Institutionalized (song)
| "Institutionalized" | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Suicidal Tendencies | |||||||
| from the album Suicidal Tendencies | |||||||
| Released | 1983 | ||||||
| Format | Vinyl | ||||||
| Recorded | 1983 | ||||||
| Genre | Hardcore punk, skate punk, crossover thrash | ||||||
| Length | 3:49 | ||||||
| Label | Frontier | ||||||
| Writer(s) | Mike Muir / Louiche Mayorga | ||||||
| Producer | Glen E. Friedman | ||||||
| Suicidal Tendencies singles chronology | |||||||
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"Institutionalized" is a song by the American hardcore punk band Suicidal Tendencies. It was released in 1983 as the only single from their debut album, Suicidal Tendencies. It is often classified as the band's signature song and would be re-recorded for the album Still Cyco After All These Years ten years later. The 1993 version was nominated for the Grammy for Best Metal Performance in 1994.
The original version of the song was featured on the long-out of print compilation album F.N.G., while the Still Cyco After All These Years version appears on Prime Cuts and Playlist: The Very Best of Suicidal Tendencies, which was not endorsed by the band.
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[edit] Song structure
The song follows "Mike", presumably a teenage Mike Muir, through a series of social conflicts with friends and, more significantly, parents. The lyrics in the verses are not sung, but spoken in a run-on sentence style. The lyrics are complemented by the lead guitar, which is subdued at the start of the verses, but becomes more frantic and powerful with the protagonist's confrontations and emotional outbursts, mainly based on a heavy, funk-influenced riff that increases in speed several sections before each chorus. This is one of the few examples of funk influence in the band's music before the entrance of bassist Robert Trujillo, the member who introduced the genre to the band with the recording of Lights...Camera...Revolution!.[1]
[edit] Reception
Although "Institutionalized" was never a hit in the charts, it was the first hardcore punk and thrash metal song to receive significant airplay on MTV and is considered to be one of the songs that defines both genres.[1] Tom Araya of the band Slayer appears in the video, along with actors Jack Nance and Mary Woronov.
[edit] Usage and covers
A cover of the song is included in the music video game Guitar Hero II for PlayStation 2 and Xbox 360. The song was also featured in the game Mat Hoffman's Pro BMX 2 (2002). It was also popularly covered by the band Senses Fail, and this version can be heard in skateboarding video game Tony Hawk's American Wasteland (where one notable difference is that "Buddy" replaces "Mike" on the lyrics). Thrash Metal band Evildead covered the main riff on their fist release, the track was entitled "S.T. Riff".
The song appears in the films Iron Man, Repo Man and The Brady Bunch Movie. . The video was also favorably featured in an episode of Beavis and Butt-head.
"Institutionalized" is referenced in the Sage Francis song "Slow Down Gandhi" in the line "It's death penalty vs. suicidal tendencies / All I wanted was a fucking Pepsi / Institution / Making you think you're crazy is a billion dollar industry." Limp Bizkit also referenced it in the song "Stuck" with the lines "All I wanted was a Pepsi, just one Pepsi. So far from suicidal but still I get them tendencies bringing back the memories that I really miss." The line "All I wanted was a Pepsi" was also sampled in Cypress Hill's song "How I Could Just Kill A Man". Part of the song "My Chemical Imbalance" by punk rock band Guttermouth parodies this song.
A version of this song was also appeared on Kiki and Herb's 2004 CD, "Kiki and Herb Will Die for You: Live at Carnegie Hall" along with some of the character's fictional backstory on a track called "Institutionalized".
[edit] References
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