title: LaserDisc

text: After its introduction in Japan in 1981, the format was introduced in Europe in 1983 with the LaserVision name although Philips used "VLP" in model designations, such as VLP-600. Following lacklustre sales there (around 12–15,000 units Europe-wide), Philips tried relaunching the entire format as "CD-Video" in 1987, with the name appearing not just on the new hybrid 12 cm discs, but also on standard 20 and 30 cm LaserDiscs with digital audio. While this name and logo appeared on players and labels for years, the 'official' name of the format remained LaserVision. In the early 1990s, the format's name was changed again to LaserDisc.


title: LaserDisc

text: Pioneer Electronics also entered the optical disc market in 1977 as a 50/50 joint-venture with MCA called Universal-Pioneer and manufacturing MCA designed industrial players under the MCA DiscoVision name (the PR-7800 and PR-7820). For the 1980 launch of the first Universal-Pioneer player, the VP-1000 was noted as a "laser disc player", although the "LaserDisc" logo displayed clearly on the device. In 1981, "LaserDisc" was used exclusively for the medium itself, although the official name was "LaserVision" (as seen at the beginning of many LaserDisc releases just before the start of the film). Pioneer reminded numerous video magazines and stores in 1984 that LaserDisc was a trademarked word, standing only for LaserVision products manufactured for sale by Pioneer Video or Pioneer Electronics. A 1984 Ray Charles ad for the LD-700 player bore the term "Pioneer LaserDisc brand videodisc player". From 1981 until the early 1990s, all properly licensed discs carried the LaserVision name and logo, even Pioneer Artists titles.


title: LaserDisc

text: On single sided LaserDiscs mastered by Pioneer, playing the wrong side will cause a still screen to appear with a happy, upside down turtle that has a LaserDisc for a stomach (nicknamed the "LaserDisc Turtle"). The words "Program material is recorded on the other side of this disc" are below the turtle. Other manufacturers used a regular text message without graphics.


title: LaserDisc

text: During the early years, MCA also manufactured discs for other companies including Paramount, Disney and Warner Bros. Some of them added their own names to the disc jacket to signify that the movie was not owned by MCA. After Discovision Associates shut down in early 1982, Universal Studio's videodisc software label, called "MCA Videodisc" until 1984, began reissuing many DiscoVision titles. Unfortunately, quite a few, such as "Battlestar Galactica" and "Jaws", were time-compressed versions of their CAV or CLV Disco Vision originals. The time-compressed CLV re-issue of "Jaws" no longer had the original soundtrack, having had incidental background music replaced for the videodisc version due to high licensing costs (the original music would not be available until the THX LaserDisc box set was released in 1995). One Universal/Columbia co-production issued by MCA Disco Vision in both CAV and CLV versions, "The Electric Horseman", is still not available in any other home video format with its original score intact; even the most recent DVD release has had substantial music replacements of both instrumental score and Willie Nelson's songs. An MCA release of Universal's "Howard the Duck" sees only the start credits shown in widescreen before changing to 4:3 for the rest of the film. For many years this was the only disc-based release of the film, until widescreen DVD formats were released with extras. Also, the 1989 and 1996 LaserDisc releases of "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial" are the only formats to include the cut scene of Harrison Ford, in the role of the school principal, telling off Elliott for letting the frogs free in the biology class.


title: LaserDisc

text: LaserDisc had several advantages over VHS. It featured a far sharper picture with a horizontal resolution of 425 television lines (TVL) for NTSC and 440 TVL for PAL discs, while VHS featured only 240 TVL with NTSC. Super VHS, released in 1987, reduced the quality gap having horizontal luma resolution comparable to LaserDisc, but horizontal chroma resolution of Super VHS remained as low as of standard VHS, about 40 TVL, while LaserDisc offered about 70 TVL of chroma resolution.


title: LaserDisc

text: LaserDisc could handle analog and digital audio where VHS was mostly analog only (VHS can have PCM audio in professional applications but is uncommon), and the NTSC discs could store multiple audio tracks. This allowed for extras such as director's commentary tracks and other features to be added onto a film, creating "Special Edition" releases that would not have been possible with VHS. Disc access was random and chapter based, like the DVD format, meaning that one could jump to any point on a given disc very quickly. By comparison, VHS would require tedious rewinding and fast-forwarding to get to specific points.


title: LaserDisc

text: LaserDiscs were initially cheaper than videocassettes to manufacture, because they lacked the moving parts and plastic outer shell that are necessary for VHS tapes to work, and the duplication process was much simpler. A VHS cassette has at least 14 parts including the actual tape while LaserDisc has one part with five or six layers. A disc can be stamped out in a matter of seconds whereas duplicating videotape required a complex bulk tape duplication mechanism and was a time-consuming process. By the end of the 1980s, average disc-pressing prices were over $5.00 per two-sided disc, due to the large amount of plastic material and the costly glass-mastering process needed to make the metal stamper mechanisms. Due to the larger volume of demand, videocassettes quickly became much cheaper to duplicate, costing as little as $1.00 by the beginning of the 1990s.


title: LaserDisc

text: LaserDiscs potentially had a much longer lifespan than videocassettes. Because the discs were read optically instead of magnetically, no physical contact needs to be made between the player and the disc, except for the player's clamp that holds the disc at its center as it is spun and read. As a result, playback would not wear the information-bearing part of the discs, and properly manufactured LDs would theoretically last beyond a lifetime. By contrast, a VHS tape held all of its picture and sound information on the tape in a magnetic coating which is in contact with the spinning heads on the head drum, causing progressive wear with each use (though later in VHS's lifespan, engineering improvements allowed tapes to be made and played back without contact). The tape was also thin and delicate, and it was easy for a player mechanism, especially on a low quality or malfunctioning model, to mishandle the tape and damage it by creasing it, frilling (stretching) its edges, or even breaking it.


title: LaserDisc

text: By the advent of DVD, LaserDisc had declined considerably in popularity, so the two formats never directly competed with each other.


title: LaserDisc

text: LaserDisc is a composite video format: the luminance (black and white) and chrominance (color) information were transmitted in one signal, separated by the receiver. While good comb filters can do so adequately, these two signals cannot be completely separated. On DVDs, data is stored in the form of digital blocks which make up each independent frame. The signal produced is dependent on the equipment used to master the disc. Signals range from composite and split, to YUV and RGB. Depending upon which format is used, this can result in far higher fidelity, particularly at strong color borders or regions of high detail (especially if there is moderate movement in the picture) and low-contrast details such as skin tones, where comb filters almost inevitably smudge some detail.


title: LaserDisc

text: In contrast to the entirely digital DVD, LaserDiscs use only analog video. As the LaserDisc format is not digitally encoded and does not make use of compression techniques, it is immune to video macroblocking (most visible as blockiness during high motion sequences) or contrast banding (subtle visible lines in gradient areas, such as out-of-focus backgrounds, skies, or light casts from spotlights) that can be caused by the MPEG-2 encoding process as video is prepared for DVD. Early DVD releases held the potential to surpass their LaserDisc counterparts, but often managed only to match them for image quality, and in some cases, the LaserDisc version was preferred. Proprietary human-assisted encoders manually operated by specialists can vastly reduce the incidence of artifacts, depending on playing time and image complexity. By the end of LaserDisc's run, DVDs were living up to their potential as a superior format.


title: LaserDisc

text: DVDs use compressed audio formats such as Dolby Digital and DTS for multichannel sound. Most LaserDiscs were encoded with stereo (often Dolby Surround) CD quality audio 16bit/44.1 kHz tracks as well as analog audio tracks.


title: LaserDisc

text: DTS-encoded LaserDiscs have DTS soundtracks of 1,235 kbit/s instead of the reduced bitrate of 768 kbit/s commonly employed on DVDs with optional DTS audio.


title: LaserDisc

text: LaserDisc players can provide a great degree of control over the playback process. Unlike many DVD players, the transport mechanism always obeys commands from the user: pause, fast-forward, and fast-reverse commands are always accepted (barring, of course, malfunctions). There were no "User Prohibited Options" where content protection code instructs the player to refuse commands to skip a specific part (such as fast forwarding through copyright warnings). (Some DVD players, particularly higher-end units, do have the ability to ignore the blocking code and play the video without restrictions, but this feature is not common in the usual consumer market.)


title: LaserDisc

text: With CAV LaserDiscs, the user can jump directly to any individual frame of a video simply by entering the frame number on the remote keypad, a feature not common among DVD players. Some DVD players have cache features which stores a certain amount of the video in RAM which allows the player to index a DVD as quickly as an LD, even down to the frame in some players.


title: LaserDisc

text: Damaged spots on a LaserDisc can be played through or skipped over, while a DVD will often become unplayable past the damage. Some newer DVD players feature a repair+skip algorithm, which alleviates this problem by continuing to play the disc, filling in unreadable areas of the picture with blank space or a frozen frame of the last readable image and sound. The success of this feature depends upon the amount of damage. LaserDisc players, when working in full analog, recover from such errors faster than DVD players.


title: LaserDisc

text: Similar to the CD versus LP sound quality debates common in the audiophile community, some videophiles argue that LaserDisc maintains a "smoother", more "film-like", natural image while DVD still looks slightly more artificial. Early DVD demo discs often had compression or encoding problems, lending additional support to such claims at the time. The video signal-to-noise ratio and bandwidth of LaserDisc are substantially less than that of DVDs, making DVDs appear sharper and clearer to most viewers.


title: LaserDisc

text: Another advantage, at least to some consumers, was the lack of any sort of anti-piracy technology. It was claimed that Macrovision's Copyguard protection could not be applied to LaserDisc, due to the format's design. The vertical blanking interval, where the Macrovision signal would be implemented, was also used for timecode and/or frame coding as well as player control codes on LaserDisc players, so test discs with Macrovision would not play at all. There was never a push to redesign the format despite the obvious potential for piracy due to its relatively small market share. The industry simply decided to engineer it into the DVD specification.


title: LaserDisc

text: LaserDisc's support for multiple audio tracks allowed for vast supplemental materials to be included on-disc and made it the first available format for "Special Edition" releases; the 1984 Criterion Collection edition of "Citizen Kane" is generally credited as being the first "Special Edition" release to home video ("King Kong" being the first release to have an audio commentary track included), and for setting the standard by which future SE discs were measured. The disc provided interviews, commentary tracks, documentaries, still photographs, and other features for historians and collectors.


title: LaserDisc

text: Despite the advantages over competing technology at the time (namely VHS and Betamax), the discs are heavy—weighing about each—and cumbersome, were more prone than a VHS tape to damage if mishandled, and manufacturers did not market LD units with recording capabilities to consumers. Also, because of their size, greater mechanical effort was required to spin the discs at the proper speed, resulting in much more noise generated than other media.


title: LaserDisc

text: The space-consuming analog video signal of a LaserDisc limited playback duration to 30/36 minutes (CAV NTSC/PAL) or 60/64 minutes (CLV NTSC/PAL) per side, because of the hardware manufacturer's refusal to reduce line count and bandwidth for increased playtime, (as is done in VHS; VHS tapes have a 3 MHz video bandwidth, while LaserDisc preserves the full 6 MHz bandwidth and resolution used in NTSC broadcasts). After one side was finished playing, a disc has to be flipped over to continue watching a movie, and some titles fill two or more discs, depending on the film's runtime and whether or not special features are included. Many players, especially units built after the mid-1980s, can "flip" discs automatically by rotating the optical pickup to the other side of the disc, but this is accompanied by a pause in the movie during the side change.


title: LaserDisc

text: In the event the movie is longer than what could be stored on two sides of a single disc, manually swapping to a second disc is required at some point during the film (one exception to this rule is the Pioneer LD-W1, which features the ability to load two discs and to play each side of one disc and then to switch to playing each side of the other disc). In addition, perfect still frames and random access to individual still frames is limited only to the more expensive CAV discs, which only had a playing time of approximately 30 minutes per side. In later years, Pioneer and other manufacturers overcame this limitation by incorporating a digital memory buffer, which "grabbed" a single field or frame from a CLV disc.


title: LaserDisc

text: The analog information encoded on LaserDiscs also does not include any form of built-in checksum or error correction. Because of this, slight dust and scratches on the disc surface can result in read-errors which cause various video quality problems: glitches, streaks, bursts of static, or momentary picture interruptions. In contrast, the digital MPEG-2 format information used on DVDs has built-in error correction which ensures that the signal from a damaged disc will remain identical to that from a perfect disc right up until the damage to the disc surface prevents the laser from being able to identify usable data.


title: LaserDisc

text: In addition, LaserDisc videos sometimes exhibit a problem known as "crosstalk". The issue can arise when the laser optical pickup assembly within the player is out of alignment or because the disc is damaged and/or excessively warped, but it could also occur even with a properly functioning player and a factory-new disc, depending on electrical and mechanical alignment problems. In these instances, the issue arose due to the fact that CLV discs require subtle changes in rotating speed at various points during playback. During a change in speed, the optical pickup inside the player might read video information from a track adjacent to the intended one, causing data from the two tracks to "cross"; the extra video information picked up from that second track shows up as distortion in the picture which looks reminiscent of swirling "barber poles" or rolling lines of static.


title: LaserDisc

text: Assuming the player's optical pickup is in proper working order, crosstalk distortion normally does not occur during playback of CAV format LaserDiscs, as the rotational speed never varies. If the player calibration is out of order or if the CAV disc is faulty or damaged, other problems affecting tracking accuracy can occur. One such problem is "laser lock", where the player reads the same two fields for a given frame over and over, causing the picture to look frozen as if the movie were paused.


title: LaserDisc

text: Another significant issue unique to LaserDisc is one involving the inconsistency of playback quality between different makers and models of player. On the majority of televisions, a given DVD player will produce a picture that is visually indistinguishable from other units; differences in image quality between players only becomes easily apparent on larger televisions, and substantial leaps in image quality are generally only obtained with expensive, high-end players that allow for post-processing of the MPEG-2 stream during playback.


title: LaserDisc

text: In contrast, LaserDisc playback quality is highly dependent on hardware quality, and major variances in picture quality appear between different makers and models of LD players, even when tested on a low to mid-range television. The obvious benefits of using high quality equipment has helped keep demand for some players high, thus also keeping pricing for those units comparably high: in the 1990s, notable players sold for anywhere from US$200 to well over $1,000, while older and less desirable players could be purchased in working condition for as little as $25.


title: LaserDisc

text: Many early LDs were not manufactured properly; the adhesive used contained impurities that were able to penetrate the lacquer seal layer and chemically attack the metallized reflective aluminum layer, altering its reflective characteristics which, in turn, deteriorated the recorded signal. This was a problem that was termed "laser rot" among LD enthusiasts (also called "color flash" internally by LaserDisc pressing plants). Some forms of laser rot could appear as black spots that looked like mold or burned plastic which cause the disc to skip and the movie to exhibit excessive speckling noise. But, for the most part, rotted discs could actually appear perfectly fine to the naked eye.


title: LaserDisc

text: Later optical standards have also been known to suffer similar problems, including a notorious batch of defective CDs manufactured by Philips-DuPont Optical at their Blackburn, Lancashire facility in England during the late 1980s/early 1990s.


title: LaserDisc

text: LaserDisc did not have high market penetration in North America due to the high cost of the players and discs, which were far more expensive than VHS players and tapes, and due to marketplace confusion with the technologically inferior CED, which also went by the name Videodisc. While the format was not widely adopted by North American consumers, it was well received among videophiles due to the superior audio and video quality compared to VHS and Betamax tapes, finding a place in nearly one million American homes by the end of 1990. The format was more popular in Japan than in North America because prices were kept low to ensure adoption, resulting in minimal price differences between VHS tapes and the higher quality LaserDiscs, helping ensure that it quickly became the dominant consumer video format in Japan. Anime collectors in every country in which the LD format was released, which included both North America and Japan, also quickly became familiar with this format, and sought the higher video and sound quality of LaserDisc and the availability of numerous titles not available on VHS (encouraged by Pioneer's in-house production of anime which made titles specifically with the format in mind). LaserDiscs were also popular alternatives to videocassettes among movie enthusiasts in the more affluent regions of South East Asia, such as Singapore, due to their high integration with the Japanese export market and the disc-based media's superior longevity compared to videocassette, especially in the humid conditions endemic to that area of the world.


title: LaserDisc

text: The format also became quite popular in Hong Kong during the 1990s before the introduction of VCDs and DVD; although people rarely bought the discs (because each LD was priced around US$100), high rental activity helped the video rental business in the city grow larger than it had ever been previously. Due to integration with the Japanese export market, NTSC LaserDiscs were used in the Hong Kong market, in contrast to the PAL standard used for broadcast (this anomaly also exists for DVD). This created a market for multi-system TVs and multi-system VCRs which could display or play both PAL and NTSC materials in addition to SECAM materials (which were never popular in Hong Kong). Some LD players could convert NTSC signals to PAL so that most TVs used in Hong Kong could display the LD materials.


title: LaserDisc

text: Despite the relative popularity, manufacturers refused to market recordable LaserDisc devices on the consumer market, even though the competing VCR devices could record onto cassette, which hurt sales worldwide. The inconvenient disc size, the high cost of both the players and the media and the inability to record onto the discs combined to take a serious toll on sales, and contributed to the format's poor adoption figures.


title: LaserDisc

text: Although the LaserDisc format was supplanted by DVD by the late 1990s, many LD titles are still highly coveted by movie enthusiasts (for example, Disney's "Song of the South" which is unavailable in the US in any format, but was issued in Japan on LD.). This is largely because there are many films that are still only available on LD and many other LD releases contain supplementary material not available on subsequent DVD versions of those films. Until the end of 2001, many titles were released on VHS, LD and DVD in Japan.


title: LaserDisc

text: In the early 1980s, Philips produced a LaserDisc player model adapted for a computer interface, dubbed "professional." In 1985, Jasmine Multimedia created LaserDisc jukeboxes featuring music videos from Michael Jackson, Duran Duran, and Cyndi Lauper. When connected to a PC this combination could be used to display images or information for educational or archival purposes, for example thousands of scanned medieval manuscripts. This strange device could be considered a very early equivalent of a CD-ROM.


title: LaserDisc

text: In the mid-1980s Lucasfilm pioneered the EditDroid non-linear editing system for film and television based on computer-controlled LaserDisc players. Instead of printing dailies out on film, processed negatives from the day's shoot would be sent to a mastering plant to be assembled from their 10-minute camera elements into 20-minute film segments. These were then mastered onto single-sided blank LaserDiscs, just as a DVD would be burnt at home today, allowing for much easier selection and preparation of an edit decision list (EDL). In the days before video assist was available in cinematography, this was the only other way a film crew could see their work. The EDL went to the negative cutter who then cut the camera negative accordingly and assembled the finished film. Only 24 EditDroid systems were ever built, even though the ideas and technology are still in use today. Later EditDroid experiments borrowed from hard-drive technology of having multiple discs on the same spindle and added numerous playback heads and numerous electronics to the basic jukebox design so that any point on each of the discs would be accessible within seconds. This eliminated the need for racks and racks of industrial LaserDisc players since EditDroid discs were only single-sided.


title: LaserDisc

text: In 1986, a SCSI-equipped LaserDisc player attached to a BBC Master computer was used for the BBC Domesday Project. The player was referred as an LV-ROM (LaserVision Read Only Memory) as the discs contained the driving software as well as the video frames. The discs used the CAV format, and encoded data as a binary signal represented by the analog audio recording. These discs could contain in each CAV frame video/audio or video/binary data, but not both. "Data" frames would appear blank when played as video. It was typical for each disc to start with the disc catalog (a few blank frames) then the video introduction before the rest of the data. Because the format (based on the ADFS hard disc format) used a starting sector for each file, the data layout effectively skipped over any video frames. If all 54,000 frames are used for data storage an LV-ROM disc can contain 324 MB of data per side. The Domesday Project systems also included a genlock, allowing video frames, clips and audio to be mixed with graphics originated from the BBC Master; this was used to great effect for displaying high resolution photographs and maps, which could then be zoomed into.


title: LaserDisc

text: During the 1980s in the United States, Digital Equipment Corporation developed the standalone PC control IVIS (Interactive VideoDisc Information System) for training and education. One of the most influential programs developed at DEC was Decision Point, a management gaming simulation, which won the Nebraska Video Disc Award for Best of Show in 1985.


title: LaserDisc

text: Apple's HyperCard scripting language provided Macintosh computer users with a means to design databases of slides, animation, video and sounds from LaserDiscs and then to create interfaces for users to play specific content from the disc through software called LaserStacks. User-created "stacks" were shared and were especially popular in education where teacher-generated stacks were used to access discs ranging from art collections to basic biological processes. Commercially available stacks were also popular with the Voyager company being possibly the most successful distributor.


title: LaserDisc

text: Commodore International's 1992 multimedia presentation system for the Amiga, AmigaVision, included device drivers for controlling a number of LaserDisc players through a serial port. Coupled with the Amiga's ability to use a Genlock, this allowed for the LaserDisc video to be overlaid with computer graphics and integrated into presentations and multimedia displays, years before such practice was commonplace.


title: LaserDisc

text: Pioneer also made computer-controlled units such as the LD-V2000. It had a back-panel RS-232 serial connection through a five-pin DIN connector, and no front-panel controls except "Open/Close". (The disc would be played automatically upon insertion.)


title: LaserDisc

text: Under contract from the U.S. military, Matrox produced a combination computer/LaserDisc player for instructional purposes. The computer was a 286, the LaserDisc player only capable of reading the analog audio tracks. Together they weighed and sturdy handles were provided in case two people were required to lift the unit. The computer controlled the player via a 25-pin serial port at the back of the player and a ribbon cable connected to a proprietary port on the motherboard. Many of these were sold as surplus by the military during the 1990s, often without the controller software. Nevertheless, it is possible to control the unit by removing the ribbon cable and connecting a serial cable directly from the computer's serial port to the port on the LaserDisc player.


title: LaserDisc

text: The format's instant-access capability made it possible for a new breed of LaserDisc-based video arcade games and several companies saw potential in using LaserDiscs for video games in the 1980s and 1990s, beginning in 1983 with Sega's "Astron Belt". Cinematronics and American Laser Games produced elaborate arcade games that used the random-access features to create interactive movies such as "Dragon's Lair" and "Space Ace". Similarly, the Pioneer Laseractive and Halcyon were introduced as home video game consoles that used LaserDisc media for their software.


title: LaserDisc

text: In 1991, several manufacturers announced specifications for what would become known as MUSE LaserDisc, representing a span of almost 15 years until the feats of this HD analog optical disc system would finally be duplicated digitally by HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc. Encoded using NHK's MUSE "Hi-Vision" analogue HDTV system, MUSE discs would operate like standard LaserDiscs but would contain high-definition 1,125-line (1,035 visible lines; Sony HDVS) video with a 5:3 aspect ratio. The MUSE players were also capable of playing standard NTSC format discs and are superior in performance to non-MUSE players even with these NTSC discs. The MUSE-capable players had several noteworthy advantages over standard LaserDisc players, including a red laser with a much narrower wavelength than the lasers found in standard players. The red laser was capable of reading through disc defects such as scratches and even mild disc rot that would cause most other players to stop, stutter or drop-out. Crosstalk was not an issue with MUSE discs, and the narrow wavelength of the laser allowed for the virtual elimination of crosstalk with normal discs.


title: LaserDisc

text: To view MUSE encoded discs, it was necessary to have a MUSE decoder in addition to a compatible player. There are televisions with MUSE decoding built-in and set top tuners with decoders that can provide the proper MUSE input. Equipment prices were high, especially for early HDTVs which generally eclipsed US$10,000, and even in Japan the market for MUSE was tiny. Players and discs were never officially sold in North America, although several distributors imported MUSE discs along with other import titles. "", "Lawrence of Arabia", "A League of Their Own", "Bugsy", "Close Encounters of the Third Kind", "Bram Stoker's Dracula" and "Chaplin" were among the theatrical releases available on MUSE LDs. Several documentaries, including one about Formula One at Japan's Suzuka Circuit were also released.


title: LaserDisc

text: LaserDisc players and LaserDiscs that worked with the competing European HD-MAC HDTV standard were also made.


title: LaserDisc

text: Picture discs have artistic etching on one side of the disc to make the disc more visually attractive than the standard shiny silver surface. This etching might look like a movie character, logo, or other promotional material. Sometimes that side of the LD would be made with colored plastic, rather than the clear material used for the data side. Picture disc LDs only had video material on one side as the "picture" side could not contain any data. Picture discs are rare in North America.


title: LaserDisc

text: Pioneer Electronics—one of the format's largest supporters/investors—was also deeply involved in the karaoke business in Japan, and used LaserDiscs as the storage medium for music and additional content such as graphics. This format was generally called LD-G. While several other karaoke labels manufactured LaserDiscs, there was nothing like the breadth of competition in that industry that exists now, as almost all manufacturers have transitioned to CD+G discs.


title: LaserDisc

text: With the release of televisions in the early 1990s, Pioneer and Toshiba decided that it was time to take advantage of this aspect ratio. Squeeze LDs were enhanced 16:9-ratio widescreen LaserDiscs. During the video transfer stage, the movie was stored in an anamorphic "squeezed" format. The widescreen movie image was stretched to fill the entire video frame with less or none of the video resolution wasted to create letterbox bars. The advantage was a 33% greater vertical resolution compared to letterboxed widescreen LaserDisc. This same procedure was used for anamorphic DVDs, but unlike all DVD players, very few LD players had the ability to unsqueeze the image for sets, If the discs were played on a standard 4:3 television the image would be distorted. Some 4:3 sets (such as the Sony WEGA series) could be set to unsqueeze the image. Since very few people outside of Japan owned 16:9 displays, the marketability of these special discs was very limited.


title: LaserDisc

text: There were no anamorphic LaserDisc titles available in the US except for promotional purposes. Upon purchase of a Toshiba 16:9 television viewers had the option of selecting a number of Warner Bros. 16:9 films. Titles include "Unforgiven", "Grumpy Old Men", "The Fugitive", and "Free Willy". The Japanese lineup of titles was different. A series of releases under the banner "Squeeze LD" from Pioneer of mostly Carolco titles included "Basic Instinct", "Stargate", "", "Showgirls", "Cutthroat Island", and "Cliffhanger". "Terminator 2" was released twice in Squeeze LD, the second release being THX certified and a notable improvement over the first.


title: LaserDisc

text: Another type of video media, "CRVdisc", or "Component Recordable Video Disc" were available for a short time, mostly to professionals. Developed by Sony, CRVdiscs resemble early PC CD-ROM caddies with a disc inside resembling a full-sized LD. CRVdiscs were blank, write-once, read-many media that can be recorded once on each side. CRVdiscs were used largely for backup storage in professional and commercial applications.


title: LaserDisc

text: Another form of recordable LaserDisc that is completely playback-compatible with the LaserDisc format (unlike CRVdisc with its caddy enclosure) is the "RLV", or "Recordable Laser Videodisc". It was developed and first marketed by the Optical Disc Corporation (ODC, now ODC Nimbus) in 1984. RLV discs, like CRVdisc, are also a WORM technology, and function exactly like a CD-R disc. RLV discs look almost exactly like standard LaserDiscs, and can play in any standard LaserDisc player after they have been recorded.


title: LaserDisc

text: The only cosmetic difference between an RLV disc and a regular factory-pressed LaserDiscs is their reflective Red (showing up in photos as a purple-violet or blue with some RLV discs) color resulting from the dye embedded in the reflective layer of the disc to make it recordable, as opposed to the silver mirror appearance of regular LDs. The reddish color of RLVs is very similar to DVD-R and DVD+R discs. RLVs were popular for making short-run quantities of LaserDiscs for specialized applications such as interactive kiosks and flight simulators. Another, 'single sided' form of RLV exists with the silver side being covered in small bumps. Blank RLV discs show a standard Test Card when played in a Laserdisc player.


title: LaserDisc

text: Pioneer also produced a rewritable LaserDisc system, the VDR-V1000 "LaserRecorder" for which the discs had a claimed erase/record potential of 1,000,000 cycles.


title: LaserDisc

text: These recordable LD systems were never marketed toward the general public, and are so unknown as to create the misconception that home recording for LaserDiscs was impossible and thus a perceived "weakness" of the LaserDisc format.


title: LaserDisc

text: The most common size of LaserDisc was , approximately the size of LP vinyl records. These discs allowed for 30/36 minutes per side (CAV NTSC/PAL) or 60/64 minutes per side (CLV NTSC/PAL). The vast majority of programming for the LaserDisc format was produced on these discs.


title: LaserDisc

text: A number of LaserDiscs were also published. These smaller "EP"-sized LDs allowed for 20 minutes per side (CLV). They are much rarer than the full-size LDs, especially in North America, and roughly approximate the size of 45rpm () vinyl singles. These discs were often used for music video compilations (e.g. Bon Jovi's "Breakout", Bananarama's "Video Singles" or T'Pau's "View from a Bridge"), as well as Japanese karaoke machines.


title: LaserDisc

text: There were also (CD size) "single"-style discs produced that were playable on LaserDisc players. These were referred to as CD Video (CD-V) discs, and Video Single Discs (VSD).


title: LaserDisc

text: CD-V was a hybrid format launched in the late 1980s, and carried up to five minutes of analog LaserDisc-type video content with a digital soundtrack (usually a music video), plus up to 20 minutes of digital audio CD tracks. The original 1989 release of David Bowie's retrospective "Sound + Vision" CD box set prominently featured a CD-V video of "Ashes to Ashes", and standalone promo CD-Vs featured the video, plus three audio tracks: "John, I'm Only Dancing", "Changes", and "The Supermen".


title: LaserDisc

text: Despite the similar name, CD Video is entirely incompatible with the later all-digital Video CD (VCD) format, and can only be played back on LaserDisc players with CD-V capability or one of the players dedicated to the smaller discs. CD-Vs were somewhat popular for a brief time worldwide but soon faded from view.


title: LaserDisc

text: In Europe, Philips also used the "CD Video" name as part of a short-lived attempt in the late 1980s to relaunch and rebrand the entire LaserDisc system. Some 20 and 30 cm discs were also branded "CD Video", but unlike the 12 cm discs, these were essentially just standard LaserDiscs with digital soundtracks and no audio-only CD content.


title: LaserDisc

text: The VSD format was announced in 1990, and was essentially the same as the 12 cm CD-V, but without the audio CD tracks, and intended to sell at a lower price. VSDs were popular only in Japan and other parts of Asia and were never fully introduced to the rest of the world.


title: Toxic (song)

text: "Toxic" is a song recorded by American singer Britney Spears for her fourth studio album, "In the Zone" (2003). It was written and produced by Bloodshy & Avant, with additional writing from Cathy Dennis and Henrik Jonback. Released as the second single from "In the Zone", the song was initially offered to Kylie Minogue for her album "Body Language", but she turned it down. After trying to choose between "(I Got That) Boom Boom" and "Outrageous" to be the second single, Spears selected "Toxic" instead. A dance-pop and techno-pop song with elements of bhangra music, "Toxic" features varied instrumentation, such as drums, synthesizers and surf guitar. It is accompanied by breathy vocals and high-pitched Bollywood strings, sampled from Laxmikant–Pyarelal's "Tere Mere Beech Mein" (1981). Its lyrics draw an extended metaphor of a lover as a dangerous and addictive drug.


title: Toxic (song)

text: "Toxic" received widespread acclaim from music critics, who praised its hook and chorus with many deeming it among the highlights of the album. It won Best Dance Recording at the 47th Annual Grammy Awards, marking the first Grammy win of Spears' career. The song was a worldwide success, topping the charts in ten countries including Australia, Canada, Hungary, Ireland, Norway and the United Kingdom, and reached the top five in fifteen countries. In the United States, it became her fourth top-ten single, peaking at number nine. The accompanying music video for "Toxic" was directed by Joseph Kahn and includes references to "Blade Runner", "The Seven Year Itch" and John Woo films. It features Spears as a secret agent in search of a vial of green liquid. After she steals it, she enters an apartment and poisons her boyfriend. The video also includes interspersed scenes of Spears naked with diamonds on her body, which as a result of the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show controversy, was deemed too racy for MTV and was moved to late-night programming.


title: Toxic (song)

text: Spears has performed "Toxic" in live appearances, including the 2004 NRJ Music Awards and three of her concert tours. It was the opening number of the Onyx Hotel Tour (2004), where she sang atop a bus wearing a black catsuit; Spears also performed remixed versions of "Toxic" at the Circus Starring Britney Spears (2009), the Femme Fatale Tour (2011) and (2013). "Toxic" has been covered by artists such as Mark Ronson, A Static Lullaby, Reece Mastin and Ingrid Michaelson, and in the TV series "Glee". It has also featured in films such as "Knocked Up", "You Again" and " Pitch Perfect 3", and TV series "Doctor Who" and "Chuck". Since its release "Toxic" has become one of Spears' signature songs and is widely cited among the most influential and innovative songs in pop music history. The song has been included in multiple all-time lists of best songs, including by "Pitchfork", "NME" and, in 2021, was ranked among "Rolling Stone"s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.


title: Toxic (song)

text: "Toxic" was written by Cathy Dennis, Henrik Jonback, Christian Karlsson, and Pontus Winnberg from production team Bloodshy & Avant, while produced by the latter two. The song was written with Janet Jackson in mind, but was initially offered to Kylie Minogue for recording, who turned it down and it eventually was recorded by Spears. "Toxic" was recorded at Murlyn Studios in Stockholm, Sweden, and Record Plant in Los Angeles. The song was later mixed by Niklas Flyckt at Khabang Studios in Stockholm; he won the 2004 Grammy for Best Dance Recording.


title: Toxic (song)

text: In December 2003, it was announced by MTV News that after trying to choose between "(I Got That) Boom Boom" and "Outrageous" to be the second single from "In the Zone", Spears had selected "Toxic" instead. She described it as "an upbeat song. It's really different, that's why I like it so much."


title: Toxic (song)

text: "Toxic" is a classic dance-pop and techno-pop song, featuring elements of bhangra music. It features varied instrumentation, such as drums, synthesizers, violins, and high-pitched strings. It also contains surf guitar, that according to Caryn Ganz of "Spin", "warps and struts like it's been fed into "The Matrix"." The music was also compared to the soundtracks of the "James Bond" film series. The hook of "Toxic" samples a portion of "Tere Mere Beech Mein", from the soundtrack of the 1981 Bollywood film "Ek Duuje Ke Liye". However, it is not lifted verbatim from the score and mixes two different sections of the piece for the introduction section; later in the song, the cut-up sample is dropped in favor of a re-recorded string arrangement to improve the quality of the melody as evidenced by the multitrack recordings available on the internet. Spears' vocals on the song are breathy. Some of the refrains were inspired by pieces of classical music, such as "Flight of the Bumblebee", "Eine kleine Nachtmusik", and "Dumky Trio". "NME" described the song as presenting "piercing strings, hip-hop beats, eastern flavour and a dangerous escapade with temptation."


title: Toxic (song)

text: According to the sheet music published at MusicNotes, "Toxic" is composed in the key of C minor, with a tempo of 143 beats per minute. Spears's vocal range spans from the low note of F to the high note of G. Lyrically, "Toxic" talks about being addicted to a lover. Spears refers to her addiction in the lyrics and sings lines such as "Too high / Can't come down / Losing my head / Spinning round and round" in a falsetto. A reviewer from Popdust called the verse "The most representative lyric of the song's delirious, disorienting charm." "Toxic" ends with an outro in which Spears sings the lines, "Intoxicate me now / With your lovin' now / I think I'm ready now." Nick Southall of "Stylus Magazine" said the lyrics made Spears sound afraid of sex.


title: Toxic (song)

text: "Toxic" has been met with widespread acclaim from music critics. Heather Richels of "The Paly Voice" complimented its hook and catchiness while deeming it the most appealing song on "In the Zone". While reviewing The Onyx Hotel Tour, Pamela Sitt of "The Seattle Times" called it the album's strongest single. Eric Olsen of "Today" stated the song could be the biggest hit off of its parent album while calling it "powerfully addicting." Caryn Ganz of "Spin" commented, "Spears hits pay dirt on 'Toxic'". Christy Lemire of Associated Press stated it was one of Spears' greatest hits and deemed it "insanely catchy", remarking that the chorus alone "makes you want to forgive the "Alias" wannabe video that accompanies the song." Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic called it along with "Showdown", "irresistible ear candy in what is surely Britney's most ambitious, adventurous album to date". In a separate review of Spears' greatest hits album "" (2004), Erlewine selected it as one of the "track picks" and described it as "a delirious, intoxicating rush". Jeffrey Epstein of "Out" compared the innovative sound of "Toxic" to Madonna's "Vogue".


title: Toxic (song)

text: Sal Cinquemani of "Slant Magazine" said that "Toxic" and "(I Got That) Boom Boom", "find Britney dabbling in hip-hop, but it's clear her heart lies in the clubs." Jamie Gill of Yahoo! Music Radio commented, "In the name of fairness, it will be noted that 'Toxic' and 'Showdown' could well have been good pop songs in the hands of any other singer than Spears." Joan Anderman of "The Boston Globe" named it "a well-titled cascade of frantic, mechanized glissandos and dreadful canned strings that buries the album's coolest (only?) chorus under a joyless mass". The song was ranked at number five in the 2004 Pazz & Jop poll by "The Village Voice". "Toxic" was nominated for Best Song at the 2004 MTV Europe Music Awards, but lost to Outkast's "Hey Ya!". However, it won Best Dance Recording at the 2004 Grammy Awards, making it her first-ever won Grammy. It won Best Single at the 2004 Teen Choice Awards. Pitchfork listed the song at number three on their Top 50 Singles of 2004 list. Rob Mitchum commented that Spears "finally, she just acted like an adult, rather than constantly reminding us she wasn't a girl anymore."


title: Toxic (song)

text: "Toxic" entered at number 53 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 on the issue dated January 31, 2004. It became the week's "Highest Debut". On March 27, 2004, it peaked at number nine; it was her fourth single to reach the top-ten and became her first single to reach the top ten since "Oops!... I Did It Again" in 2000. "Toxic" also topped both the Pop Songs and Hot Dance Club Songs charts. On October 25, 2004, the song was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for sales of 500,000 copies. As of March 2015, "Toxic" has sold 2.2 million digital downloads in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. It is her fifth best-selling digital single in the country. The song also topped the Canadian Singles Chart. "Toxic" debuted at the top of the Australian charts on March 15, 2004, and stayed in the position for two weeks. The song received a gold certification by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) for shipments over 35,000 units.


title: Toxic (song)

text: In New Zealand, "Toxic" debuted at number 38 on the issue dated February 16, 2004, and peaked at number two on March 29, 2004. It stayed at the position the following week, held off from the top spot by Eamon's "Fuck It (I Don't Want You Back)". On March 7, 2004, "Toxic" debuted at number one on the UK Singles Chart for the week ending date March 13, 2004, becoming her fourth number-one hit in the United Kingdom. In April 2004, it was certified silver by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), with sales over 200,000 copies. According to the Official Charts Company, the song has sold 426,000 copies there. "Toxic" also peaked inside the top-ten in every country it charted. The song topped the charts in Hungary and Norway; reached the top five in Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Portugal, Italy, France, Sweden and Switzerland; and the top ten in Belgium (Flanders and Wallonia), Finland, and the Netherlands. "Toxic" is Spears' most streamed single in the US, with over 448 million streams as of June 2020.


title: Toxic (song)

text: The music video for "Toxic" was filmed on a soundstage in Los Angeles. It was directed by Joseph Kahn, who had previously worked with Spears on the music video for her 2000 single "Stronger". The editor of the video was David Blackburn, who also edited "Womanizer" and "Do Somethin'. Brad Rushing was the cinematographer. Spears first approached Kahn with a story sketch of a secret agent out for revenge against an ex-lover, for which Kahn created a treatment. Her concept was almost fully formed and detailed, including for example the scene in which she drops a drink on the passenger's lap. Spears said she wanted to join the mile high club and be a stewardess that kissed a man in the bathroom. Kahn suggested making him a fat man, so the "common man" would feel represented. Spears also told him about a scene in which she would be naked and covered in diamonds. Kahn stated he was "not sure what I was thinking about when she told me about that scene, maybe those intros to James Bond movies, but every video needs an iconic image to remember, and that's it." The choreography was a collaboration between Brian Friedman and Spears, and every scene had a completely different, strictly structured routine. After the treatment was finished, Kahn proceeded to cast his friends and acquaintances, as in most of his projects. The plane passenger on whom Spears drops a drink was played by his longtime casting director, while the fat man in the bathroom was played by the casting director's assistant. Spears's ex-boyfriend is played by Martin Henderson, who starred in Kahn's directorial debut "Torque".


title: Toxic (song)

text: For the naked scenes, Spears cleared the set, leaving only Kahn, Blackburn, and Rushing with her to shoot the sequence. Spears also shot scenes in which she had to dance through a hallway of imaginary lasers in front of a green screen, something that Kahn deemed as "incredible to watch". The last few scenes of the video in which Spears murders her boyfriend, concerned Kahn, who thought they would be censored. He explained, "the trick was to make it look pop at the same time" and told Henderson, "Would you like to be kissed by Britney Spears?". According to Kahn, the hint of a smile that appears on Henderson's face before Spears pours the poison into his mouth was what managed to get the shot past the censors. Although Spears was at first going to be involved in the editing process with Blackburn, she did not contact Kahn after the media scandal over her wedding in Las Vegas. "Toxic" was Spears's most expensive music video to that point, at the cost of $1 million. The music video premiered exclusively on MTV's "Making the Video" on January 13, 2004. The following day, Spears appeared on "TRL" to premiere it on regular rotation. The video was first released on the "" video album. An alternate karaoke version featuring the diamonds scene was released on the .


title: Toxic (song)

text: The music video begins with an open shot of an airplane flying and preceded by three menacing dark birds, referencing the works of Hong Kong director John Woo. Spears appears with blonde hair dressed as a flight attendant, lifting the in-flight intercom as if on a phone call. After serving some of the passengers, she "accidentally" spills a drink into the lap of a seated male passenger; later beckoning a middle-aged, overweight, bespectacled male passenger to the bathroom where she seduces him. She peels off the man's mask to reveal an attractive man (Matthew Felker) underneath it and steals a black pass from his pocket as they passionately kiss. Spears then appears, completely re-dressed and with red hair, standing in a futuristic Paris, similar to the 1982 film "Blade Runner", and takes a ride on the back of a Ducati 999, driven by a shirtless male (Tyson Beckford). She wears a tight black catsuit and sports red hair, inspired by the character of Sydney Bristow from the television series "Alias". As they speed past a woman, the draft from the motorcycle lifts up her dress, an homage to the iconic Marilyn Monroe scene in the 1955 film "The Seven Year Itch". They also pass two women, erotically frolicking in a store window.


title: Toxic (song)

text: The action narrative is repeatedly intercut with scenes of Spears, on all fours on the floor, wearing a sheer bodysuit covered in diamonds. The look was compared to that of Kate Bush in the music video for her 1978 single, "The Man with the Child in His Eyes". Spears then enters Toxic Industries and gains access to a vault from which she steals a vial of green poison. As she leaves, she accidentally triggers a ""-style laser trap, which she evades with elaborate dance moves, including a back handspring. Scenes are intercut of Spears' ex-boyfriend (Henderson) making out with another woman in the shower. Spears, now dressed as a black-haired super-heroine, scales a building and enters an apartment, where her ex-boyfriend is waiting for his lover who is in the shower. She pummels him to the floor and kisses him just before pouring the poison into his mouth, killing him. Spears kisses him again and flies from the window balcony. She appears back on the plane as the flight attendant and winks to the camera. The video closes with a shot of the airplane flying off, through clouds, towards the sun, followed by five menacing screeching blackbirds, as seen at the beginning.


title: Toxic (song)

text: Jennifer Vineyard of "MTV" compared the video to Justin Timberlake's "Cry Me a River", saying that "Where her real-life ex just stalked his cheating lover in his clip, [...] Spears takes a more lethal approach." On February 10, 2004, MTV announced that due to the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show controversy in which Janet Jackson's breast was exposed on live television, "Toxic" along with other five music videos would be moved from daytime to late-night programming from 10 p.m. until 6 a.m. A spokeswoman for MTV announced that "given the particular sensitivity in the culture right now, we're erring on the side of caution for the immediate future." The video was nominated at the 2004 MuchMusic Video Awards in the category of Best International Artist Video, but lost to Beyoncé's "Crazy in Love". It was also nominated for four VMAs at the 2004 awards in the categories of Best Female Video, Best Dance Video, Best Pop Video and Video of the Year, but lost all of them (Rumors spread on internet forums claiming the other winners were rigged due to her non-presence that year). Corey Moss of MTV said that Spears "remains the Susan Lucci of the VMAs." Visual effects supervisors Chris Watts and Bert Yukich won the category of Outstanding Visual Effects in a Music Video at the 3rd Annual Visual Effects Society Awards.


title: Toxic (song)

text: In September 2009, the music video for "Toxic" was voted by users of the music video website MUZU TV as the sexiest music video. The video was also used on "Life Is Pornography", a 2005 video art by Jubal Brown. Amy Schriefer of NPR noted that in the video, Spears was no longer trying to break away from her 1990s teen pop image and style; she was comfortable and having fun, not trying to generate any type of calculated controversy. The anime music video for Spears's single "Break the Ice" (2008) was based on the secret agent character of "Toxic". The video for "Womanizer" (2008) was created by Spears as a sequel to "Toxic". In the 2010 "Glee" episode "Britney/Brittany", the character of Brittany Pierce danced in a diamond suit during a cover of "I'm a Slave 4 U". In a 2011 poll by "Billboard", the song's music video was voted the second-best music video of the 2000s, behind only Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance" (2009). Jillian Mapes of "Billboard" wrote that Spears "proved that she comes in every flavor [...] But the one role that stays constant through the dance-heavy clip: Sultry maneater." Taylor Swift's "Bad Blood" music video pays homage to the red-haired look Spears sports in the "Toxic" music video. Many comparisons were made about the similarities.


title: Toxic (song)

text: Her song "Toxic" is still widely credited for changing the face of dance-pop in the 2000s. It introduced an influx of electro-pop into the modern market, providing the blueprint for various smash hits. As of April , the music video of "Toxic" has over 550 million views on YouTube.


title: Toxic (song)

text: "Toxic" was performed by Spears at "Britney Spears: In the Zone", a concert special that aired in ABC on November 17, 2003. She also performed "Toxic" as the headliner of the Jingle Ball on December 8, 2003, at Staples Center. It was the opening number of her set, and Spears appeared wearing a black top and a white fur cape. While the choreography was deemed as "erotic", Corey Moss of MTV commented that some of the effect was lost due to Spears's lip-synching and a stagehand fixing a prop during the song. On January 24, 2004, Spears opened the 2004 NRJ Music Awards with a performance of "Toxic". During the ceremony, she also presented the NRJ Award of Honor for the Career to Madonna. Spears performed "Toxic" as the opening number of 2004's the Onyx Hotel Tour. Previous to the beginning of the tour, she deemed it as the song she was most excited to perform, along with "Everytime". After an introduction in which she briefly appeared on a large video screen, Spears took the stage standing on top of a hotel bus, wearing a tight black catsuit. She was surrounded by dancers dressed as employees and columns of LED lighting, suggesting the façade of a glitzy hotel on the Vegas Strip. MTV UK commented, "OK, so she doesn't so much sing than mime along with Toxic, [...] But what do you expect when she's simultaneously performing a vigorous dance routine, ascending moving staircases and descending fireman poles?".


title: Toxic (song)

text: "Toxic" was also performed as the last song of the concert during the M+M's Tour. After "Do Somethin'", in which Spears wore a hot pink bra, a white fur coat, and a jean skirt, she ended the set with "Toxic", with four female dancers in a Shakira-like style. Following the performance, she thanked the audience and introduced her dancers. "Toxic" was also performed at 2009's the Circus Starring Britney Spears. Following an interlude in which the dancers showcased their individual moves, the stage was lit with green sci-fi effects, and Spears appeared over moving jungle gyms. Jerry Shriver of "USA Today" said that "fan-favorite Toxic [...] succeeded because the focus was solely on the star." Jane Stevenson of the "Toronto Sun" named it one of the standout performances of the show, along with "...Baby One More Time" and "Womanizer". "Screen" commented, "The high point of the show was the back to back performance of two of Britney's biggest hits, 'Toxic' and 'Baby One More Time' ["sic"], which had the crowd break out in wild applause."


title: Toxic (song)

text: The song was performed at 2011's Femme Fatale Tour. After a video intermission in which Spears finds and captures the stalker that follows her, the show continues with a martial arts-inspired remix of "Toxic", in which Spears wears a kimono and battles dancing ninjas. Keith Caufield of "Billboard" felt the performance was comparable to Madonna's "Sky Fits Heaven" at 2001's Drowned World Tour. Shirley Halperin of "The Hollywood Reporter" stated that "[the] mid-tempo numbers [...] seemed to stall out quickly, where faster offerings like 'Womanizer,' 'I Wanna Go' and 'Toxic' had the sold-out crowd jumping in place and pumping their number twos in the air." August Brown of the "Los Angeles Times" said, "The set's only weak spots were sonic revisions of catalog staples – the Bollywood spy-flick vamp of 'Toxic' remains utterly groundbreaking and didn’t need an Ibiza-inspired revision.". Spears performed the song during the last act from her 2013-17 Las Vegas residency . The number begins with a ballad version of "Toxic" and Spears is seen over a giant tree. Before the chorus begins, Spears jumps from the tree in a kind of bungee jump under a water curtain. As Spears lands in the stage, the first chords from the song starts and the performance keeps going on. In the 2016 "Billboard" Music Awards, it was performed as the closing song of a greatest hits medley by Spears, with brand new choreography. The song was also included in Spears's setlist for the iHeartRadio Music Festival on September 24, 2016. Spears performed the song as part of her Apple Music Festival performance in London on September 27, 2016. The song was also streamed live along with "Work Bitch" from Spears' final show date on December 31, 2017, on ABC's "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve" to a record audience of 25.6 million.


title: Toxic (song)

text: "Toxic" won Spears her first, and to date only, Grammy Award at the 2005 ceremony in the Best Dance Recording category and gained her credibility amongst critics. The song also won Most Performed Work at the 2004 Ivor Novello Awards. "Toxic" was ranked at number fourteen on "Stylus Magazine"s Top 50 Singles between 2000 and 2005. In a 2005 poll conducted by Sony Ericsson, "Toxic" was ranked as the world's second favorite song, only behind "We Are the Champions" by Queen. Over 700,000 people in 60 countries cast their votes. The song was also included on The 500 Greatest Songs Since You Were Born list by "Blender". Pitchfork listed the song on The Top 500 Tracks of the 2000s. Jess Harvell commented that Spears had great pop instincts and that "Toxic" showed how "Britney always had more individualist pep than her peers, important when you're dealing with steamroller productions from the mind of Max Martin."


title: Toxic (song)

text: In 2009, NPR included "Toxic" on their Most Important Recordings of the Decade list. Amy Schriefer noted that the song's synths defined the sound of dance-pop for the rest of the decade while adding that it "still sound[s] fresh and futuristic." "Toxic" was listed on several others end of the decade lists; at number forty-seven by "NME", forty-four by "Rolling Stone" and seventeen on "The Daily Telegraph". "NME" called it the soundtrack to all of the fun of the decade, from "little girls at discos" to "gay clubs and hen nights." "NME" critics also ranked "Toxic" at number 92 on their 500 Greatest Songs list, writing that the song "reinvented popular dance music." In 2010, the song was voted in "Rolling Stone"s end of the decade readers poll as the fourth-best single of the decade. In 2021, the song was ranked at number 114 on the list of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. "Pitchfork" listed the song at number three on their Top 50 Singles of 2004 list. Bill Lamb of About.com listed the song at number 27 on the Top 40 Pop Songs. Evan Sawdey of "PopMatters" commented that "Toxic" is a rare kind of song that transcends genre boundaries, and added that Spears delivered the track that defined her legacy. In May 2010, Spears revealed via Twitter that "Toxic" is her favorite song in her catalog. In 2022, in their ranking of every Spears' song, "Rolling Stone" ranked "Toxic" at number one.


title: Toxic (song)

text: Ken Freedman devoted an entire three-hour radio show to cover versions of the song. It aired on WFMU on June 9, 2021.


title: Toxic (song)

text: The song was covered on the 2010 American series "Glee" episode "Britney/Brittany" by New Directions, in a Bob Fosse-inspired performance led by the character of Will Schuester. In the United States, their version debuted at number sixteen on the Hot 100 and sold 109,000 copies on its first week, according to Nielsen SoundScan. It also charted at number thirty-seven in Australia, fifteen in Canada, and seventeen in Ireland. The song was covered again in "Glee" episode "100" by Dianna Agron, Heather Morris, and Naya Rivera. Northern Irish singer-songwriter Juliet Turner covered "Toxic" for the 2004 covers compilation, "Even Better Than the Real Thing Vol. 2". In 2005, American folk group Chapin Sisters recorded an acoustic cover of "Toxic", which was featured on PerezHilton.com and became one of the most requested songs of the year in KCRW. German country-rock band the BossHoss recorded a cover of "Toxic" for their debut album, "Internashville Urban Hymns" (2005). American rock duo Local H covered the song for their first live album, "Alive '05" (2005). An instrumental rendition of the song was released by American surf rock band Monsters from Mars. Norwegian alternative rock band Hurra Torpedo covered "Toxic" in their fourth release, "Kollossus of Makedonia" (2006). English producer Mark Ronson recorded a hip hop cover of the song, featuring American singer-songwriter Tiggers and a posthumous verse from American rapper Ol' Dirty Bastard. It was included in his second studio album, "Version" (2007).


title: Toxic (song)

text: English indie rock band Hard-Fi covered the song for the compilation album "Radio 1 Established 1967" (2007). The song was fused with the Clash's cover of "Brand New Cadillac". American musician Shawn Lee covered the song in the album "Shawn Lee's Ping Pong Orchestra" (2007). French-Israeli singer-songwriter Yael Naïm released a piano-driven version of the song in her eponymous debut album (2007). British electronic music group Metronomy's cover was described as "something out of a 'Weird Al' Yankovic polka medley, only not kidding." Israeli pop singer Shiri Maimon recorded a version of "Toxic" in Hebrew. American comedy singer Richard Cheese recorded a cover for his eighth album, "Viva la Vodka" (2009). American post-hardcore band A Static Lullaby released a cover in the compilation album, "Punk Goes Pop 2" (2009). A music video was released, which featured different Spears look-alikes wearing iconic outfits from various music videos, such as "...Baby One More Time" and "Womanizer".


title: Toxic (song)

text: A cover of the song by American singer-songwriter Christopher Dallman was included in an EP titled "Sad Britney", released on November 9, 2009, along with covers of "...Baby One More Time", "Gimme More" and "Radar". American acoustic trio Nickel Creek covered "Toxic" at the 2006 Bonnaroo Music Festival. Australian singer-songwriter Kate Miller-Heidke did an opera-pop version of "Toxic" during a mobile phone launch in Sydney in August 2007. She dedicated it to Spears, adding, "She's going through a bit of a hard time at the moment. ... This one's for you, mate."


title: Toxic (song)

text: American singer-songwriter Ingrid Michaelson covered "Toxic" regularly on her 2010 Everybody Tour. A cover version by The Hit Crew was used in Just Dance 2. Michaelson's version ends with her and the band doing a dance break set to Spears's original song. American pop band Selena Gomez & the Scene performed a tribute to Spears during their 2011 We Own the Night Tour. The medley of hits included "...Baby One More Time", "(You Drive Me) Crazy", "Oops!... I Did It Again", "I'm a Slave 4 U" and "Toxic", mixed similar to the Chris Cox Megamix included in "Greatest Hits: My Prerogative". They also performed a cover of "Hold It Against Me". During her debut on American TV singing show "The Voice", American singer Melanie Martinez sang "Toxic" playing an acoustic guitar and a tambourine with her foot. Three of the judges, Adam Levine, CeeLo Green, and Blake Shelton, hit the "I Want You" button for her. In 2014 David J covered "Toxic" featuring Sasha Grey. On December 2, 2016, Madonna covered the song during a live concert broadcast through Facebook Live.


title: Toxic (song)

text: The song was also covered in 2019 by Scottish singer Nina Nesbitt and the Queercore band Dog Park Dissidents. The song is also included in the "Backstage Romance" number of "Moulin Rouge!", where it is sung in a medley with "Bad Romance", "Tainted Love", "Seven Nation Army", and "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)".


title: Toxic (song)

text: In 2021, the duo Altégo posted a snippet of a mashup of "Toxic" and Ginuwine's "Pony" on TikTok, that quickly went viral. In January 2022, the mashup was completed and officially released through Sony Music Entertainment under the title "Toxic Pony", being credited to Altégo, Spears and Ginuwine. The mashup reached number 40 on the "Billboard" Pop Airplay chart. English singer Mabel recorded an acoustic version of "Toxic" for the Apple Music edition of her second studio album, "About Last Night..." (2022).


title: Toxic (song)

text: In the 2005 episode "The End of the World" of the TV show "Doctor Who", the character of Cassandra unveils an ancient jukebox that reproduced "Toxic" as an example of "a traditional ballad" from about 5 billion years prior. "NME" stated that the inclusion of the song marked its cultural impact. In the 2007 film "Knocked Up", the song is played when Seth Rogen and Paul Rudd are driving to Las Vegas. Director Judd Apatow explained that he initially tried to use "Toxic" in the 2005 film "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" in the scene where Leslie Mann is drunk driving. "Toxic" was also featured in the 2010 film "You Again". A string arrangement of "Toxic" was featured in the 2020 American thriller film "Promising Young Woman", with film score producer Anthony Willis saying that Toxic' is one of the greatest pop songs of the [2000s]. It's such a fantastic track and has such an evocative lyric. And so if you hear that riff and you hear that tune, you're imagining the word 'toxic,' but you're not actually hearing it." "Toxic" is featured on British soap opera "Emmerdale" in July 2021 when Meena Jutla (Paige Sandhu) dances to the song after she murders Leanna Cavanagh (Mimi Slinger). Toxic was remixed with Viva Las Vegas for Baz Luhrmann's Elvis and he plans on releasing it in late 2022. "Toxic" was featured on "Just Dance 2023 Edition", using the original version of the song instead of The Hit Crew's cover that was used in "Just Dance 2" previously.


title: Bridget Marquardt

text: Bridget Marquardt (born September 25, 1974) is an American television personality and model, known for her role in the reality TV series "The Girls Next Door", which depicted her life as one of "Playboy" founder Hugh Hefner's girlfriends. Although not a Playboy Playmate, Marquardt has appeared in nude pictorials with her "Girls Next Door" co-stars and fellow Hefner girlfriends Holly Madison and Kendra Wilkinson.


title: Bridget Marquardt

text: Marquardt was born in Tillamook, Oregon. Shortly after her birth, Bridget's mother moved the family back to California, where she was raised. Her parents divorced when Bridget was in the fifth grade. Her mother remarried, and Marquardt and her younger brother Edward moved to their stepfather's ranch, where they later gained a half-sister, Anastasia. Bridget attended Galt High School for her freshman and sophomore years and then transferred to Lodi High School, from which she graduated in 1990.


title: Bridget Marquardt

text: Marquardt graduated from San Joaquin Delta College with an associate degree. She matriculated at California State University, Sacramento and graduated in 1998 with a B.A. in communications and an emphasis on public relations. In 2001, she earned her Master's Degree in Communications from the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California.


title: Bridget Marquardt

text: On the advice of friends who suggested she pose for "Playboy" magazine, Marquardt sent a letter to "Playboy", inquiring how to become a Playmate, before enrolling at San Joaquin Delta College. In 1998, aged 25, she entered Playboy's Millennium Playmate search. In 2001, Marquardt moved to Los Angeles, California and did local modeling jobs and small acting roles. After unsuccessfully testing twice for "Playboy", she was invited to the Playboy Mansion and soon became a regular there. In October 2002, after more than a year of visiting the Mansion, she was invited to move in and become one of Hefner's girlfriends.


title: Bridget Marquardt

text: Marquardt is featured on the E! TV show "The Girls Next Door", and has appeared with Holly Madison and Kendra Wilkinson in three cover pictorials in "Playboy" magazine, the November 2005, September 2006 and March 2008 issues. She has appeared in several films, including the horror/comedy "Kottentail" in which she portrays a scientist doing genetic research on rabbits. She appeared in an episode of "Curb Your Enthusiasm" as herself along with Madison and Hefner in 2005. She also appeared as herself along with Madison, Wilkinson and Hefner in the "Entourage" episode "Aquamansion". The episode's final act took place at the Playboy Mansion. She appeared in "The House Bunny" with her fellow models and Hefner alongside Anna Faris.


title: Bridget Marquardt

text: Marquardt appeared in a 2002 episode of "The Man Show" and as one of Hefner's playmates in the video game "", which was released in January 2005, as well as in an episode of "Celebrity Paranormal Project" which aired on November 19, 2006. She took an online paranormal course because of her interest in paranormal activity. On June 1, 2007, she started her "Bridget & Wednesday Friday Show" on Sirius Radio's Playboy station. In August of that year, she, Madison and Wilkinson appeared in the music video for the Nickelback song "Rockstar". Later that October, Marquardt appeared as a contestant on the Fox Reality cable show "The Search for the Next Elvira". She was one of the final six out of 20 contestants.


title: Bridget Marquardt

text: In 2008, Marquardt appeared on an episode of NBC's "Last Comic Standing" along with Wilkinson and Madison, in an episode in which the trio were told funny "bedtime stories" by the competing comics. Marquardt and the rest of the Girls Next Door appeared in a July 1, 2008 episode of NBC's "Celebrity Family Feud".


title: Bridget Marquardt

text: February 2009 was Marquardt's final appearance in "Playboy", in a nude photo spread shot with Madison and Wilkinson that was touted as a farewell to "The Girls Next Door". After leaving Playboy, she hosted "Bridget's Sexiest Beaches", a TV series on Travel Channel, which debuted on March 12, 2009, but ended after one season.


title: Bridget Marquardt

text: In 2012, she worked as a contributor to Yahoo's "Animal Nation" series, writing articles and shooting related short documentary pieces.


title: Bridget Marquardt

text: Marquardt hosts the paranormal investigation podcast "Ghost Magnet with Bridget Marquardt" and, with Holly Madison, "Girls Next Level".


title: Bridget Marquardt

text: In the September 17, 2007 issue of "Star" magazine, Marquardt stated that she was married but separated and had been living in the Playboy mansion since October 2002. According to the interview, her husband supported her move to Los Angeles, that they remained friends, and that they were in the process of divorcing.


title: Bridget Marquardt

text: In 2008, Bridget told "E! News", "I married my best friend when I was 23, but when I realized I wanted to move to LA to follow my dreams, we separated and eventually divorced." In a December 2008 interview, Marquardt stated that she was single, and in early January 2009, it was reported that Marquardt had moved out of the Playboy Mansion to "become her own person."


title: Bridget Marquardt

text: In late 2008, Marquardt began dating director Nicholas Carpenter, son of original Mercury astronaut Scott Carpenter. They started living together in a house Marquardt purchased in Sherman Oaks. The pair became engaged in the fall of 2015.


title: Bridget Marquardt

text: As seen on various episodes of "The Girls Next Door", Marquardt had a Pekingese dog named Wednesday, or "Winnie", and a black Persian cat named Gizmo. Gizmo died in June 2015. Winnie died in September 2020.


title: Hydrofluoric acid

text: Hydrofluoric acid is a solution of hydrogen fluoride (HF) in water. Solutions of HF are colourless, acidic and highly corrosive. It is used to make most fluorine-containing compounds; examples include the commonly used pharmaceutical antidepressant medication fluoxetine (Prozac) and the material PTFE (Teflon). Elemental fluorine is produced from it. It is commonly used to etch glass and silicon wafers.


title: Hydrofluoric acid

text: The principal use of hydrofluoric acid is in organofluorine chemistry. Many organofluorine compounds are prepared using HF as the fluorine source, including Teflon, fluoropolymers, fluorocarbons, and refrigerants such as freon. Many pharmaceuticals contain fluorine.


title: Hydrofluoric acid

text: Most high-volume inorganic fluoride compounds are prepared from hydrofluoric acid. Foremost are NaAlF, cryolite, and AlF, aluminium trifluoride. A molten mixture of these solids serves as a high-temperature solvent for the production of metallic aluminium. Other inorganic fluorides prepared from hydrofluoric acid include sodium fluoride and uranium hexafluoride.


title: Hydrofluoric acid

text: It is used in the semiconductor industry as a major component of Wright Etch and buffered oxide etch, which are used to clean silicon wafers. In a similar manner it is also used to etch glass by treatment with silicon dioxide to form gaseous or water-soluble silicon fluorides. It can also be used to polish and frost glass.


title: Hydrofluoric acid

text: A 5% to 9% hydrofluoric acid gel is also commonly used to etch all ceramic dental restorations to improve bonding. For similar reasons, dilute hydrofluoric acid is a component of household rust stain remover, in car washes in "wheel cleaner" compounds, in ceramic and fabric rust inhibitors, and in water spot removers. Because of its ability to dissolve iron oxides as well as silica-based contaminants, hydrofluoric acid is used in pre-commissioning boilers that produce high-pressure steam. Hydrofluoric acid is also useful for dissolving rock samples (usually powdered) prior to analysis. In similar manner, this acid is used in acid macerations to extract organic fossils from silicate rocks. Fossiliferous rock may be immersed directly into the acid, or a cellulose nitrate film may be applied (dissolved in amyl acetate), which adheres to the organic component and allows the rock to be dissolved around it.


title: Hydrofluoric acid

text: In a standard oil refinery process known as alkylation, isobutane is alkylated with low-molecular-weight alkenes (primarily a mixture of propylene and butylene) in the presence of an acid catalyst derived from hydrofluoric acid. The catalyst protonates the alkenes (propylene, butylene) to produce reactive carbocations, which alkylate isobutane. The reaction is carried out at mild temperatures (0 and 30 °C) in a two-phase reaction.


title: Hydrofluoric acid

text: Hydrofluoric acid was first prepared in 1771, by Carl Wilhelm Scheele. It is now mainly produced by treatment of the mineral fluorite, CaF, with concentrated sulfuric acid at approximately 265 °C.


title: Hydrofluoric acid

text: The acid is also a by-product of the production of phosphoric acid from apatite and fluoroapatite. Digestion of the mineral with sulfuric acid at elevated temperatures releases a mixture of gases, including hydrogen fluoride, which may be recovered.


title: Hydrofluoric acid

text: Because of its high reactivity toward glass, hydrofluoric acid is stored in fluorinated plastic (often PTFE) containers.


title: Hydrofluoric acid

text: In dilute aqueous solution hydrogen fluoride behaves as a weak acid,<ref name="Pearson/Prentice Hall"></ref>


title: Hydrofluoric acid

text: Infrared spectroscopy has been used to show that, in solution, dissociation is accompanied by formation of the ion pair ·F.


title: Hydrofluoric acid

text: It is assumed that polymerization occurs as the concentration increases. This assumption is supported by the isolation of a salt of a tetrameric anion and by low-temperature X-ray crystallography. The species that are present in concentrated aqueous solutions of hydrogen fluoride have not all been characterized; in addition to which is known the formation of other polymeric species, , is highly likely.


title: Hydrofluoric acid

text: The Hammett acidity function, "H", for 100% HF is estimated to be between −10.2 and −11, which is comparable to the value −12 for sulfuric acid.


title: Hydrofluoric acid

text: Unlike other hydrohalic acids, such as hydrochloric acid, hydrogen fluoride is only a weak acid in dilute aqueous solution. This is in part a result of the strength of the hydrogen–fluorine bond, but also of other factors such as the tendency of HF, , and anions to form clusters. At high concentrations, HF molecules undergo homoassociation to form polyatomic ions (such as bifluoride, ) and protons, thus greatly increasing the acidity. This leads to protonation of very strong acids like hydrochloric, sulfuric, or nitric when using concentrated hydrofluoric acid solutions. Although hydrofluoric acid is regarded as a weak acid, it is very corrosive, even attacking glass when hydrated.


title: Hydrofluoric acid

text: The acidity of hydrofluoric acid solutions varies with concentration owing to hydrogen-bond interactions of the fluoride ion. Dilute solutions are weakly acidic with an acid ionization constant (or ), in contrast to corresponding solutions of the other hydrogen halides, which are strong acids (). Concentrated solutions of hydrogen fluoride are much more strongly acidic than implied by this value, as shown by measurements of the Hammett acidity function "H"(or "effective pH"). The "H" for 100% HF is estimated to be between −10.2 and −11, comparable to the value −12 for sulfuric acid.


title: Hydrofluoric acid

text: In thermodynamic terms, HF solutions are highly non-ideal, with the activity of HF increasing much more rapidly than its concentration.


title: Hydrofluoric acid

text: The weak acidity in dilute solution is sometimes attributed to the high H—F bond strength, which combines with the high dissolution enthalpy of HF to outweigh the more negative enthalpy of hydration of the fluoride ion. Paul Giguère and Sylvia Turrell have shown by infrared spectroscopy that the predominant solute species in dilute solution is the hydrogen-bonded ion pair ·F.


title: Hydrofluoric acid

text: With increasing concentration of HF the concentration of the hydrogen difluoride ion also increases. The reaction


title: Hydrofluoric acid

text: In addition to being a highly corrosive liquid, hydrofluoric acid is also a powerful contact poison. Because of the ability of hydrofluoric acid to penetrate tissue, poisoning can occur readily through exposure of skin or eyes, or when inhaled or swallowed. Symptoms of exposure to hydrofluoric acid may not be immediately evident, and this can provide false reassurance to victims, causing them to delay medical treatment. Despite having an irritating odor, HF may reach dangerous levels without an obvious odor. HF interferes with nerve function, meaning that burns may not initially be painful. Accidental exposures can go unnoticed, delaying treatment and increasing the extent and seriousness of the injury. Symptoms of HF exposure include irritation of the eyes, skin, nose, and throat, eye and skin burns, rhinitis, bronchitis, pulmonary edema (fluid buildup in the lungs), and bone damage.


title: Hydrofluoric acid

text: In the event of a hydrofluoric burn, it is recommended to wash with excess water and treat as a first measure with a calcium gluconate gel (which must be available in all places where this substance is stored or handled). Failing that, use a solution of calcium lactate or calcium citrate or, failing that also, with milk. It also must be considered a medical emergency in case of aspiration of vapors. In this case, it must be treated by applying oxygen through a mask. If necessary, resuscitation of the affected person should be applied. In case of splashes in the eyes, only treat with a very abundant sterile physiological solution; like in the breathing case, substances based on calcium compounds are discouraged due to their irritating properties.


title: Hydrofluoric acid

text: An element that has been very useful to avoid the adverse effects of chemical burns and counteract the effect of calcium precipitation is the Hexafluorine solution,which is recommended to implement in laboratory kits, along with first aid items and emergency showers.


title: Hydrofluoric acid

text: In absolutely all cases, it should be treated in an advanced medical manner after first aid has been rendered.


title: Religion in Turkey

text: Islam is the largest religion in Turkey according to the state, with 99.8% of the population being initially registered by the state as a Muslim. As much as 85-90% of the population follows Sunni Islam. Most Turkish Sunni Muslims belong to the Hanafi school of jurisprudence. The remaining 0.2% are Christians or adherents of other officially recognised religions like Judaism. The official number of Muslims include people with no religion; converted people and anyone who is of a different religion from their Muslim parents, but has not applied for a change of their individual records. These records can be changed or even blanked out on the request of the citizen, by filing an e-Government application since May 2020, using a valid electronic signature to sign the electronic application. Any change in religion records additionally results in a new ID card being issued. Any change in religion record also leaves a permanent trail in the census record, however, record of change of religion is not accessible except for the citizen in question, next-of-kin of the citizen in question, the citizenship administration and courts.


title: Religion in Turkey

text: Turkey is officially a secular country with no official religion since the constitutional amendment in 1928, which was later strengthened and entrenched with wider appliance of laicism by founder Atatürk during the mid ‘30s, all being in-part with the series’ of Atatürk's Reforms. However, currently all primary and secondary schools hold religious teachings as a mandatory subject since 1982, which mostly focuses on Sunni Islam, though other religions are also covered briefly, or in a wider coverage depending on the educational institution.


title: Religion in Turkey

text: In these classes, children learn religious history, practices and beliefs which belong more specifically to Sunni Islam. Thus, although Turkey is officially a secular state, the mandatory teaching of religious subjects in grade schools has been controversial and criticized by both the foreign media and Turkish public.


title: Religion in Turkey

text: Upon entering high school after 8th grade, religious studies is merged into philosophical studies and is taught as philosophy ("Felsefe"), which is also mandatory and features more in-depth teachings about other religions, religious or philosophical thinkers, ideas, and beliefs.


title: Religion in Turkey

text: In religious schools, known as “İmam Hatips” which came to prominence in the ‘50s, Islam is taught with more inner depth and has required prayer learnings as part of the mandatory subjects.


title: Religion in Turkey

text: In private İmam Hatip schools, Arabic may also be taught as a third, second or fourth language after English and of course Turkish. Some of the schools may even hold Quranic teaching lessons as an optional subject, while there other private institutions completely dedicated to religious teachings that offer such.


title: Religion in Turkey

text: Its application to join the European Union divided existing members, some of which questioned whether a Muslim country could fit in. Turkish politicians have accused the country's EU opponents of favoring a "Christian club".


title: Religion in Turkey

text: Beginning in the 1980s, the role of religion in the state has been a divisive issue, as influential religious factions challenged the complete secularization called for by Kemalism and the observance of Islamic practices experienced a substantial revival. In the early 2000s, Islamic groups challenged the concept of a secular state with increasing vigor after Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP) came into power in 2002.


title: Religion in Turkey

text: Although the Turkish government states that about 99.8% of the population is Muslim, academic research and polls give different results of the percentage of Muslims which are sometimes lower, most of which are above the 90% range, but some are also lower. This is especially because of traditional non-muslim ethnic groups of the country consist about 0.2% of the population.


title: Religion in Turkey

text: According to a 2016 poll Ipsos, which interviewed 17,180 adults across 22 countries, 82% of Turkey was Muslim and 7% of those who were interviewed from Turkey followed no religion whereas 6% identified as "Spiritual but not religious".


title: Religion in Turkey

text: In a poll conducted by Sabancı University in 2006, 98.3% of Turks revealed they were Muslim. Most Muslims in Turkey are Sunni Muslims forming about 90%, and Shia-Aleviler "(Alevis, Ja'faris and Alawites)" denominations in total form up to 10% of the Muslim population. Precise numbers are unavailable since Turkey doesn’t conduct censuses about religious denominations. Among Shia Muslim presence in Turkey there is a small but considerable minority of Muslims with Ismaili heritage and affiliation. Christians (Oriental Orthodoxy, Greek Orthodox and Armenian Apostolic) and Jews (Sephardi), who comprise the non-Muslim religious population, make up more than 0.2% of the total.


title: Religion in Turkey

text: According to a poll made by MAK, which interviewed 5,400 people in face-to-face through the country, 86% of the Turkish population declared they believe in God and 76% declared they believe the Quran and other holy books came through revelation by God.


title: Religion in Turkey

text: Another recent poll by OPTİMAR which interviewed 3,500 people in 26 cities, included a question about belief in God and found that 89.5% of the Turkish population believed in God, 4.5% believed in God but did not belong to an organized religion, 2.7% were agnostic, 1.7% were atheist, and 1.1% did not answer.


title: Religion in Turkey

text: According to a survey by World Values Survey In 2017 98.0% Identified as Muslims, while 1.2% Identified with no Religion and 0.8 as other.


title: Religion in Turkey

text: According to a survey by the pollster KONDA, the percentage of atheists in Turkey has tripled in 10 years and rose from 1% in 2008 to 3% in 2018, the percentage of non-believers or agnostics rose from 1% to 2%, and that 90% of irreligious Turks were under 35 years old. The survey was conducted in Turkey through face-to-face interviews with 5,793 people in their households, in April, 2018 while in 2008 6,482 people were interviewed in face-to-face in Turkey.


title: Religion in Turkey

text: Islam is the religion with the largest community of followers in the country, where most of the population is Muslim, of whom around 90% belong to the Sunni branch of Islam, predominantly following the Hanafi fiqh. About 10% of the population belongs to the Shia sects, mostly to the Alevi faith, thought by most of its adherents to be a form of Shia Islam while a minority considers it to have different origins (see Ishikism, Yazdanism). Closely related to Alevism is the small Bektashi community belonging to a Sufi order of Islam that is indigenous to Turkey, but also has numerous followers in the Balkan peninsula. Alawite, which is observed by some ethnic Arabs in southern provinces, and Jafari, which is the traditional sect of ethnic Azerbaijanis, are other sects that have significant population in Turkey. It's hard to estimate an exact number for religious minorities since Turkey doesn't conduct censuses about religious denominations. Although the Shia population of Turkey varies according to different sources from less than %5 to more than %25, ~10% can be taken as a simplistic estimation.


title: Religion in Turkey

text: Alevism, which is the dominant sect of Shia Islam in Turkey, is mostly concentrated in the provinces of Tunceli, Erzincan Malatya, Sivas, Çorum, Kahramanmaraş, Amasya and Tokat. Tunceli is the only province of Turkey with an Alevi majority. Ethnic Kurds and Zazas make up a significant share of Alevi population of Turkey, although majority of them are ethnic Turks.


title: Religion in Turkey

text: Islam arrived in the region that comprises present-day Turkey, particularly the eastern provinces of the country, as early as the 7th century. The mainstream Hanafi school of Sunni Islam is largely organized by the state through the Presidency of Religious Affairs (known colloquially as "Diyanet"), which was established in 1924 following the abolition of the Ottoman Caliphate and controls all mosques and Muslim clerics, and is officially the highest religious authority in the country. Shafi'i school of Sunni Islam is the dominant jurisprudence in Turkish Kurdistan.


title: Religion in Turkey

text: As of today, there are thousands of historical mosques throughout the country which are still active. Notable mosques built in the Seljuk and Ottoman periods include the Sultan Ahmed Mosque and Süleymaniye Mosque in Istanbul, the Selimiye Mosque in Edirne, the Yeşil Mosque in Bursa, the Alâeddin Mosque and Mevlana Mosque in Konya, and the Great Mosque in Divriği, among many others. Large mosques built in the Republic of Turkey period include the Kocatepe Mosque in Ankara and the Sabancı Mosque in Adana.


title: Religion in Turkey

text: The remainder of the population belongs to other faiths, particularly Christian denominations (Eastern Orthodox, Armenian Apostolic, Syriac Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant), and Judaism (mostly Sephardi Jews, and a smaller Ashkenazi community). Today there are between 120,000 and 320,000 Christians in Turkey who belong to various Christian denominations, and around 26,000 Jews in Turkey.


title: Religion in Turkey

text: Turkey has numerous important sites for Judaism and Christianity, being one of the birthplaces of the latter. Since the 4th century, Istanbul (Constantinople) has been the seat of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople (unofficially "Fener Rum Ortodoks Patrikhanesi"), which is one of the fourteen autocephalous Eastern Orthodox churches, and the primus inter pares (first among equals) in the Eastern Orthodox communion. However, the Turkish government does not recognize the ecumenical status of Patriarch Bartholomew I. The Halki seminary remains closed since 1971 due to the Patriarchate's refusal to accept the supervision of the Turkish Ministry of Education on the school's educational curricula; whereas the Turkish government wants the school to operate as a branch of the Faculty of Theology at Istanbul University. Other Eastern Orthodox denomination is the Turkish Orthodox Patriarchate with strong influences from Turkish nationalist ideology.


title: Religion in Turkey

text: Istanbul, since 1461, is the seat of the Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople. There have been 84 individual Patriarchs since establishment of the Patriarchate. The first Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople was Hovakim I who ruled from 1461 to 1478. Sultan Mehmed II allowed the establishment of the Patriarchate in 1461, just eight years after the Fall of Constantinople in 1453. The Patriarch was recognized as the religious and secular leader of all Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, and carried the title of "milletbaşı" or ethnarch as well as patriarch. 75 patriarchs have ruled during the Ottoman period (1461–1908), 4 patriarchs in the Young Turks period (1908–1922) and 5 patriarchs in the current secular Republic of Turkey (1923–present). The current Armenian Patriarch is Mesrob II (Mutafyan) (Մեսրոպ Բ. Մութաֆեան), who has been in office since 1998.


title: Religion in Turkey

text: There are many churches and synagogues throughout the country, such as the Church of St. George, the St. Anthony of Padua Church, the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit, the Neve Shalom Synagogue, the Italian Synagogue and the Ashkenazi Synagogue in Istanbul. There are also many historical churches which have been transformed into mosques or museums, such as the Hagia Sophia and Chora Church in Istanbul, the Church of St. Peter in Antakya, and the Church of St. Nicholas in Myra, among many others. There is a small ethnic Turkish Protestant Christian community include about 4,000–5,000 adherents, most of them came from Muslim Turkish background. Around 18,000 Antiochian Greek Christians lives in Turkey, they live mostly in Istanbul, Antioch, Mersin, İskenderun, Samandağ, and in the villages of Altınözü and Tocakli, and the seaside town of Arsuz, As of 2019, an estimated 18,000 of the country's 25,000 Turkish Assyrians live in Istanbul, while the rest live in Tur Abdin. Also, there are around 500 Mormons who live in Turkey.


title: Religion in Turkey

text: The percentage of Christians in Turkey fell from 17.5% (three million followers) in a population of 16 million to 2.5% percent in 1927. The drop was the result of events that had a significant impact on the country's demographic structure, such as the Armenian genocide, the population exchange between Greece and Turkey and the emigration of Christians that began in the late 19th century and gained pace in the first quarter of the 20th century. The Wealth Tax on non-Muslims in 1942, the emigration of a portion of Turkish Jews to Israel after 1948, and the ongoing Cyprus dispute, which damaged relations between Turks and Greeks (culminating in the Istanbul pogrom of 6–7 September 1955), were other important events that contributed to the decline of Turkey's non-Muslim population.


title: Religion in Turkey

text: The Baháʼí Faith in Turkey has roots in Bahá'u'lláh's, the founder of the Baháʼí Faith, being exiled to Constantinople, current-day Istanbul, by the Ottoman authorities. Baháʼís cannot register with the government officially, but there are probably 10 to 20 thousand Baháʼís, and around a hundred Baháʼí Local Spiritual Assemblies in Turkey.


title: Religion in Turkey

text: Tengrism is also one of the small religious minorities in Turkey. The interest in Tengrism, which is the old Turkic religion, has been increasing in recent years and the number of people who consider themselves Tengrists has increased.


title: Religion in Turkey

text: A sizeable part of the autochthonous Yazidi population of Turkey fled the country for present-day Armenia and Georgia starting from the late 19th century. There are additional communities in Russia and Germany due to recent migration. The Yazidi community of Turkey declined precipitously during the 20th century. Most of them have immigrated to Europe, particularly Germany; those who remain reside primarily in villages in their former heartland of Tur Abdin.


title: Religion in Turkey

text: Irreligion in Turkey is uncommon among Turks as Islam is the predominant faith however some secular officials have also claimed that atheism and deism are growing among Turkish people in recent years. According to Ipsos, which interviewed 17,180 adults across 22 countries poll's showed that 82% of Turkey was Muslim and 7% of those who were interviewed from Turkey followed no religion whereas 6% identified as "Spiritual but not religious".