During this time, Staind played a show with Limp Bizkit. When Fred Durst saw the controversial cover of the group's self produced album; tormented, he tried to have the band kicked off the bill, but when he saw the band's live show, he changed his tone and befriended them. Durst later sang harmonies on the live version of Outside, which was recorded at a Family Values Tour concert in Biloxi, MS, in late October 1999. Durst went on to be one of the executive producers for Dysfunction and Break the Cycle. He also directed a few videos for the band later on, including It's Been Awhile.
Dysfunction
The band's big break came in October 1997 after Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst witnessed the band open up for them at a Hartford, Connecticut show, eventually signed them to his Flip record label, and co-produced their 1999 breakthrough Dysfunction with Terry Date. Although it is supposed that the band owe a lot of success to Durst, Aaron Lewis has expressed in interviews that Durst never had much of a relationship with either the singer or the band, claiming the band 'only worked on four songs with Durst and recorded the rest of the album themselves.' [4] Staind has not been associated with Durst since he directed several videos from their 2001 follow-up. Dysfunction has sold over two million copies in the U.S. alone. The album was given mediocre reviews by critics for being "indicative of the times", but a large number of the band's fans nonetheless regard it as the group's best work. The nine-track LP (with one hidden track, "Excess Baggage") produced three singles, all of which enjoyed radio play. The most well known, "Mudshovel", (which also appeared on Tormented, spelled as "Mudshuvel"), has since become a staple of the band's live shows.
Break the Cycle
Staind toured with Limp Bizkit for the Family Values Tour during the fall of 1999, where Aaron Lewis performed their first mainstream hit "Outside" (a song he was working on at the time but had not yet finished—he finished it on the fly while performing) with Fred Durst to hundreds of waving cigarette lighters, and which set them up for their smash hit 2001 album Break the Cycle, which brought them international success (it went number 1 in both the U.S. and the UK), sold more than 7 million copies, and had first week sales of over 767,000 in the U.S. alone. The album sees the band move away from the nu metal sounds of their previous album and resort to an alternative metal sound [5] which has spawned five hit singles to date, "It's Been Awhile", (which hit the Billboard Top 10) "Fade", (which has been featured on a number of movie soundtracks and television shows), "Outside", "For You", and the acoustic ballad "Epiphany", and included a track called "Waste", devoted to two teenage fans who committed suicide shortly before the album was released. The album also received mixed critical praise; Rolling Stone magazine called them "the grim genre's most song-oriented, downright sensitive band in years" [3] while New Musical Express referred to the album as "14 tracks of parent-friendly grunge-flavoured soft rock that make Creed sound like GG Allin." [4]. 'It's Been Awhile' spent a total of 16 and 14 weeks on top of the modern and mainstream rock charts, respectively, making it one of the highest joint number 1s (30 weeks) of all time.
14 Shades of Grey
In early 2003, Staind embarked on a worldwide tour to promote the release of the follow-up to Break The Cycle, 14 Shades Of Grey, which sold two million albums and debuted at number 1 on the Billboard 200. The fourteen-track collection was the band's most mainstream yet[6], and showed Aaron Lewis writing songs about his daughter, as well as moving on with his life and forgetting his past, hence the title representing uncertainty for the future and forgiveness. The album provided two mainstream hits: the lead single "Price to Play", and "So Far Away" (which spent 14 weeks on top of the rock chart); in addition, two other singles failed to crack the Hot 100—"How About You" and "Zoey Jane"— but "How About You" was a fairly popular song on modern rock radio. Their song "Price to Play" was the official theme song of WWE's Vengeance pay-per-view event in July 2003. As well, their song "So Far Away" was featured on an episode of WWE RAW as part of a video tribute to hardcore wrestling legend Mick Foley. The band's appearance at Reading Festival during the 2003 tour had another impromptu acoustic set, this time due to equipment failure. The singles "So Far Away" and "Price to Play" came with two unreleased tracks, "Novocaine" and "Let It Out", which were released for the special edition of the group's Chapter V, which came out in late 2005. In 2003, Staind unsuccessfully sued their logo designer Jon Stainbrook in New York Federal Court (blabbermouth.net) for attempting to re-use the logo he had sold to the band. They re-opened the case in mid-2005.
Chapter V
After extensive promotions, including an appearance on Fuse TV's 7th Avenue Drop, Staind's newest album, titled Chapter V was released on August 9, 2005, and became their third consecutive number one. The album opened to sales of 185,000 and has since been certified platinum in the U.S. The first single "Right Here" has been the biggest success from the album thus far, garnering much mainstream radio play and peaking at number 1 on the mainstream rock chart. "Falling" (the video of which does not feature the band members at all) was released as the second single, followed by "Everything Changes" and "King of All Excuses." Staind have been on the road since the album came out doing live shows and promoting it for a full year, including participating in the Fall Brawl tour with P.O.D., Taproot and Flyleaf, a solo tour across Europe and a mini-promotional tour in Australia for the first time. Recent live shows have included a cover of Pantera's This Love, a tribute to Dimebag Darrell. Staind appeared on The Howard Stern Show on August 10, 2005, to promote their new album Chapter V. They performed acoustic renditions of the single Right Here and Beetlejuice's song "This is Beetle." Their rendition of "Beetle" is immensely popular with fans and listeners alike and became a staple of the show. Staind also performed a version of "Comfortably Numb" by Pink Floyd. Kevin Lofton, who does all the animation for the Howard Stern website, created a black-and-white animated video for the song. During a January 2006 Episode of WWE RAW, a tribute video to then WWE Champion Edge featured the band's song "Right Here". In early November 2005, Staind released the limited edition 2-CD/DVD set of Chapter V. The set included several rarities and fan favorites— music videos; a complete, 36-page booklet with exclusive artwork; an audio disc with an acoustic rendition of "This is Beetle"; the original, melodic rendition of "Reply"; the previously released B-side singles "Novocaine" and "Let It Out"; and live versions of "It's Been Awhile" and "Falling", among many others.
The Singles: 1996-2006
Staind announced that they would be performing an acoustic show in the Hiro Ballroom, New York City on September 6 and the songs played would be recorded for their upcoming "Greatest Hits" album, scheduled for a November 14 release. They played sixteen songs including three covers: Tool's Sober, Pink Floyd's Comfortably Numb and Alice in Chains's Nutshell.
The title was later renamed to "The Singles" and finally "The Singles: 1996-2006". The album had most of Staind's singles (including "Everything Changes" which was recorded at the New York show), the three covers performed at the New York show and a remastered version of "Come Again", from Staind's first independent release Tormented.
It was released on November 15, 2006.
The Illusion Of Progress
On August 19, 2008, Staind released their 5th studio album (6th overall), The Illusion of Progress. A limited edition of the album was also made available to fans, which included 3 bonus tracks and a year membership in the Staind Fan Club, along with other items (the first 200 fans who pre-ordered the album through Atlantic Records received a signed copy of the album by the band). Prior to the album's release, the track "This Is It" was available for download on the iTunes store, as well as for Rock Band. The album debuted at #3 on US Billboard 200, #1 on the Top Modern Rock/Alternative Albums Chart, #1 on the Top Digital Albums Chart, and also #1 on the Top Internet Albums Chart, with first week sales of 91,800 units. The first single on the album, "Believe", topped Billboard's Top 10 Modern Rock Tracks on September 05, 2008.
Not Again, the first single from Staind's self-titled seventh album was released to active radio stations on July 19, 2011 and made available for purchase on July 26, 2011. (Not Again Songfacts).
They are currently not Touring.
Cross to Bear
Staind Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Turning
Crashing
Burning
All this
Just to
Break me
Down
You don't know me
You don't see me
You don't own me cause I don't care
But I'm still here
Patiently waiting for you to disappear
Is this my cross to bear
Faceless
Faking
Pushing
Taking
All this
Just to
Bring me
Down
You don't know me
You don't see me
You don't own me cause I don't care
But I'm still here
Patiently waiting for you to disappear
Is this my cross to bear
You don't know me
You don't own me 'cause I'm aware
And I'm still here
Patiently waiting for you to disappear
Is this my cross to bear
I'm still here
Reluctantly waiting for you to interfere
This is my cross to bear
The lyrics to Staind's song Cross To Bear is a reflection of the inner turmoil and frustration of the singer. The use of words like twisting, turning, crashing, and burning signify the mental and emotional chaos that the singer is going through. The repetition of the phrase "just to break me down" indicates the deep despair that the singer is feeling. He feels like he is being pushed to the brink of his endurance and beyond, and all he can do is wait for his tormentors to disappear.
The second verse describes the singer's frustration with people who pretend to know him and understand him, but in reality, they are just manipulating him for their own benefit. The line "you don't see me, you don't own me cause I don't care" indicates that the singer is tired of trying to please others and is ready to break free from their influence. However, he is still waiting for them to disappear, possibly indicating that his desire to be free is tempered by a sense of helplessness.
The chorus, which repeats the phrase "is this my cross to bear," suggests that the singer feels like he is being punished or burdened with a difficult situation that he cannot escape. The final line of the song, "this is my cross to bear," is a poignant reminder of the singer's struggle, and the ultimate resolution of the song is left to the listener's interpretation.
Line by Line Meaning
Twisting
My life seems twisted and difficult
Turning
My life seems full of unexpected twists and turns
Crashing
My life feels like it's crashing down on me
Burning
My life feels like it's burning me alive
All this
All the difficulties and problems I'm facing
Just to
All of these problems are just to
Break me
Break me down mentally and emotionally
Down
To a point where I can hardly continue
You don't know me
You have no idea who I am
You don't see me
You don't really see or understand what I'm going through
You don't own me cause I don't care
I am not owned by anyone, because I don't care what they say or do
But I'm still here
Despite everything, I'm still here, still fighting
Patiently waiting for you to disappear
I am waiting for whoever is causing my problems to go away
Is this my cross to bear
I wonder if this is my fate or destiny to suffer in this way
Faceless
The person causing my problems is like a faceless enemy
Faking
They are not genuine or sincere in their dealings with me
Pushing
They are pushing me towards my limits
Taking
They are taking away everything from me
Bring me
All of these problems are just to
Down
Bring me down to my lowest point
You don't know me
You don't really understand me or my struggles
You don't see me
You don't really see or understand what I'm going through
You don't own me 'cause I'm aware
I am not owned by anyone, because I am aware of my own worth and value
And I'm still here
I'm still standing strong, despite everything happening around me
Patiently waiting for you to disappear
I am waiting for whoever is causing my problems to go away so I can move on
Is this my cross to bear
I am wondering if this is just a fate or destiny I have to accept and live with
I'm still here
No matter how hard things get, I am still here, still fighting
Reluctantly waiting for you to interfere
I don't want anyone else to interfere, but I can't do it alone
This is my cross to bear
This is something I have to deal with on my own, no matter how difficult it may be
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: AARON LEWIS, JOHN APRIL, JOHN F. APRIL, JONATHAN WYSOCKI, MICHAEL MUSHOK, MICHAEL J. MUSHOK
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind