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.
Devil
Staind Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
For was the love that wasn't there
And every time she needs to do the things that she believes will fill the void
Inside of her cause he was never there
And she says,
"I swear I'm not the devil
Though you think I am.
And she says,
"I swear I'm not the devil
Though you think I am.
I swear I'm not the devil."
He tries to sleep again and wonders when the pain will end
The cuts they made run deeper than his cracking outer shell
He looks with tired eyes at all the people hypnotized
And wonders what can save him from a self-created hell
And he says,
"I swear I'm not the devil
Though you think I am.
I swear I'm not the devil."
And he says,
"I swear I'm not the devil
Though you think I am.
I swear I'm not the devil."
I always fail to see the little things in front of me
The things that mean so much to you,
A way to let you know
That I appreciate the way you always tolerate
But sometimes when I medicate
Frustration in you shows me how you feel
But I swear I'm not the devil
Though you think I am
I swear I'm not the devil
And I scream
I swear I'm not the devil
Though you think I am
I swear I'm not the devil
The song Devil by Staind explores the inner turmoil of three different individuals who are feeling lost and misunderstood. The first verse describes a woman who is struggling with the lack of love in her life. She sits alone, pretending that everything is okay but deep down she's hurting. She tries to fill the void inside of her by doing things that she believes will make her feel better, but it never seems to work, as she was never loved the way she hoped for. She acknowledges that people around her may think she's evil, but she assures them that it's not true, and that she's not the devil.
The second verse introduces another character, a man who is in deep emotional pain. He tries to sleep but the pain is constant, and the wounds are deep. He watches people around him, mesmerized by their apparently perfect lives, and wonders how he can save himself from his own hell. He too acknowledges that people might view him as the devil, but he assures them that it's not true.
The final verse talks about the singer's own struggles and how he has been neglecting his significant other's feelings. He realizes that he's failed to see the little things that matter in his life and failed to express his gratitude towards her. He acknowledges that his partner is frustrated with him, but he assures her that he's not the devil. He screams it out loud to make his point.
The constant repetition of the line "And she/he says, "I swear I'm not the devil/But you think I am"" emphasizes the feeling of being misunderstood and judged by others. The use of the devil as a metaphor is interesting as it adds a layer of complexity to the emotions portrayed in the song. It's common to associate the devil with evil, and the song subverts this notion. The characters in the song are struggling with their own demons, but they're not necessarily evil.
Line by Line Meaning
She sits alone again and tries her best not to pretend that all she used to live
For was the love that wasn't there
The woman is alone and struggling to come to terms with the fact that she used to live for a love that was never there.
And every time she needs to do the things that she believes will fill the void
Inside of her cause he was never there
To cope with her pain, the woman tries to do things she thinks will comfort her, but nothing can fully fill the void left by the absence of the person she loved.
He tries to sleep again and wonders when the pain will end
The cuts they made run deeper than his cracking outer shell
He looks with tired eyes at all the people hypnotized
And wonders what can save him from a self-created hell
The man cannot sleep due to his inner pain, caused by his own bad decisions. He feels trapped, looking around and wondering what can save him from the hell he created for himself.
I always fail to see the little things in front of me
The things that mean so much to you,
A way to let you know
That I appreciate the way you always tolerate
But sometimes when I medicate
Frustration in you shows me how you feel
The artist often fails to appreciate the little things, but through trying to numb his pain with drugs or alcohol, he causes frustration in a loved one who always tolerates him.
And she says,
"I swear I'm not the devil
Though you think I am.
I swear I'm not the devil."
And she says,
"I swear I'm not the devil
Though you think I am.
I swear I'm not the devil."
The woman insists that she is not as bad as she is made out to be, denying being a devil.
And he says,
"I swear I'm not the devil
Though you think I am.
I swear I'm not the devil."
And he says,
"I swear I'm not the devil
Though you think I am.
I swear I'm not the devil."
The man also swears that he is not a bad person, despite how he is perceived.
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
@baderabdullah6547
She sits alone again and tries her best not to pretend that all she used to live
For was the love that wasn't there
And every time she needs to do the things that she believes will fill the void
Inside of her cause he was never there
And she says,
"I swear I'm not the devil
Though you think I am.
I swear I'm not the devil."
And she says,
"I swear I'm not the devil
Though you think I am.
I swear I'm not the devil."
He tries to sleep again and wonders when the pain will end
The cuts they made run deeper than his cracking outer shell
He looks with tired eyes at all the people hypnotized
And wonders what can save him from a self-created hell
And he says,
"I swear I'm not the devil
Though you think I am.
I swear I'm not the devil."
And he says,
"I swear I'm not the devil
Though you think I am.
I swear I'm not the devil."
I always fail to see the little things in front of me
The things that mean so much to you,
A way to let you know
That I appreciate the way you always tolerate
But sometimes when I medicate
Frustration in you shows me how you feel
But I swear I'm not the devil
Though you think I am
I swear I'm not the devil
And I scream
I swear I'm not the devil
Though you think I am
I swear I'm not the devil
Source: LyricFind
@sarahcole6428
this song is so Fucking my life right now. I so can't believe how hard this hit home. Aaron Lewis is by far the most amazing artist in so many ways. he has touched my heart over and over and at times his words and music was all I literally had, and it has gotten me thru some really really hard times in my life. love your life Aaron Lewis
@LostCauseWTF
It's like every verse relates to every stage I've endured in my life. I love Aaron Lewis!
@andreagarcia7194
🖤💯🫠
@SparkySummers
I swear, i'm not the devil... Though you think I am, I swear i'm not the devil... It's almost pleading, isn't it? A song like this touches me...I love it.
@homura2112
lyrically, the strongest Staind record.
@jonpeets6089
I’ve listened to this since the day the album released and it still hits just as deep as the first time listening to it. Such a powerful song. We can all relate in so many ways.
@jessemase6986
This album came out when I met my wife way back in middle school, I feel sad listening to this knowing I've done her wrong so much it took me 3 years to begin to clear my crap up and now I'm living with all the things I've done
@say10ztripz6
This my shit, even after all these years and time and life has passed..... Beautiful ❤️
@viscrom7812
How does this guy know how so many peoples minds work and think? amazing !
@ashleyroyal4775
Vis Crom l