Emotion Sickness
| "Emotion Sickness" | |
|---|---|
| Song by Silverchair | |
| from the album Neon Ballroom | |
| Released | 8 March 1999 |
| Genre | Alternative rock |
| Length | 6:01 |
| Label | Murmur, Epic |
| Songwriter | Daniel Johns |
| Producer | Nick Launay |
"Emotion Sickness" is a song by the Australian alternative rock band Silverchair. It was released as the first song on their 1999 album Neon Ballroom. At 6 minutes long, it is the band's third-longest song. Australian pianist David Helfgott makes a guest appearance on the song,[1] along with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.[2] In a 1999 interview with Metal Hammer, Daniel Johns said that "Emotion Sickness" is his favorite Silverchair song.[3]
Although the song is not typical of Silverchair's work, "Emotion Sickness" is a fan favorite.[4]
Background
[edit | edit source]For "Emotion Sickness", the band's frontman, Daniel Johns, wanted "a really manic and broken piano part to break up the album".[5] The band's management had the idea to call Australian pianist David Helfgott, who also shared the same lawyer with Silverchair, and the band agreed without hesitation. "Daniel wanted a manic piano part. It suited the song. He wanted it so it wasn't typical - didn't want something that was nice and kinda polished. He wanted something that was manic and off-chords. David Helfgott was the perfect man for the job", bassist Chris Joannou said.[2] The Sydney Symphony Orchestra is also featured in the song.[2]
Daniel Johns said about the song:
It's about fighting against the need to get some kind of medication and trying to pretend that you've got a normal state of mind when you know for a fact that you haven't."[6]
Music video
[edit | edit source]The music video was directed by Cate Anderson, who also directed the video for "Ana's Song".[7] It features Australian actor Dai Paterson.
Reception
[edit | edit source]Neva Chonin of Rolling Stone called the song "mopey" and said that when the song's last words are "lessons learned," "it’s hard to suppress a sigh at the overt lyrical reference to Kurt Cobain's 'Dumb'". Chonin also called the orchestration lavish.[8]
Covers
[edit | edit source]The song was covered by Australian rock band Storm the Sky on the 2017 Silverchair cover album Spawn (Again).[9][10][11][12]
Personnel
[edit | edit source]- Daniel Johns – vocals, guitar
- Ben Gillies – drums
- Chris Joannou – bass
- Additional personnel
- David Helfgott – piano
- Larry Muhoberac – piano arrangement
- Sydney Symphony Orchestra – strings
References
[edit | edit source]- ^ McFarlane, 'silverchair' entry. Archived from the original on 19 April 2004. Retrieved 23 December 2018.
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External links
[edit | edit source]- Emotion Sickness at IMDbLua error in Module:EditAtWikidata at line 30: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).
- "Emotion Sickness" Official music video on YouTube
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