Psychosocial (song)

"Psychosocial" is a song by American heavy metal band Slipknot. It was released as the second single and fourth track from their fourth studio album, All Hope Is Gone. The song entered airplay on June 26, 2008 and was originally planned for release as a digital single on July 1 but was delayed and released on July 8.[3][4] Slipknot performed "Psychosocial" live for the first time on July 9, 2008, at the White River Amphitheatre in Auburn, Washington.[5] In 2008, the song was featured on the soundtrack to Marvel's Punisher: War Zone.[6] The song was also nominated for 'Best Metal Performance' for the 51st Grammy Awards,[7] but lost to Metallica's "My Apocalypse", and was nominated for the Kerrang! Award for Best Single.[8]

"Psychosocial"
Single by Slipknot
from the album All Hope Is Gone
B-side"All Hope Is Gone"
ReleasedJuly 7, 2008 (2008-07-07)
RecordedFebruary 2008 (2008-02) – June 2008 (2008-06) (at Sound Farm, in Jamaica, Iowa)
Genre
Length
  • 4:44 (album version)
  • 3:57 (radio edit)
LabelRoadrunner
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)Dave Fortman
Slipknot singles chronology
"All Hope Is Gone"
(2008)		 "Psychosocial"
(2008)		 "Dead Memories"
(2008)
Alternative cover
7" vinyl cover

"Psychosocial", along with two other Slipknot songs, "Duality" and "Sulfur," was released as downloadable content for Rock Band and Rock Band 2 on December 8, 2009.[9] It is also featured as a playable track in Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock.

Background

"That song has got a lot of, I would say, social anxiety. It's got a real good tempo. It's really fun and it's different… Most of the stuff that we have is different." – Shawn Crahan, The Pulse of Radio[10]

"This is another me-and-Paul [Gray, bassist] creation. It was similar to 'Duality', in that I had mixed feelings about whether it was a good song… Then we got together and started working on it as a team and it just came together. A lot of bands, who I won't name, have ripped this song off. I guess you know you've done something good if everyone rips you off." – Joey Jordison[11]

"I was writing lyrics when Paul and Joey played this to me. I looked at the sheet I'd been working on and at the bottom was the chorus for 'Psychosocial' already… This song was meant to be." – Corey Taylor[11]

"I had to ask Corey what 'Psychosocial' meant. He wouldn't tell me." – Shawn Crahan[11]

Rolling Stone praised the song, saying it "slows down the tempo to bludgeon with a steady, pounding groove instead of all-out thrash in a manner reminiscent of the band's more slow-burning but still malicious second album, Iowa." They explained, "That track is capped off with a time-signature shattering guitar/drum breakdown that will leave the best air-instrumentalists stumped".[12]

Music video

The music video for "Psychosocial" was shot at Sound Farm studios in Jamaica, Iowa on June 30, 2008.[13] The shoot was delayed due to an unrelated head injury sustained by turntablist Sid Wilson before the shoot, who was subsequently hospitalized.[14] On July 18, 2008 the video premiered on MTV's FNMTV show,[15] hosted by Pete Wentz. The video, which was directed by Paul Brown,[16] was shot using high-end cameras which shoot 1,000 frames per second and are contrasted with traditional 35 mm hand crank camera equipment.[13] Percussionist Shawn Crahan explained; "we have the most extreme on both ends, with nothing in the middle. That's what the video is, and nobody does that. There's an art form behind it."[13]

During an interview with Kerrang!, guitarist Jim Root revealed that the video features the burning of the purgatory masks adorned by the band members in the splash teaser photos shown on Slipknot's website, reportedly because the masks represent the band's ego.[17]

There are two versions of the video. One uses the album version of the song, whilst the other uses a much shorter version of the song; excluding the "Limits of the Dead!" lines. The video was nominated to Best Rock Video at the VMA's 2008.[18] On YouTube the video of the song had gained over 22 million views, before it was removed in December due to a dispute between Roadrunner Records' distributor, Warner Music Group, and YouTube.[19] The video has since been reuploaded and has more than 350 million views on YouTube as of June 2020.

Track listing

All lyrics and music composed by Slipknot.

Promo CD
  1. "Psychosocial" (edit) – 3:57
  2. "Psychosocial" (album version) – 4:42
7" vinyl
  1. "Psychosocial" – 4:43
  2. "All Hope Is Gone" – 4:44
Digital download
  1. "Psychosocial" (radio edit) – 3:58
Limited edition CD
  1. "Psychosocial" – 4:43
  2. "All Hope Is Gone" – 4:44

Personnel

Chart positions
Chart (2008) Peak
position
U.S. Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks[20] 7
U.S. Billboard Hot Modern Rock Tracks[21] 20
U.S. Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles[22] 2
U.S. Billboard Hot Digital Songs[23] 66
Canadian Hot 100[24] 75
Austrian Singles Chart[25] 65
France Singles Top 100[26] 100
German Singles Chart[27] 31
Swedish Singles Chart[28] 28
UK Singles Chart[29] 67
New Zealand RIANZ Top 40 Music Chart[30] 35

Certifications
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[31] Silver 200,000

*sales figures based on certification alone
^shipments figures based on certification alone
sales+streaming figures based on certification alone

References
  1. Grierson, Tim. "Top 10 Essential Alt-Metal Songs". About.com. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved December 26, 2018.
  2. "The 19 Best Nu-Metal hits of all time". Fuse.
  3. "Psychosocial single". Roadrunner Records. 2008-07-01. Archived from the original on 2008-07-05. Retrieved 2008-07-01.
  4. "SLIPKNOT To Release Free Single On Friday". Blabbermouth.net. 2008-06-18. Retrieved 2008-06-18.
  5. "Slipknot Performs 'Psychosocial' Live". Ultimate Guitar Archive. Archived from the original on 2008-07-13. Retrieved 2008-07-13.
  6. "New Rob Zombie song featured on 'Punisher: War Zone' soundtrack". Blabbermouth.net. Roadrunner. 2008-10-20. Retrieved 2008-10-22.
  7. "51st Grammy Awards Nominees". CBS. Retrieved 2008-12-04.
  8. "Grammy 2009 Winners List". MTV. 2009-02-08. Retrieved 2012-02-06.
  9. "The Music // Rock Band". Harmonix. Archived from the original on 2008-12-04. Retrieved 2010-10-18.
  10. "Slipknot Percussionist Talks About New Single 'Psychosocial'". Blabbermouth.net. 2008-06-19. Archived from the original on 2008-07-03. Retrieved 2008-06-20.
  11. Bryant, Tom (14 July 2012). "Hell unleashed". Kerrang #1423. p. 25.
  12. Chris Steffen (June 8, 2008). "New Slipknot Album: A First Listen to "All Hope Is Gone"". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on June 22, 2008. Retrieved January 26, 2015.
  13. Harris, Chris (2008-07-17). "Slipknot's Clown On 'Psychosocial' Video: 'Our Goal Has Always Been To Infect'". MTV. Retrieved 2008-07-18.
  14. "Slipknot DJ injured!". Kerrang!. 2008-07-01. Archived from the original on 2008-07-03. Retrieved 2008-07-01.
  15. "And the Slipknot news keeps coming". Roadrunner Records. 2008-07-02. Retrieved 2008-07-02.
  16. "Slipknot shoot new video for Psychosocial". Kerrang!. Emap. 2008-07-12. p. 08.
  17. Slipknot video interview!. Kerrang!. Archived from the original on 2008-07-03. 2008-07-01
  18. Slipknot – Psychosocial (Album Edit Video) on YouTube
  19. "Warner Music, YouTube in contract dispute". MarketWatch. 2008-12-21. Retrieved 2009-02-14.
  20. "Slipknot Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks". Billboard. Archived from the original on May 3, 2015. Retrieved 2008-07-23.
  21. "Slipknot Hot Modern Rock Tracks". Billboard. Archived from the original on July 7, 2014. Retrieved 2008-07-13.
  22. "Slipknot Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles". Billboard. Archived from the original on 2008-08-22. Retrieved 2008-07-23.
  23. "Slipknot Hot Digital Singles". Billboard. Archived from the original on 2008-08-22. Retrieved 2008-07-23.
  24. "Slipknot Canadian Hot 100 Singles". Billboard. Archived from the original on 2008-08-22. Retrieved 2008-07-23.
  25. "Slipknot – Austria Singles Top 75". acharts.us. Retrieved 2008-09-17.
  26. "Slipknot – France Singles Top 100". acharts.us. Retrieved 2008-09-13.
  27. "Slipknot – Germany Singles Top 100". acharts.us. Retrieved 2008-07-29.
  28. "Slipknot – Swedish Singles Chart". acharts.us. Retrieved 2008-08-21.
  29. "The Official UK Charts Company : TOP 100 SINGLES CHART". The Official UK Charts Company. Archived from the original on July 28, 2008. Retrieved 2008-07-28.CS1 maint: unfit url (link)
  30. "Slipknot – Psychosocial". acharts.us. Retrieved 2008-08-04.
  31. "British single certifications – Slipknot – Psychosocial". British Phonographic Industry. Select singles in the Format field. Select Silver in the Certification field. Type Psychosocial in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
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