"Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me" is a 1995 single by U2 from the Batman Forever soundtrack album. It reached number two on the UK Singles Chart, number sixteen on the Billboard Hot 100, and number one on the Billboard Album Rock Tracks and Modern Rock Tracks charts. The song was a worldwide hit, being nominated for an MTV Movie Award.

History

"Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me" has its origins in the sessions for the band's 1993 album, Zooropa. It was played to BP Fallon, who wrote about it in his book "U2 Faraway So Close". The song's title comes from a play on the classic song "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me" and is actually visible (along with the titles of other discarded demos) on the cover of Zooropa in purple text. The song was played on every show of the PopMart Tour as part of the encore, and has not been played live since.

Music video

The animated music video to the song (interspersed with clips from the film) featured the band performing in Gotham City, with Bono battling between two of his alter-egos from the Zoo TV Tour: "The Fly" and "MacPhisto". This was intended to parallel the conflict between Bruce Wayne's ordinary playboy persona and his crime-fighting Batman persona. The band also chases the Batwing, using a yellow supercar and their guitars as flamethrowers.

At one brief point of the video, a neon sign can be seen that reads "Mister Pussey's". An edited version of the video from Universal Music Group uses the words "Mister Swampy's" for the same sign. In another scene, the band is walking down the street when Bono is run over by a car (driven by Elvis) while reading C.S. Lewis' The Screwtape Letters. The video ends with an orchestra of Batmen playing the outro on strings. It was directed by Kevin Godley and Maurice Linnane.[210170]

Track listings

The song featured singles with three different track listings. Note that that the B-sides on the first two singles are non-U2 songs.

There was also a single-track CD distributed in the U.S as part of a Batman Forever gift bag, along with a collectible comic book, trading card, and pogs.

Certifications

Country	Certification	Date	Sales certified
France	Silver	November 7, 1995	125,000
UK	Gold	August 1, 1995	400,000

Charts

Chart (1995)	Peak position
Australian ARIA Chart	1
Austrian Singles Chart	3
Belgian Singles Chart	15
Belgian Singles Chart	4
Canada RPM Alternative 30	1
Canada RPM Top 100	3
Dutch MegaCharts	7
Finnish Singles Chart	4
French Singles Chart	10
German Singles Chart	8

Chart (1995)	Peak position
Irish Singles Chart	1
New Zealand Singles Chart	1
Norwegian Singles Chart	1
Swedish Singles Chart	2
Swiss Singles Chart	5
UK Singles Chart	2
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	16
U.S. Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks	1
U.S. Billboard Modern Rock tracks	1
U.S. Billboard Top 40 Mainstream	23

See also

• List of covers of U2 songs - Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me

References