I Hate You

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"I Hate You" is a punk rock song that was created for a single scene in "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home" and was also later used in "Back To The Beach" (another Paramount film) with Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello. It was written and performed by associate producer Kirk R. Thatcher, who also played the punk listening to it in the Star Trek film. Instrumentals were arranged by Mark Mangini and performed by a little-known group called The Edge of Etiquette.

The Star Trek sequence occurs as Admiral Kirk and Mr. Spock ride the bus to the Cetacean Institute in Sausalito, CA. Sitting opposite to them is a punk, complete with an orange mohawk, leather jacket, and spiked dog collar around his neck. The punk is blasting a loud, grating, and obnoxious song from the portable stereo he carries, to the chagrin of all the other passengers on the bus. Kirk politely asks him to stop the noise. The punk gives him a disdainful look and turns the volume up even louder. As the song continues, Kirk tries again. The punk flips him off and again turns the volume up. Kirk and Spock exchange glances, at which point Spock calmly reaches over and uses the Vulcan neck pinch on the punk, knocking him out and causing the punk's head to land on the "OFF" button in the process. All the other passengers applaud uproariously.

[edit] Trivia

According to Leonard Nimoy, the "punk on bus" scene was inspired by a real-life incident. While riding on a bus, a young man in an adjacent seat loudly played a boom box, making Nimoy wish that he could "Vulcan-nerve-pinch him and his obnoxious music into oblivion".

I Hate You was written because Kirk Thatcher thought that the music originally selected for the "punk on bus" scene (reported to have been a Duran-Duran song) would not accurately represent the kind of music a real punk would listen to.

The song was recorded in a large hallway at Paramount Studios with low quality microphones. The intention was to give it bad acoustics and make it sound as if it had been recorded in a garage.