Evil (Interpol song)

"Evil" is a song by American rock band Interpol. It was released as the second single from their second studio album, Antics, on January 3, 2005. The song is believed to be about Fred and Rosemary West, a married couple who raped and murdered teenage girls together.[1][2][3] "Evil" peaked at number 18 on the UK Singles Chart and number 24 on Billboard magazine's Modern Rock Tracks chart. In Australia, the song was ranked number 76 on Triple J's Hottest 100 of 2004.

"Evil"
Single by Interpol
from the album Antics
B-side
ReleasedJanuary 3, 2005
RecordedMarch – May 2004
StudioTarquin Studios (Bridgeport, CT)
Genre
Length3:35
LabelMatador
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
Interpol singles chronology
"Slow Hands"
(2004)		 "Evil"
(2005)		 "C'mere"
(2005)

Music video
The puppet from the video

The music video, directed by Charlie White, shows a life-size puppet who travels via ambulance to a hospital emergency room following a car accident at which he is initially examined by live actors as he sings the lyrics to the song.[4] The video was a hit with audiences, though the puppet itself had polarizing reactions, with some thinking the puppet was "cute" and others thinking it was "creepy". Regardless, the puppet received its own cult following and a name for it, Norman, was coined by fans on Interpol's message board shortly after the video premiered.[5]

Shortly after the video was released, the puppet was lost and its whereabouts remained for almost a decade, until 2014, where he was spotted in an online auction that was simply listed as "animatronic creepy ghoul puppet from music video". At this point the prop was badly deteoriated, but in 2019, the puppet was purchased again on another online auction by artist John Kolbeck, who was able to successfully raise money from a GoFundMe campaign called "Let's save Norman!" to restore the puppet. As of 2020, the worn-down puppet is again in working order and is slowly being restored.[6] The puppet is currently being used to host various videos on Kolbeck's YouTube channel, called "Odd Stories Wrapped in Plastic".[7]

White had never done a music video before, but came up with the idea for the music video after listening to the song and pitched it to the band. Despite the fact that the band had appeared in all of their prior music videos, the band loved the idea and gave White their blessing. White listened to the song on a loop for an entire weekend and commissioned a movie special effects team that had worked on Hellboy and Fantastic Four to create the puppet.[8] The video was shot over the course of one grueling seventeen hour day and used a real hospital room. The puppet's animatronic head was programmed to automatically sing the song and six puppeteers, who needed to be digitally removed from the video, were tasked to move his eyes and body.[9] Charlie White would collaborate with the band again to produce the music video for their 2010 song "Lights".

Track listings
  • 7" OLE6377
  1. "Evil" – 3:36
  2. "Leif Erikson" (Zane Lowe BBC session)
  • CD OLE6372
  1. "Evil" – 3:36
  2. "Song Seven" – 4:50
  • Maxi-CD OLE6376
  1. "Evil" – 3:36
  2. "Narc" (Zane Lowe BBC session) – 4:08
  3. "Evil" (Zane Lowe BBC session) – 3:33
  4. "Slow Hands" (video)
  • Maxi-CD OLE6472
  1. "Evil" – 3:36
  2. "Song Seven" – 4:49
  3. "Leif Erikson" (Zane Lowe BBC session) – 3:53
  4. "Narc" (Zane Lowe BBC session) – 4:08
  5. "Evil" (Zane Lowe BBC session) – 3:33

Other
  • "Evil" was played in the episode "Shake Your Groove Thing" (1x05) of the TV show Grey's Anatomy. It was also played in an episode of the first season of Entourage and an episode of the teen drama The O.C..
  • In 2020 it was featured in the opening scene in the episode "Nakara" (7x06) of the TV show The 100.
  • The video was number 25 on Yahoo!'s Top 25 Scariest Videos.[10]

Charts
Chart (2005) Peak
position
UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[11] 18
US Alternative Airplay (Billboard)[12] 24

References
  1. http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=4046
  2. Luke Lewis (2009-03-05). "Release The Bats - It's The 20 Greatest Goth Tracks". nme.com. NME. Archived from the original on 2012-10-21. Retrieved 2011-05-07.
  3. Erin Thompson (2010-10-27). "The Top 10 Songs About Serial Killers". seattleweekly.com. Seattle Weekly. Archived from the original on 2010-10-30. Retrieved 2011-05-08.
  4. "Matador Records Interpol Music & Video". matadorrecords.com. Archived from the original on 2009-01-16. Retrieved 2009-03-01.
  5. Gil Kaufman (2005-02-24). "Interpol's 'Evil' Is More Like 'Creepy': Lens Recap". mtv.com. MTV. Retrieved 2011-05-07.
  6. "The Art of Falling Apart (The Story of Norman)".
  7. "Things Under your BED! Hosted by Norman".
  8. http://www.mtv.com/news/1494035/interpols-fans-are-about-to-get-evil/
  9. http://www.mtv.com/news/1497445/interpols-evil-is-more-like-creepy-lens-recap/
  10. "Scariest Videos". yahoo.com. Yahoo! Music. Archived from the original on 2005-11-02. Retrieved 2011-05-08.
  11. "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved September 25, 2015.
  12. "Interpol Chart History (Alternative Airplay)". Billboard. Retrieved September 25, 2015.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.