On March 8 2012, British singer-songwriter Mika tweeted his reaction to hearing Madonna’s recording of Gang Bang, which was based on a song he co-wrote, titled Bang Bang:

“Weird as fuck, underground and lyrically cool; it’s amazing and bizarre. I love it, she sounds so good singing words so harsh.”

Madonna had originally recorded a demo that was faithful to Mika’s original vision for the song but later gave it a drastic overhaul, stripping it down to a pulsating beat with panning sound effects and violent ad libbed vocals – although its original core lyrics remained intact.

Gang Bang was produced by Madonna, William Orbit and Demolition Crew and appeared on the 2012 album, MDNA. Due to its violent overtones, the track was excluded from the “clean” version of the album.