"Push the Feeling On" is a house song by the Scottish music groupNightcrawlers and Marc Kinchen. The original version, released in 1992, was not a house song and was more disco and acid jazz-influenced, and was a minor chart hit in the UK. The song was later remixed extensively by Marc Kinchen, creating a series of additional remixes for the song. One remix known as "Push the Feeling On " became an international chart hit in 1995, reaching the Top 10 in various European countries, including the UK, where it peaked at number 3. In the wake of its success, the band deleted the original version from their catalogue, reclassified the remix as the first single from their debut album, Lets Push It and changed their genre to house music. Despite the Nightcrawlers' Scottish origin, the song was actually less popular in Scotland than in the UK as a whole, only peaking at number 11; mainly due to the more subtle and low-key style of the track, which differentiated it from the dance music popular in Scotland at the time such as bouncy techno. On the Eurochart Hot 100, "Push the Feeling On " reached number 5. Amara La Negra also had used the instrumentals of this song for her track Ayy
Background and release
Original song
The original song was initially issued in the United Kingdom in 1992. The song reached No. 86 in the UK charts, before quickly falling off. A similar effect happened with the reissue in the US when it was released there in 1993, reaching No. 80 in the Billboard Hot 100. The song itself was rooted in acid jazz and disco, and the vocalist of the band John Reid noted later it was quite out of date for the time.
Marc Kinchen remixes
The original 1992 version's B-side was a remix by a new producer named Marc Kinchen. Known originally as "MK's Nocturnal Dub", the remix was renamed "Push the Feeling On " for its US release. This remix was a hit in the underground scene in the UK, being heavily played for around two years, until the same remix was later released as a single in 1994 in Europe. It proved to be a greater success than the original, reaching No. 22 in the UK charts, and No. 76 in the Eurochart Hot 100. A later issue, entitled Push the Feeling On with a revised remix from Kinchen entitled the "MK Dub Revisited Edit" solidified the potential of the song - proving to be such a great commercial success internationally that it replaced the original song in both the minds of the public and the band, who subsequently focused on house music for the rest of their career, and deleted the original version from their catalogue, subsequently using the new remix on their debut album, Let's Push It and all subsequent releases.
Later remixes
In 2003 and 2007, the song was released again, in other remixed versions. "Push The Feeling On 2014" was credited to Nightcrawlers vs DJ S.K.T. and appeared on various house music compilation albums and broke the top 40 of the UK iTunes chart. In 2017, a garage version simply entitled "Push The Feeling" credited to Nightcrawlers x John Reid featuring Big Narstie was released, alongside a lyric video. The official music video followed in 2018, in which Reid made cameo appearances. The original CD single release credits John Reid as 'Jon Reed'. The 1995 release New MK Mixes for '95 credits John Reid as 'J. Reed'.
Critical reception
Original song
from Billboard wrote, "Dance act is making quick club inroads with this delightfully retro romp. A chunky, midtempo groove is dressed in snakey funk guitar licks, bright horn thrushes, and pulses of strings. Radio viability comes from the song's traditional structure and a contagious hook. Bolstered by prerelease interest on European import, cool track has the makings of a multiformat hit. Not to be missed." Lennox Herald described the song as "confident sassy soul with good hook and chorus."
Aberdeen Press and Journal described the song as "infectious". Music & Media wrote, "Third time lucky for the Brits who finally score a hit at home with the MK Dub Revisited Edit. In fact they're the creators of that "canned vibraphone" sound as popularised by Robin S." The remix was present on many retrospective top ranking lists of the best dance singles of the 90s, including Mixmag's "The 100 Best Dance Singles of All Time", MTV's "The 100 Biggest 90's Dance Anthems of All Time" and Vibe's "Before EDM: 30 Dance Tracks From The '90s That Changed The Game".
Impact and legacy
The MK version of the track has been extensively sampled and covered. In 2008, Bob Sinclar interpolated the track for his remix of Rihanna's hit single "Don't Stop the Music". In May 2009, Miami rapper Pitbull sampled the song in his song "Hotel Room Service". In 2012 the German DJ-duo Glamrock Brothers covered the track in cooperation with dance-project Sunloverz and rapper Zyon Gooden. The music video also features John Reid, singer of the 1995 original. The 2k12-version reached the German single-chart. British house duo Waze & Odyssey sampled the song for their bootleg of R. Kelly's "Bump n' Grind" when released in 2014. In 2020, AJ Tracey sampled the track for "Dinner Guest" featuring MoStack which reached the UK Top 10 singles chart.
