"Flat Beat" is an instrumental by French musician Mr. Oizo. It was released on 22 March 1999 through F Communications and featured as a bonus track on his debut studio albumAnalog Worms Attack. An accompanying music video was released on VHS. The music video features Flat Eric, a puppet, head banging to the track. Widely publicized by Flat Eric's appearance in many commercials for Levi's and the popularity of the music video, the track peaked at number five on the French Singles Chart and reached number one in Austria, Flemish Belgium, Finland, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom. In 2003, Q Magazine ranked "Flat Beat" at number 175 in their list of the "1001 Best Songs Ever".
Background
In an interview with XLR8R magazine, Quentin Dupieux stated that it took him only two hours with a Korg MS-20 to produce. The song is mainly composed of a repeated bassline, and it samples "Put Your Love in My Tender Care" by The Fatback Band. The song was an international success in Europe, topping the charts in Austria, Finland, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom. The track is instrumental, and is one of only twenty-five instrumental singles to top the charts in the latter country. In September 2005, Stylus Magazine included the track's bassline at number 13 in their list of the "Top 50 Basslines of All Time".
Music video
Prior to the "Flat Beat", Dupieux created Flat Eric, a fictional puppet character, from Levi's commercials for Sta-Prest One Crease Denim Clothing, built by Jim Henson's Creature Shop. The popularity of the commercials lead to a music video for the song being created, also featuring Flat Eric. The music video for "Flat Beat" was directed by Quentin Dupieux and released alongside the single release. The video was released on VHS and later on digital download services and YouTube on the official F Communications channel. The video was listed in Maxims list of Best Puppets in a Music Video. On the topic of music videos in 2016, Dupieux stated that "music videos are annoying and useless. When YouTube forces me to watch one, you usually get bored after 20 seconds, even if the music is cool".
