaction".
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