Leave Home

By the end of 1994, Ed Simons and Tom Rowlands were still recording under the name the Dust Brothers, a nod to the American production duo of the same name. That Christmas they contributed a track called "Leave Home" to NME Xmas Dust Up, a mix album produced for the magazine and covermounted into its Christmas 1994 issue. After the pair changed their name to the Chemical Brothers to avoid confusion with their American namesakes, "Leave Home" became the first single from their debut album, Exit Planet Dust. Virgin released it in June 1995, and it reached number 17 on the UK Singles Chart while topping the UK Dance Singles Chart.

The track carried a recurring lyric, "the brother's gonna work it out", which the duo later borrowed for the title of their 1998 mix album. Its rhythms drew comparisons to big hip-hop beats, with howling sirens and persistent vocals over the top. Press writers highlighted shuddering basslines and distorted breakbeats in their coverage.

Beyond the charts, the song found a long afterlife in film and games. It appeared in Wipeout 2097 and SSX 3, and later in DJ Hero 2. Cinema placements ranged from Dangerous Ground in 1997 to Gone in 60 Seconds and High Fidelity in 2000, and it returned in Jackass Forever in 2022.