The Less I Know the Better

Not to be confused with The Less You Know, the Better.

"The Less I Know the Better" is a song released by the Australian music project Tame Impala on 29 November 2015 as the fourth and final single from their third studio album, Currents. The song's accompanying music video mixes hand-drawn animation with live action and takes place in a high school, especially the gym and locker room, where a male basketball player suffers a broken heart.

"The Less I Know the Better"
Single by Tame Impala
from the album Currents
Released	29 November 2015 (2015-11-29)^[1]
Recorded	Kevin Parker's home studio (Fremantle, Western Australia)
Genre	Disco^[2] funk^[3] psychedelic pop^[4]
Length	3:39
Label	Modular Interscope
Songwriter(s)	Kevin Parker
Producer(s)	Kevin Parker
Tame Impala singles chronology
"Eventually" (2015) "The Less I Know the Better" (2015) "Patience" (2019)
Music video
"The Less I Know the Better" on YouTube

In 2016, the song peaked at number 23 on the Belgian Flanders singles chart, number 66 on the ARIA Singles Chart, and number 195 on the French Singles Chart. In the US, the song charted at number 35 on Billboard's Hot Rock Songs chart.

The song, along with "Let It Happen", was one of two singles from Currents to reach the top five in Triple J's Hottest 100 of 2015, ranking at number 4, whilst "Let It Happen" ranked at number 5.

It also topped Triple J's Hottest 100 of the 2010s in March 2020. The week after reaching #1 in Triple J's Hottest 100 of the 2010s, the song entered the ARIA Top 50 for the first time, charting 49 places higher than its previous peak of #66.^[5]

In May 2021, APRA AMCOS confirmed the song surpassed one billion streams.^[6]

Background

Parker stated that "The Less I Know the Better" originated from his love of disco:

That song originally I thought shouldn't be on a Tame Impala album, because it has this dorky, white disco funk. I wouldn't call it cheesy, but it's not trying to be too cool, because the lyrics are pretty dorky and the groove is pretty dorky. But at the same time, for me, I love that kind of music. I don't know why, but I've been obsessed with disco for the last year or two.^[7]

According to Parker, recording the song became obsessive. He recalled performing over 1,057 partial vocal takes for either "The Less I Know the Better" or the album's second single, "'Cause I'm a Man", though he could not recall which.^[8]

Music video

The official music video for the song was uploaded on 29 November 2015 to the group's Vevo channel. It is sexually explicit. The video follows a male high school basketball player lusting after a cheerleader, who soon begins a relationship with the team's gorilla mascot (named "Trevor", a reference to the lyric "She was holding hands with Trevor" in the song).^[9] The music video was filmed by the Barcelona-based creative collective and directors known as Canada.^[10] The two primary lovebirds in the video are played by Spanish actors: the cheerleader is portrayed by actress Laia Manzanares;^[11] the basketball player by actor Albert Baró.^[12]

Lars Brandle of Billboard described it as "a strange tale of high school lust and jealousy (and King Kong) played out in a technicolor trip".

Charts

Weekly charts Chart (2015–16) Peak position Australia (ARIA)^[13] 66 Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)^[14] 23 Belgium (Ultratip Bubbling Under Wallonia)^[15] 8 Czech Republic (Rádio – Top 100)^[16] 55 France (SNEP)^[17] 195 US Hot Rock & Alternative Songs (Billboard)^[18] 35 Chart (2020) Peak position Australia (ARIA)^[19] 17

Year-end charts Chart (2016) Position US Hot Rock Songs (Billboard)^[20] 74 Chart (2020) Position Australia (ARIA)^[21] 88

Certifications

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)^[22]	5× Platinum	350,000^‡
Belgium (BEA)^[23]	Gold	20,000^‡
Canada (Music Canada)^[24]	Gold	40,000^‡
Denmark (IFPI Danmark)^[25]	Platinum	90,000^‡
Germany (BVMI)^[26]	Gold	200,000^‡
Italy (FIMI)^[27]	Gold	35,000^‡
Poland (ZPAV)^[28]	2× Platinum	100,000^‡
United Kingdom (BPI)^[29]	2× Platinum	1,200,000^‡
United States (RIAA)^[30]	4× Platinum	4,000,000^‡
^‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

References

1. . Interscope Records. Archived from the original on 5 February 2016.
2. The following sources refer to the song as disco:
   • Leight, Elias. "Watch Tame Impala's "The Less I Know The Better" Video". The Fader. Retrieved 12 March 2016.
   • DeVille, Chris (1 July 2015). "Yes I'm Changing: The Bold Metamorphosis Of Tame Impala's Currents". Stereogum. Retrieved 13 March 2016.
   • Collins, Simon (13 November 2015). . The West Australian. Archived from the original on 14 March 2016. Retrieved 13 March 2016.
3. Kane, Siobhan (27 July 2015). "Album of the week: Tame Impala: Currents". The Irish Times. Retrieved 12 March 2016.
4. The following sources refer to the song as psychedelic pop:
   • Donoughue, Paul (14 March 2020). "Triple j Hottest 100 of the Decade sees Tame Impala beat out Gotye, Lorde to win top spot". ABC News. Retrieved 29 March 2020.
   • Mack, Emmy (15 March 2020). ""Unbelievable": Tame Impala React To Taking Out Triple J's Hottest 100 Of The Decade". Music Feeds. Retrieved 29 March 2020.
   • Brandle, Lars (16 March 2020). "Tame Impala's 'The Less I Know The Better' Rules Triple J Hottest 100 of the Decade Countdown". Billboard. Retrieved 29 March 2020.
5. Bruce, Dave (21 March 2020). "Official ARIA Charts News for 23-29 March 2020". Amnplify. Retrieved 11 June 2020.
6. "Tame Impala's "The Less I Know the Better" clocks up 1 billion streams". The Music Network. 3 May 2021. Retrieved 3 May 2021.
7. Matt Fink (April 2015). "Tame Impala: The Ocean Inside". Under the Radar (Digital Edition). No. 53. pp. 103–105.
8. "Kevin Parker tells us 11 amazing insights about Tame Impala's Currents". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 14 July 2015. Retrieved 2 March 2016.
9. Matthew Strauss (26 November 2015). "Tame Impala Share "The Less I Know the Better" Video". Pitchfork. Retrieved 2 March 2016.
10. Lars Brandle (27 November 2015). "Tame Impala Share "The Less I Know the Better" Video". Billboard. Retrieved 2 March 2016.
11. "The 113 best songs of the past decade, ranked". Insider.
12. Albert Baró, ruthfranco
13. Ryan, Gavin (6 February 2016). "ARIA Singles: Zayn 'Pillowtalk' Is No 1". Noise11. Retrieved 2 March 2016.
14. "Tame Impala – The Less I Know the Better" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50. Retrieved 2 March 2016.
15. "Tame Impala – The Less I Know the Better" (in French). Ultratip. Retrieved 2 March 2016.
16. "ČNS IFPI" (in Czech). Hitparáda – Radio Top 100 Oficiální. IFPI Czech Republic. Note: Change the chart to CZ – RADIO – TOP 100 and insert 201617 into search. Retrieved 17 January 2023.
17. "Tame Impala – The Less I Know the Better" (in French). Les classement single. Retrieved 2 March 2016.
18. "Tame Impala Chart History (Hot Rock & Alternative Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved 2 March 2016.
19. "Tame Impala – The Less I Know the Better". ARIA Top 50 Singles. Retrieved 21 March 2020.
20. "Hot Rock Songs – Year-End 2016". Billboard. Retrieved 23 May 2020.
21. "ARIA Top 100 Singles for 2020". Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
22. "ARIA Top 20 Australian Singles for week of 3 May 2021". Australian Recording Industry Association. 3 May 2021. Retrieved 3 May 2021.
23. "Ultratop − Goud en Platina – singles 2021". Ultratop. Hung Medien. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
24. "Canadian single certifications – Tame Impala – The Less I Know The Better". Music Canada. Retrieved June 22, 2018.
25. "Danish single certifications – Tame Impala – The Less I Know the Better". IFPI Danmark. Retrieved September 13, 2022.
26. "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (Tame Impala; 'The Less I Know the Better')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie. Retrieved May 17, 2023.
27. "Italian single certifications – Tame Impala – The Less I Know the Better" (in Italian). Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana. Retrieved 26 October 2020. Select "2020" in the "Anno" drop-down menu. Select "The Less I Know the Better" in the "Filtra" field. Select "Singoli" under "Sezione".
28. "Wyróżnienia – Platynowe płyty CD - Archiwum - Przyznane w 2021 roku" (in Polish). Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 20 September 2021.
29. "British single certifications – Tame Impala – The Less I Know the Better". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 12 April 2023.
30. "American single certifications – Tame Impala – The Less I Know the Better". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved 15 February 2022.

External links

• Official music video on YouTube