Paralyzer (song)
Encyclopedia
"Paralyzer" is the first single
from Canadian alternative rock
band Finger Eleven
's fifth album, Them vs. You vs. Me
. It was released in March 2007. Finger Eleven's frontman Scott Anderson has said that the single has a feel distinct from the rest of Finger Eleven's music, possessing more of a "dance rock" feel. A radio edit version exists, with the guitar intro dropped.
The song received high airplay in both the United States
and Canada
, and was performed live on the March 14, 2007 episode of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and again ten months later on January 9, 2008, in a testament to the longevity of the single's success. The song has surpassed "One Thing
" to be Finger Eleven's most successful single.
The single has three versions. One is the original CD version, while the other two are radio edit
versions, in which the line containing the word "shit
ty" is either censored or replaced with "It's not been fun." The song alludes to the band's prior hit "One Thing" with the line "I should just stay home, if one thing really means one"; in addition, the recurring guitar riff quotes The Cars
' "Moving in Stereo
."
The style of the song has been compared to "Take Me Out
", a 2004 single by indie rock
band Franz Ferdinand
, which Paralyzer is jokingly labeled as a darker version. Finger Eleven occasionally performed Take Me Out during the middle of Paralyzer in live performances as a part of a medley along with Trampled Under Foot
by Led Zeppelin
and Another Brick in the Wall (Part II) by Pink Floyd
.
The song is played during the New York Islanders
warm-ups at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum
. It has been featured on the television series Gossip Girl
and Greek. It is also a playable song in the rhythm game Rock Revolution
by Konami
; although the game's producers have stated that all songs will be covers, the song is one of two for which the game uses the original master recording (the other being "Given Up
" by Linkin Park
). The song is also a playable song in the rhythm game Band Hero
by Activision
. This song is even on the Rock Band Network
. It starts with a man, walking, who begins to intersperse his steps with dance moves. He looks into windows and in the reflection, he sees himself with dancers around him, but when he turns he sees a woman. The two begin to dance with the symbolic dancers returning in greater numbers every time the chorus repeats. The video alternates between shots of the band playing on a rooftop that overlooks the dancers in a seemingly abandoned street.
The video reached #8 on VH1
's weekly VSpot Top 20 Countdown
. On the channel's year-end "Top 40 Videos of 2007," it placed at number 23, despite only having spent (at the time) one week on its weekly Top 20 Countdown.
The music video was taped in downtown Los Angeles, as evidenced by the "One Wilshire" building located in the background in some shots.
at #97 in June 2007. It proceeded to slowly gain in airplay and digital sales over the months. For the chart week of November 24, 2007 (over six months after the song was released), it became the band's first-career Top Ten hit on the Billboard Hot 100, rising from #14 to #10 for that catalog week. The song then proceeded to reach a new peak of #6 on the Hot 100 over a month later, for the chart week of January 5, 2008. The song became the band's first #1 on the Mainstream Rock and Modern Rock charts. Also on the Modern Rock charts, it tied 30 Seconds to Mars "The Kill (Bury Me)" and Red Jumpsuit Apparatus "Face Down" for the record of most weeks on that chart at 52 weeks. It also found great success on the Billboard Adult Top 40, eventually climbing into the top five of the chart at #3. In late December 2010, the song finally topped 3,000,000 digital downloads in the United States.
The track peaked at #12 on the Australian Singles Chart based on downloads alone; an amazing achievement considering eighty percent of single sales come from physical releases. Paralyzer is one of the most successful hits for the band. However at the end of the year the single ranked a dismal #58.
The song topped the Alternative genre on iTunes
. iTunes also named "Paralyzer" the #1 rock song and #8 song overall of 2007. The single has been certified double platinum (2,457,058 downloads) by the RIAA.
On the Canadian Singles Chart
, the song became the band's second #1 following 2003's "One Thing." It also did well on the Canadian Hot 100
, reaching #3. The song later debuted at #10 on the New Zealand RIANZ chart in February 2008, becoming the band's first charting song there. It climbed to #7 the following week.
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
from Canadian alternative rock
Alternative rock
Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...
band Finger Eleven
Finger Eleven
Finger Eleven is a Canadian rock band from Burlington, Ontario, formed in 1989. They have currently released five studio albums, with their album The Greyest of Blue Skies bringing them into the mainstream...
's fifth album, Them vs. You vs. Me
Them vs. You vs. Me
Them vs. You vs. Me is the fifth full-length studio album from Canadian alternative rock band Finger Eleven. The album was initially rumoured to be titled Sense of a Spark. The album was released on March 6, 2007...
. It was released in March 2007. Finger Eleven's frontman Scott Anderson has said that the single has a feel distinct from the rest of Finger Eleven's music, possessing more of a "dance rock" feel. A radio edit version exists, with the guitar intro dropped.
The song received high airplay in both the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, and was performed live on the March 14, 2007 episode of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and again ten months later on January 9, 2008, in a testament to the longevity of the single's success. The song has surpassed "One Thing
One Thing
"One Thing" is a song by Canadian rock band Finger Eleven and the second single from their self-titled album. Released in September 2003, it won the 2004 MuchMusic Video Award for Best Video...
" to be Finger Eleven's most successful single.
The single has three versions. One is the original CD version, while the other two are radio edit
Radio edit
In music, a radio edit is a modification to make a song more suitable for airplay, whether it be adjusted for length, profanity, subject matter, instrumentation, or form...
versions, in which the line containing the word "shit
Shit
Shit is usually considered vulgar and profane in Modern English. As a noun it refers to fecal matter and as a verb it means to defecate or defecate in; in the plural it means diarrhea...
ty" is either censored or replaced with "It's not been fun." The song alludes to the band's prior hit "One Thing" with the line "I should just stay home, if one thing really means one"; in addition, the recurring guitar riff quotes The Cars
The Cars
The Cars are an American rock band that emerged from the early New Wave music scene in the late 1970s. The band consisted of lead singer and rhythm guitarist Ric Ocasek, lead singer and bassist Benjamin Orr, guitarist Elliot Easton, keyboardist Greg Hawkes and drummer David Robinson...
' "Moving in Stereo
Moving in Stereo
"Moving in Stereo" is a song originally recorded by the American rock band The Cars, featuring lead vocals by Benjamin Orr. It appeared on their self-titled debut album released in 1978...
."
The style of the song has been compared to "Take Me Out
Take Me Out (song)
"Take Me Out" is a song by the Scottish band Franz Ferdinand. It was released as the second single from their debut album Franz Ferdinand in the United Kingdom on the 12 January 2004 and in the United State on 9 February, both through Domino Records...
", a 2004 single by indie rock
Indie rock
Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include lo-fi, post-rock, math rock, indie pop, dream pop, noise rock, space rock, sadcore, riot grrrl and emo, among others...
band Franz Ferdinand
Franz Ferdinand (band)
Franz Ferdinand are a Scottish post-punk revival band formed in Glasgow in 2002. The band is composed of Alex Kapranos , Bob Hardy , Nick McCarthy , and Paul Thomson .The band first experienced chart success when their second single, "Take Me Out", reached #3 in...
, which Paralyzer is jokingly labeled as a darker version. Finger Eleven occasionally performed Take Me Out during the middle of Paralyzer in live performances as a part of a medley along with Trampled Under Foot
Trampled Under Foot
"Trampled Under Foot" is a song by English rock group Led Zeppelin, featured on their 1975 album Physical Graffiti.-Overview:The song was written by Robert Plant, Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones, and evolved out of a jam session in 1972...
by Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band, active in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Formed in 1968, they consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham...
and Another Brick in the Wall (Part II) by Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd were an English rock band that achieved worldwide success with their progressive and psychedelic rock music. Their work is marked by the use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Pink Floyd are one of the most commercially...
.
The song is played during the New York Islanders
New York Islanders
The New York Islanders are a professional ice hockey team based in Uniondale, New York. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League...
warm-ups at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum
Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum
The Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Uniondale, New York, United States. Home to the New York Islanders of the National Hockey League, the Coliseum is located approximately east of New York City on Long Island...
. It has been featured on the television series Gossip Girl
Gossip Girl
Gossip Girl is an American young adult novel series written by Cecily von Ziegesar and published by Little, Brown and Company, a subsidiary of the Hachette Group. The series revolves around the lives and romances of the privileged teenagers at the Constance Billard School for Girls, an elite...
and Greek. It is also a playable song in the rhythm game Rock Revolution
Rock Revolution
Rock Revolution is a music video game developed by Zoë Mode and HB Studios and published by Konami. It was first revealed on May 15, 2008, and released on October 15, 2008 for the Nintendo DS, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360...
by Konami
Konami
is a Japanese leading developer and publisher of numerous popular and strong-selling toys, trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, slot machines, arcade cabinets and video games...
; although the game's producers have stated that all songs will be covers, the song is one of two for which the game uses the original master recording (the other being "Given Up
Given Up
"Given Up" is a song by Linkin Park. The song was released as the fourth single from their third studio album Minutes to Midnight. It was released on February 17, 2008 in United Kingdom as a digital download...
" by Linkin Park
Linkin Park
Linkin Park is an American rock band from Agoura Hills, California. Formed in 1996, the band rose to international fame with their debut album, Hybrid Theory, which was certified Diamond by the RIAA in 2005 and multi-platinum in several other countries...
). The song is also a playable song in the rhythm game Band Hero
Band Hero
Band Hero is a spinoff video game as part of the Guitar Hero series of music video games, released by Activision on November 3, 2009, for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii and Nintendo DS consoles...
by Activision
Activision
Activision is an American publisher, majority owned by French conglomerate Vivendi SA. Its current CEO is Robert Kotick. It was founded on October 1, 1979 and was the world's first independent developer and distributor of video games for gaming consoles...
. This song is even on the Rock Band Network
Rock Band Network
The Rock Band Network is a downloadable content service designed by Harmonix Music Systems with the help of Microsoft to allow musical artists and record labels to make their music available as playable tracks for the Rock Band series of rhythm video games, starting with Rock Band 2...
Music video
The video was released on YouTubeYouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
. It starts with a man, walking, who begins to intersperse his steps with dance moves. He looks into windows and in the reflection, he sees himself with dancers around him, but when he turns he sees a woman. The two begin to dance with the symbolic dancers returning in greater numbers every time the chorus repeats. The video alternates between shots of the band playing on a rooftop that overlooks the dancers in a seemingly abandoned street.
The video reached #8 on VH1
VH1
VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly...
's weekly VSpot Top 20 Countdown
VSpot Top 20 Countdown
VH1 Top 20 Video Countdown is a weekly television show on the VH1 cable television network in the United States. The long-running series began in 1994 as the VH1 Top 10 Countdown, as part of VH1's "Music First" rebranding effort...
. On the channel's year-end "Top 40 Videos of 2007," it placed at number 23, despite only having spent (at the time) one week on its weekly Top 20 Countdown.
The music video was taped in downtown Los Angeles, as evidenced by the "One Wilshire" building located in the background in some shots.
Chart performance
"Paralyzer" debuted on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
at #97 in June 2007. It proceeded to slowly gain in airplay and digital sales over the months. For the chart week of November 24, 2007 (over six months after the song was released), it became the band's first-career Top Ten hit on the Billboard Hot 100, rising from #14 to #10 for that catalog week. The song then proceeded to reach a new peak of #6 on the Hot 100 over a month later, for the chart week of January 5, 2008. The song became the band's first #1 on the Mainstream Rock and Modern Rock charts. Also on the Modern Rock charts, it tied 30 Seconds to Mars "The Kill (Bury Me)" and Red Jumpsuit Apparatus "Face Down" for the record of most weeks on that chart at 52 weeks. It also found great success on the Billboard Adult Top 40, eventually climbing into the top five of the chart at #3. In late December 2010, the song finally topped 3,000,000 digital downloads in the United States.
The track peaked at #12 on the Australian Singles Chart based on downloads alone; an amazing achievement considering eighty percent of single sales come from physical releases. Paralyzer is one of the most successful hits for the band. However at the end of the year the single ranked a dismal #58.
The song topped the Alternative genre on iTunes
ITunes
iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....
. iTunes also named "Paralyzer" the #1 rock song and #8 song overall of 2007. The single has been certified double platinum (2,457,058 downloads) by the RIAA.
On the Canadian Singles Chart
Canadian Singles Chart
The Canadian Singles Chart is currently compiled by the U.S.-based music sales tracking company, Nielsen SoundScan . The chart is compiled every Wednesday, and is published by Jam! Canoe on Thursdays....
, the song became the band's second #1 following 2003's "One Thing." It also did well on the Canadian Hot 100
Canadian Hot 100
The Canadian Hot 100 is a music singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine which ranks songs in Canada. The chart debuted in the Billboard issue dated June 16, 2007 and was made available for the first time via their online services on June 7, 2007...
, reaching #3. The song later debuted at #10 on the New Zealand RIANZ chart in February 2008, becoming the band's first charting song there. It climbed to #7 the following week.
Media usage
- Featured during Network TenNetwork TenNetwork Ten , is one of Australia's three major commercial television networks. Owned-and-operated stations can be found in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth, while affiliates extend the network to cover most of the country...
's AFLAustralian Football LeagueThe Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...
coverage. - Appears in Rock Revolution, Guitar Hero On Tour: Modern Hits, the console version of Band Hero, and as a downloadable Network Song for the Rock BandRock BandRock Band is a music video game developed by Harmonix Music Systems, published by MTV Games and Electronic Arts. It is the first title in the Rock Band series. The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions were released in the United States on November 20, 2007, while the PlayStation 2 version was...
series. - Featured in the "All About My Brother" episode (season 1) of the teen drama series Gossip GirlGossip GirlGossip Girl is an American young adult novel series written by Cecily von Ziegesar and published by Little, Brown and Company, a subsidiary of the Hachette Group. The series revolves around the lives and romances of the privileged teenagers at the Constance Billard School for Girls, an elite...
.
Charts
| Chart (2007) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian ARIA ARIA Charts The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June... Singles Chart |
12 |
| Canadian Singles Chart Canadian Singles Chart The Canadian Singles Chart is currently compiled by the U.S.-based music sales tracking company, Nielsen SoundScan . The chart is compiled every Wednesday, and is published by Jam! Canoe on Thursdays.... |
1 |
| Canadian Hot 100 Canadian Hot 100 The Canadian Hot 100 is a music singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine which ranks songs in Canada. The chart debuted in the Billboard issue dated June 16, 2007 and was made available for the first time via their online services on June 7, 2007... |
3 |
| New Zealand RIANZ Recording Industry Association of New Zealand The Recording Industry Association of New Zealand is a non-profit trade association of record producers, distributors and recording artists who sell music in New Zealand... Singles Chart |
7 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday... |
6 |
| U.S. Pop 100 Pop 100 The Pop 100 was a songs chart that debuted in February 2005 and was released weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States until its discontinuation in 2009... |
7 |
| U.S. Hot Modern Rock Tracks | 1 |
| U.S. Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks | 1 |