Yesterday saw the release of mixes for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs‘ “Heads Will Roll,” from Passion Pit, Tommie Sunshine, Little Vampire, and James Iha. Of the four, my favorite is Tommie Sunshine’s reworking (listen via RCRD LBL), which isn’t much of a surprise since I dug his remix of the band’s “Y Control.” Still do.

As I said in an earlier post (“Everything’s Gone Sheen”), the original version of “Heads Will Roll” arrived club-ready. The track obviously references New Order’s “Blue Monday,” but it was just two days ago that I realized another dance classic, Sylvester’s “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real),” figures into the song’s melody. Listen when Karen O sings, “Looking glass, take the past / Shut your eyes, you realize,” and see if you don’t hear it too.

As YYY guitarist Nick Zinner told Billboard, “[‘Heads Will Roll’] was actually one of the last songs we wrote for the record [It’s Blitz!] … we always wanted to have a guilty-pleasure dance song. That was it, really. It came quickly, and it was just fun to write.”

The video for “Heads Will Roll” was released in May, but it’s a little eerie to watch it now, as it features a werewolf whose dance moves mirror Michael Jackson’s. Karen O has said she was “totally taken” by MJ as a kid, so there’s your reason. Besides the “Thriller” reference (um, the werewolf, silly), spot the nods to “Smooth Criminal” and “Billie Jean” too:

Purchase Yeah Yeah Yeahs – “Heads Will Roll” (Remixes) via iTunes, Amazon MP3.